Shades of Jakob and the Flat Nose Volvo

Legend has it the early production Volvo, known as the OV4 Jakob, ran into a small problem during production.

The logo chosen by the company for their new car was the circular chemical symbol for iron, for which the Swedes were well known.

The problem arose when they found no place to safely attach this metal emblem to the radiator.

Volvo OV4 Jakob

A quick thinking shop mechanic grabbed a piece a chrome stock, placed it diagonally across the radiator attaching the ends at the corners providing a point for mounting the iron emblem. History was made.

Over the decades The Iron, as it is mostly known, changed in angle and position somewhat and even disappeared from the grills of Volvos from around 1941 until 1971.

I was never happy with the grill design on this 1992 Volvo 240 Enigma with its high angle iron and the logo that seemed as big as an Elvis belt buckle. I wanted to recapture the corner-to-corner effect from Jakob and the 1975 240 series cars, known in the trade as the flat noses for their straight hood shape.

1976 Volvo 242 Flat Nose

I was able to pull an iron from a Volvo 740 model and found it to fit almost corner-to-corner with the effect I was looking for. This will drive Volvo 240 purists crazy but we don’t call this car The Enigma for no reason.

Enigma with Almost Flat Note Iron

Shades of Jakob and the Flat Nose Volvo and no Elvis impersonators were harmed during the process.