Volvo S80 V10 by Cosworth

Today’s car is a reminder that not all good ideas for building a sustainable product will come from an automaker’s hot rodding department.

On paper, it was probably a great idea to cancel this project — I could not fathom the mechanical witchcraft employed to mate a 10-cylinder engine sideways into the snout of a P2-chassis Volvo.

Possible warranty claims, safety image, costs, fuel consumption, low output, and the S80 not being designed as a performance sedan — seem like good enough reasons to kill off a prototype engine and the car it would have propelled.

Also, Volvo sold its car-making business to Ford at around this time. SAE paper, filed. Plug, pulled.

How epic is this car? You’re looking at it. No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you, because there’s nothing to see.

Normally, you’d have to trust me that burgundy dreamboat has a V10 engine…but I was able to get permission to show more. Let’s dig in.