Breaking new ground



After a modest start in the 1920s, by the mid 30s, Volvo had become the dominant truck manufacturer in the Nordic countries.

Now fasten your seat belt and get into the fast innovations of the Volvo trucks of the '30s.


Volvo Trucks LV71-s and LV73-s

LV71-s and LV73-s


The LV-series - small modern trucks

Designed for different transports


Volvo Trucks LV75


Even if trucks with a bonnet covering the engine in front of the cab are called 'Conventional' trucks in e.g. the USA, the truck with the engine placed under the cab/seat has always been an natural alternative (in fact the first truck in the world of 1896 was a truck of this type, with the driver´s seat placed over the engine).

Moving the engine, removing the bonnet
In the early 1930´s with increasing number of trucks using the fairly bad European roads of the day, the permitted axle pressures had to be rather limited due to the severe demands put on the road system. The problem of creating a more even axle load between the axles of a truck, with the engine placed over the front wheels and the cab behind the engine, helped the development of F-trucks, i.e. without a bonnet in front of the cab.

Volvo was interested in using this basic principle and as a result of this the LV75 was presented and introduced at the Amsterdam Motor Show in Holland early in 1933. The LV75 soon became a rather popular truck for special applications like garbage transport. Its most common use, however, was as a chassis used for light- to medium-duty buses in rural traffic.

Fitting the chassis and front axles
The design of the LV75 was made in a fashion which sounds very much like the design method of the 1990´s, i.e. as a 'family concept'. In general, the chassis was identical to the LV74 truck, i.e. with a side-valve petrol engine of 65 bhp. To compensate for the increased share of the GVW being over the front axle, however, the designers chose to use the front axle from the heavy-duty LV68-series of trucks.

The LV75-series trucks, however, was bound to become a single example of series produced, up unto Volvo F-trucks in the mid-1950´s. When it came to buses, however, the fashion soon changed. The Volvo buses from 1935 on normally featured an engine which was placed in or under the bus body.

 Volvo Trucks LV76 - LV79

LV76 - LV79


A light-duty truck that lasted


Suited for small service missions



Volvo Trucks LV8  and LV9

LV8 and LV9

In the mid 1930s, the exterior design and basic engineering design of trucks were changed in some important areas. The LV8 and LV9 series of truck were two important steps towards Volvo's position as a major truck manufacturer.

Moving the engine forwards and upwards
Distribution of Gross Vehicle Weight between the axles has always been a very subtle matter. The most radical step towards improving the front/rear axle load split is of course to move the engine under the cab, creating an 'F' truck. For various reasons this principle did not gain many followers until the mid 1950s.

Instead, the engine, which had normally been placed behind the front axle, was moved forwards and upwards on top of the front axle, thereby greatly improving the axle load distribution. The result was the LV8 and LV9 trucks, two very popular truck series which were to become Swedish 'Standard trucks' during the late 1930s.

The steel cab - comfortable and heated
Compared with the previous Volvo trucks (and other trucks) the LV8/LV9 had a much more aerodynamic shape with rounded curves (in contrast to the previous truck models which had had vertical and horizontal lines, combined with 'razor-edge' styling).

Before the LV8/LV9, most of the heavier Volvo trucks had been delivered without a cab. With this series, in the mid 1930s, the norm was to have a steel cab (often still with a wooden framework and a canvas roof) with a reasonably aerodynamic shape, all of which drastically improved comfort and ergonomics. At this time, an important novelty, the heater, became much more common, providing a more pleasing driver environment.

One truck family for many different tasks
Previously, every single truck model differed greatly from other models, size being the governing factor. With the LV8/LV9, a single truck family was available for a great variety of different transport applications, from light-duty distribution to transport over longer distances or for construction operations. This was possible due to different engines being available (including side valve or overhead valve petrol engines, Hesselman engines and even, during WW II, producer gas engines). Due to various suspensions, axles, wheels and tyre dimensions, there were huge possibilities for adapting the LV8/LV9 to a variety of various tasks.

The LV8/LV9 became very popular primarily as a truck, but in the longer production runs it was also quite efficient as a light to medium-duty bus.

Volvo Trucks Sharpnose

The "Sharpnose"

Not until the 1950s would Volvo be a major supplier of heavy-duty trucks. From the very start up to WW II, Volvo was, however, a major producer of medium-duty trucks, which sometimes were used for heavy-duty purposes due to the rugged design.

The influence of international trends Sweden is nowadays the base for two major truck producers of global scope. This was by no means the case in the late 1930s. By then, countries like the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany were major 'truck-producer countries'.

For this reason, the design of the Volvo trucks of the mid and late 1930s was very much influenced by major design trends of other countries, and also by Volvo cars, which were to a very great extent designed by engineers who had been trained and had been working in American automobile companies.

A major sales success Typical of the late 1930s is the generation of Volvo trucks which have become known as the 'Sharpnose', which consisted mainly of light to medium-duty vehicles. They replaced the LV76-78 vehicles of 1934/35 and became a major sales success, especially considering that the total number of vehicles produced during WW II was fairly limited, and that very few civilian customers were permitted to obtain a new truck and new tyres for it.

The first presentation of these trucks took place in 1938, when the LV101 was introduced. This was a light truck, which bridged the gap between the light pickup vehicles (derived from the Volvo Taxicab chassis) and the heavier trucks like the LV79 and the LV8 series. A little later the slightly larger LV102 and LV103 trucks were introduced - these were vehicles which were to a true extent real 'trucks', but still being used mostly for distribution purposes.

Simple, but very well-designed
The mechanics of these trucks was rugged and simple, with a side valve engine of 75-86 bhp (running on petrol, but also available during WW II in a producer-gas version with an output of about 50 bhp). The transmission was a three-to-four-speed mechanical unsynchronised gearbox and the chassis components were in general simple but well-designed. The 'Sharpnose' trucks were loved by the customers, and the general design should (with design changes) be carried over to new generations of Volvo trucks

Volvo Trucks TVA and TVB


The late 1930s was a dark period in Europe. It became clear that a new major war was getting closer and closer. Under threat from the growing German forces, most countries started to increase their defence capability to protect themselves against a possible invasion.

Supporting the Swedish defence
The management of Volvo, being in the lead of an international company, naturally saw the signs in the sky and started to consider the design and production of military cross-country vehicles intended for the defence of Sweden in the event of a war.

In 1937, a very skilled designer was employed by Volvo to design a heavy-duty high-mobility vehicle.The design of the new vehicle was completed in two years, in spite of the fact that the new off-road truck was radically different from any previous Volvo truck.

Six wheels - for off-road towing
When the 'TVA' was presented to potential customers in various parts of Europe, it proved to be a very rugged 6x4 truck intended mainly for the towing of artillery and anti-aircraft guns. In addition to six 'normal' wheels it also featured two (smaller) wheels between the first and second axle, which lowered the pressure on the ground in circumstances where the vehicle would tend to dig itself down into the soft ground..

Mechanically, the new TVA vehicle was very powerful. It featured for the first time a two-axle drive, together with extremely strong tyres of thick rubber and an off-road tread. It was powered by an extremely powerful and large petrol-engine, similar to the one used in the LV29 'Longnose' trucks but with a sump adapted to improve lubrication even when this terrain vehicle was climbing at great angles.

A unique adhesion to the ground
The most radical departure from traditional practice, however, was the use of a central frame formed by a tube, to which independent axles were attached. This design gave the vehicle a unique adhesion to the ground. Despite the front axle being non-driven, the TVA had extremely good cross-country mobility. This was, perhaps, due to the fact that a relatively limited part of the vehicle weight rested on the front axle.

Since most countries in Europe had their own national truck production, no TVA trucks were ever sold outside Sweden. A slightly improved version, the TVB, was however chosen by the Swedish Army for production in 1940, and served well in the Swedish armed forces for about two decades. Some of these TVA vehicles are still in service today as basis for cranes, operated by civilian companies who have bought these off-road trucks as surplus material from the Swedish Army.


LV18, LV19 and LV29


The emergence of heavy power


The LVs - updated and modernised


Suited for excessive loads


Volvo Trucks LV66-s and LV68-s

LV66-s and LV68-s



Larger trucks with special truck-components


Choosing the right engine

The demanding task of snow ploughing


The Hesselman engine


From truck to bus