East German Volvo 264 TE

[Volvo Mike]

Volvo 264 TE as owned by the East German Government. One of only two built apparantly. Located in The Story of Berlin Museum. The lower picture is from the display near the former Check Point Charlie and shows two Volvos escorting a Zil(?) but they are different to the one in the museum. The caption with the 264 TE says that the cars were bought to escort the Zil, one in front and one behind.

[OldBlueVolvo]

I didn't know that only two of the 264 landaulets were built. That other car does look like a Russian Zil/Sil.

I'm glad that the Volvo is in safe hands.

[Ashley Studdal]

Didn't the USSR used to 'own' Sweden ?

[Clifford Pope]

No. Sweden used to rule Finland and chunks of the Baltic coast including Estonia and north Germany, but that was long before the USSR.
Russia ruled Finland before the revolution, up to 1917.

[oman5]

that's a beaut. I guess those who werent as equal had to make do with trabants

[redboy]

The East German Communist Party's motor pool had great taste in cars.
They refused to drive the usual Mercedes, as they didn't want to be seen in West German cars, so Volvos were used for their official limos.
For 'mid ranking' party members, they commissioned 244 DLS- its basically a DL but with the 'bonnet hump' front from the US market; yet it had flat headlamps like euro models.
Hoeneker also had a personal love of Citroens- his own limo was a stretch CX, and he specifically intervened to make available the Citroen GSA as the car below the Volvo for 'good citizens'
Below the GSA, was the Wartburg, which was actually a really cool car- I had an estate, and although only a 1 litre, it was nearly as big inside as a Volvo. Quite comforable too, with great seats, and an inventive flip-fold back seat with the base that rotated 180 degrees to make nearly 7 feet of load space. It had a really nice ride too, and could take speed humps without slowing down- definately engineered for its home market! The brakes were amazing- Skoda discs, and it had an LED digital dashboard- including a fuel economy meter that lit up segments depending on how economically you were driving. It was called the 'mauserkino' or cinema for mice!
I also loved the two stroke engine note- when accelerating, it sounded like one of those wild Kawasaki 2-stroke triples from the '70s, and made you think you were going faster than you really were. Oh- and that freewheel was a real luxury- once on the move, you didn't need the clutch.
I loved that car, but it had been sitting for too long and I gave up on the never ending job of replacing perished rubber seals, gaskets etc. It was quite well made too, compared to other eastern european cars I've driven- although I've never thought the quality of eastern european cars was that bad- considering what Citroen, Renault, Leyland, Chrysler/Talbot and everyone else was doing at the time. Sure, not up to Volvo levels assembly wise, but the Wartburg was built every bit as tough as a Volvo.
... and if anyone drives too close, just pull the choke and cover 'em with two storke oil!
East Germany certainly had its faults, as does every country, but they had much less economic stratification than we have in the UK; a 28 hour work week, free university, child care, health care, and a country home for everybody. They were miles ahead of us on personal 'freedoms', with progressive divorce laws, legalised homosexuality, and a strange penchant for nudism!
Its just a shame that the government was so paranoid- all the people wanted was to be able to travel, see the world, and not be spied on- perhaps if the Party had trusted its own people to see for themselves what life was like in Maggie's Britain at the time, they would have made the decision that the security offered by the GDR was preferable to free market economic policies that resulted in nearly 40% unemployment in industrial areas after the wall came down.

[gillberry]

A freind of ours is into his trabants and while talking today about Volvos in east germany he said about this pop video from 1971 in which at the end are a pair of official looking green volvos which he could not understand . This thread explains , enjoy the link ,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9skwG4PXKs

[NewVolvo]

Originally Posted by redboy

The East German Communist Party's motor pool had great taste in cars.
They refused to drive the usual Mercedes, as they didn't want to be seen in West German cars, so Volvos were used for their official limos.
For 'mid ranking' party members, they commissioned 244 DLS- its basically a DL but with the 'bonnet hump' front from the US market; yet it had flat headlamps like euro models.
Hoeneker also had a personal love of Citroens- his own limo was a stretch CX, and he specifically intervened to make available the Citroen GSA as the car below the Volvo for 'good citizens'
Below the GSA, was the Wartburg, which was actually a really cool car- I had an estate, and although only a 1 litre, it was nearly as big inside as a Volvo. Quite comforable too, with great seats, and an inventive flip-fold back seat with the base that rotated 180 degrees to make nearly 7 feet of load space. It had a really nice ride too, and could take speed humps without slowing down- definately engineered for its home market! The brakes were amazing- Skoda discs, and it had an LED digital dashboard- including a fuel economy meter that lit up segments depending on how economically you were driving. It was called the 'mauserkino' or cinema for mice!
I also loved the two stroke engine note- when accelerating, it sounded like one of those wild Kawasaki 2-stroke triples from the '70s, and made you think you were going faster than you really were. Oh- and that freewheel was a real luxury- once on the move, you didn't need the clutch.
I loved that car, but it had been sitting for too long and I gave up on the never ending job of replacing perished rubber seals, gaskets etc. It was quite well made too, compared to other eastern european cars I've driven- although I've never thought the quality of eastern european cars was that bad- considering what Citroen, Renault, Leyland, Chrysler/Talbot and everyone else was doing at the time. Sure, not up to Volvo levels assembly wise, but the Wartburg was built every bit as tough as a Volvo.
... and if anyone drives too close, just pull the choke and cover 'em with two storke oil!
East Germany certainly had its faults, as does every country, but they had much less economic stratification than we have in the UK; a 28 hour work week, free university, child care, health care, and a country home for everybody. They were miles ahead of us on personal 'freedoms', with progressive divorce laws, legalised homosexuality, and a strange penchant for nudism!
Its just a shame that the government was so paranoid- all the people wanted was to be able to travel, see the world, and not be spied on- perhaps if the Party had trusted its own people to see for themselves what life was like in Maggie's Britain at the time, they would have made the decision that the security offered by the GDR was preferable to free market economic policies that resulted in nearly 40% unemployment in industrial areas after the wall came down.

The real story about why DDR had Volvo's is actually slightly different..... the first option was always using cars from the USSR. But as the Zil (and other models) were way to expensive to run the DDR Government did look at other alternatives.

As Sweden is a neutral country, we (I say we, as I from there) can not say no and of course Volvo being more than happy to oblige.

The exact number of Volvo's sold to DDR is unknown, but is over 60, apparently.

As a note, Volvo's are also rolling on the streets of Pyongyang. 144 and 145's are gracing the streets.... Volvo never got paid for them though.

[James A]

The picture of the two TEs and the ZIL is amazing!

[James A]

Originally Posted by NewVolvo

As a note, Volvo's are also rolling on the streets of Pyongyang. 144 and 145's are gracing the streets.... Volvo never got paid for them though.

I saw a really nice dark blue 144 on a BBC news item about North Korea a few months ago and wondered how it came to be in Pyongyang. Thanks for enlightening me