© Silfverling 1956

P 445 C 1953 Valbo

Is this the Valbo test wagon? The similarities are striking, see Valbo karosserifabrik AB. Grace Sandblom at Djursnäs manor became first owner of this vehicle in march 26:th 1953. It was first registered as a truck and then in 1954 converted to regular car in the register. Grace was the wife of Philip Sandblom, known doctor and later headmaster at the university in Lund. The manor was one of the largest in the county with woods, agriculture, milking buisness, gardener, castle and more. Grace and Philip had Djursnäs manor as a summer residence at wich Lennart Silfverling was inspector through the years 1947 - 57. Lennart and his family used the PV 445 Valbo as an official car at the manor during the period 1953 - 57. The Valbo was sold in -59 to southern Sweden and taken out of register in 1965.

The three brothers Ulf, Bengt and Göran remembers details from their childhood that tickles your amagination that this could be the test wagon from Valbo. When dad Lennart had fetched the car the family gathered at the right back end and talked about the rebuilding. Was this the rebuilding of the right side from being all metal to achieving windows? The reflector on the right fender was mounted after -54 according to photos. A faint memory is that the aluminium plate around the filling cap was constructed by the blacksmith at the manor. At the same time the filling hole was moved from a lower to a higher position, this to make it easier to fill the car up.
On the other hand, this chassis was delivered to Södertälje as a naked chassis. Three weeks later the finished car was registered to Djursnäs manor. During these three weeks the car had to be fetched by Valbo, built, shown to the public, rebuilt and sold to Grace. It doesn't seem reliable. If it is a Valbo, why was the chassis not sent to Valbo? It has happend before that chassis has been sent to a completely different part of the country than the part where it had its body. A lot of guesses appear about what is right and what is wrong about this chassis, but it has to be only guesses at this point.

A big thanks to Ulf, Bengt and Göran who have provided with memories and pictures.

Read more about the car in the swedish Volvo PV-club members magazine PV-Entusiasten #2 2008.

Published 2003-12-27