NEED FOR SWEDE

OVER 600HP OF AUSTRALIA'S FINEST IN AN UNASSUMING SWEDISH BRICK MAKES FOR A PARTICULARLY SNOOZY SLEEPER

- STORY SIMON MAJOR PHOTOS STEVE KELLY

BRISBANE'S Pete Bellars is a man of eclectic tastes. Before embarking on this Volvo build, his most recent project was a Model T Ford – not a hot rod, but a legit vintage car with wooden wheels and all the danger. “I had an Austin 7, too,” Pete says. “Vintage cars are tinkering in its most pure form, but man, they’re slow!” Pete’s car portfolio has also included RX-7s, RX-8s and V8 Holdens, so it was anyone’s guess as to what he’d build next.

He’d been happily chugging along in his Chitty Chitty Bang Bang when fate intervened in the form of Jamie Spiller. “Jamie started at my work, and we became friends,” Pete recounts. “Not long after, he took me for a spin around Lakeside Raceway in his LS-powered Sigma wagon, and it reignited the need for speed I had as a teenager.”

With a plan to put a tough engine into something relatively light, Pete scoured Facebook Marketplace. “I wasn’t really sure what car I wanted – only that it had to be a bit comical,” he laughs. “I started looking at Volvos, and found the cleanest one possible. It was a dead-stock, four-cylinder 240 wagon, and I mainly chose an auto as I’m kind of lazy and didn’t want to swap the brake pedal over!”