OREANDA-NEWS. April 02, 2015.  Volvo Cars will be exhibiting five cars with a link to Bertone, the Italian car designer, at the massive vintage and classic car show in the German city of Essen on 15th April.

It will be showcasing unique examples of the exclusive 262C and 780 coup?s and a rare convertible, only five of which were built by Solaire in California.

In the course of its 88-year-long history, Volvo Cars has turned to Italy on a number of occasions for inspiration and help with various models. In the mid-1970s, it entered a long and rewarding partnership with Bertone, the Italian car body and design company.

Bertone's production line was suited for small-scale manufacture of exclusive models, which was ideal for Volvo when it wanted to produce two special versions of the 200 series. These were the 264 TE limousine which appeared in 1975, and the 262C coup? which was unveiled in 1977. The cars were designed in Sweden but adapted for production and built in Turin by Bertone.

Two years later, in 1979, Bertone produced a futuristic coup? version of the Volvo 343. This concept car was called Tundra and featured digital instruments and pop-up headlights. However, Volvo's management politely declined Bertone's radical proposal.

The most intensive collaboration between Bertone and Volvo took place 30 years ago and resulted in the Volvo 780, which debuted at the Auto Show in Geneva in March 1985. This stylish coupe was designed and built by Bertone and 8,518 cars were produced over a five-year period.

The Techno Classica Essen show, held on 15th to 19th April, spans 20 exhibition halls, attracts about 200,000 visitors each year and is by far the largest event of its kind in Europe. The exhibition reflects the enormous and growing interest in classic cars.

"It is a given for a car manufacturer with such a long and exciting history as Volvo Cars to appear at Techno Classica", said Per-?ke Fr?berg, head of Volvo cars Heritage, and continued: "It is more important than ever to draw on history and look to the future at the same time."