Ladder Frame Design
The design is based on the Volvo PV sedan and shares its engine and front suspension with that model. However, unlike the PV, which had a unibody design and a coil spring rear suspension, the Duett used a ladder frame with leaf springs supporting the rear.
While the Duett has been criticized as a regressive design by those who point out that the ladder-frame car was based on Volvo's first unibodied car; the use of a separate ladder chassis provided Volvo with an easy solution in their desire to produce a suitable commercial vehicle. The availability of the bare chassis also allowed Swedish coach builders such as Grip, Valbo and Nordbergs to build Duett-based pickup trucks, convertibles and specialized commercial vehicles. The versatility of the ladder-frame design also made the Duett a popular choice as a base for customized vehicles such as hot rods and EPA tractors.
The Duett was the only automobile marketed by Volvo in the United States that used a separate frame. All other models were of unibody construction.
Read more about this topic: Volvo Duett
Famous quotes containing the words ladder, frame and/or design:
“When Titian was mixing brown madder,
His model was posed up a ladder.
Said Titian, “That position
Calls for coition,”
So he lept up the ladder and had her.”
—Anonymous.
“But angels come to lead frail minds to rest
In chaste desires, on heavenly beauty bound.
You frame my thoughts, and fashion me within;
You stop my tongue, and teach my heart to speak;”
—Edmund Spenser (1552?–1599)
“The reason American cars don’t sell anymore is that they have forgotten how to design the American Dream. What does it matter if you buy a car today or six months from now, because cars are not beautiful. That’s why the American auto industry is in trouble: no design, no desire.”
—Karl Lagerfeld (b. 1938)