RAUK motor och sport AB

[Knugcab]

In 1956, on the island of Gotland, outside the Swedish east coast, Rune Andersson was running a small auto repair shop. Only three years old, his Volvo Duett panel van was a total writeoff when a three fell over it. However, with the ladder chassis underneath in almost mint condition, he thought that junking it would be a waste. Inspired by the Chevrolet Corvette, he got the idea to build a fibreglass sports car body for the chassis. One of the reasons was that he teamed up with long time friend boat builder Urban Karlsson, which already hade experiences with the fairly med material. The car was named the “RAUK”, both a short for “Rune Andersson and Urban Karlsson” and the name of the specially shaped rocks on Gotland.

Since numerous people asked if the car was for sale he got an idea. Five chassis were ordered brand new from Volvo, the bodies were built at the boat factory while the chassis were modified and engines tuned at Rune’s shop. The empty chassis then were driven to the boat factory for the final assembly. The five cars were named the RAUK PM1 (Produktionsklar Modell 1) and was somewhat different and more refined than the prototype.

(To be continued…)

[Knugcab]

1956

The pre-production model, a simple design compared to the PM1, and still utilizing many Volvo parts like the steel wheels, lights and door handles/locks, though the grille was taken from a De Soto Firedome. The Volvo B4B engine was bored from 1414 to 1432 cc (oversize pistons) and with a milled head, tubular headers, hotter cam and dual carbs the power output grew from 44 hp to 66. Hardly any neck breaking performance, it sprinted from 0-100 in 17.5 seconds and could reach 150 km/h - after all, it was a home built sports car based on an used panel van chassis. But it was a start. The 3 speed Volvo gearbox were by no means “sporty” either, so it really had its limitations.

The pre-production car was in personal use by Rune Andersson until 1983, when he built up a replica of the car for driving himself, and donated the original to the factory museum.

(OOC: It is a five fixture wonder because it is meant to look like one)

[abg7]

There are traces of C1 Corvette, 300SL and Austin-Healey in the very first RAUK, but for the most part, this is a Swedish sports car through and through, as proven by its use of the humble mechanicals of a Volvo van. Nevertheless, its creators did their best with those underpinnings, which made this prototype a promising start indeed to this specialist car company.

[Knugcab]

Yes. My idea was that the first “home built” version should be inspired by some of the most interesting sports cars at the time. The idea from the beginning was just to rebody the almost new Volvo Duett into something fun instead of wrecking it. However, when they decided to produce a small series of cars, the inspiration from other cars had to be toned down a bit to not look like a copycat, even if the body molds of course were reused. As I said, more history will come.

[Knugcab]

1957

Five examples were built of the RAUK PM1. The base for all of them were brand new Volvo 445 ladder chassis, the same base as the Volvo 445 Duett that was used for the underpinnings of the original RAUK, since Volvo still sold bare chassis with just a front end for coachbuilding purpouses in 1957. The front sheetmetal from all of them was unbolted and sold to a collision repair shop. The body used the exact same molds as the original, but cosmetically there was a lot of changes.

The De Soto grille on the first car was a way of trying to mimic the Corvette. However, it was not an alternative for the production cars. First of all, it was hard to find. Second, the Corvette might have been what inspired to the original RAUK, but the production car was not supposed to be a Corvette wannabe. Third, they were afraid that Chrysler Corporation would not like the use of their grille on another manufacturers car.

Since the chassis were MY 1957, they came with the new for the year grille. It turned out to be suitable for the PM1. Since they were still registered as Volvo 445 chassis with a special body, it was officially a Volvo in the papers. And Volvo did not object the use, after all, they had recently cancelled their failed, and very similar, P1900 project and didn’t fear any competition here.

Also used from the Volvo front end was, like on the first car, the headlights. But also the MY 1957 only Lucas indicators, now mounted inside custom made stainless tubular bumpers, that replaced the Volvo bumper horns that was the only “bumpers” on the original car.

Also new for 1957 was the B16 engine that replaced the old B4B unit, though basically a development from its older brother. Once again, it was hopped up. The original power output of 60 hp rose to 88 hp, due to oversize pistons enlarging the engine to 1616 cc instead of 1583, a milled head with a very good port and valve job, hotter camshaft, dual carbs and a tubular header. That improved the performance to a top speed of 176 km/h and a 0-100 time of 13.4 seconds. The 3-speed “H6” transmission that came with the chassis was replaced by the new 4-speed “M4” that was optional equipment from the all new Volvo Amazon.

Another changes made to the PM1:
Windshield washer
Electric wipers instead of vacuum operated
Wire wheels instead of the Volvo steelies.
Door and trunk locks from the Volvo Amazon with pushbuttons instead of the Duett twist handles
A much improved dashboard with better instrumentation
Wood steering wheel instead of the banjo style Volvo steering wheel
Inside rear view mirror mounted on dashboard
Dual 1957 Volvo 444 taillights instead of the single Duett taillights (that were twisted 90 degrees)
Dual exhausts
Popup gas cap on top of rear fender instead of the Duett filler door in front of the rear wheel.

The picture is of the first car, owned by Urban Karlsson until his tragic death in 1970 when it was donated to the factory museum. The other four cars went to private customers.

(OOC: The amount of Volvo parts will shrink as time goes by, they were just a good way to start this story but I don’t like to mix IRL and Automationverse TOO much.)

[Knugcab]

First two years kept as an important part of history, I may recreate that car in the future…

But well, like I did with my other companies, time to resurrect RAUK for 4.2

The first car that is going to be presented is the 1982-91 RAUK HULDRA 16 VALVE

In the late 60s, it became obvious that RAUK could not survive without major investments, to refresh their ageing lineup. In 1969, the “RAUK 80” project was initiated, the name of course chosen since it was going to take RAUK into the 80s. Three cars came out of it. The first one was the 1974 RAUK Draugar, an entry level 2+2 shooting brake. The next one the 1975 RAUK Huldra, a somewhat hotter 2+2 fastback, and finally the 1976 RAUK Vanir, a mid engined 2 seater that was borderline into supercar territory.

In 1982 the Huldra got a facelift. Those cars are generally referred to as the “16 Valves”, as they got the in-house developed 16 valve cylinder head that earlier had been reserved for the Vanir on their Volvo B21 derived engine. However, the engine was detuned compared to the version in the Vanir, and never recieved a turbo, unlike the Vanir. For 1989-91, the engine was instead a tuned up version of Volvo’s own B234 16 valve.

Like all RAUKs of the era, the body construction of the Huldra was a little bit similar to a Rover P6 or Citroën DS - it featured a simplistic, pressed sheetmetal unitized “skeleton” to which the cosmetic body panels were mounted - in the case of the RAUK they were all fiberglass, though. That meant that changes to the styling didn’t require major investments.

Evolving technology as well as less stringent bumper regulations in the US made for the most significant change - they were now integrated into the body instead of being tacked on. Daytime running lights meant that you didn’t have to drive around with the popups open in countries like Sweden, with daytime headligt laws, as long as the conditions were bright. Plastic mirrors from the Saarland Adjunkt replaced the old chrome ones. Door handles now were of the modern flush style, used by the Vanir (and for that matter, Volvo 343). Brake cooling was improved, with a fender mounted duct that was supposed to let the hot air out. There was slightly widened fenders, to make room for the new, wider alloy wheels. The new taillights were sourced from the Rover SD1, there was front and rear spoilers, and the chrome trim was blacked out. Under the wedge shaped shell, there was a new, in house designed double wishbone rear suspension, replacing the old IP sourced semi trailing arm unit, and the steering rack was now power assisted.

The interior, however, went on largely unchanged between 1975 and 1991, spare for some year to year detail changes. With the early cars being torture chambers, the RAUK 80 cars were known as the first comfortable RAUKs. Despite weighing in under a tonne, the Huldra featured leather upholstery, air conditioning, electric windows, stereo and a flip up glass sunroof.

The Huldra was of course not comparable to the Vanir, hence living somewhat in its shadow. But 177 hp meant that it could top out at almost 260 km/h, and accelerate to 100 km/h in 5.8 seconds. It also could pull off 1.07 G at the skidpad. All while being able to carry four people for at least shorter distances, and at least a small amount of luggage.

The Huldra was discontinued in 1991, with no direct successor.

[Skygel14]

a beautiful sports car, i love the rear end and the 16 valve engine had to be a good choice for the time

[Knugcab]

Thanks, the inspiration is when Lotus first engineered a 16 valve head for the Vauxhall slant 4, and then made their own block to fit the head for the Esprit. In this case it stays at just the head though.