Volvo Lotte: A Life’s Mission That Started With a Lottery Win

What happens when a chance encounter becomes a life’s work? When winning a car not only brings joy, but also sparks an idea that gives rise to an entire business? The story of Volvo Lotte shows how a single lottery ticket can create a whole new world – when it is driven by passion and the conviction that classic Volvos must be driven to create lasting memories.

Volvo Lotte sells and repairs the full range of classic Volvo models, from pre-war cars right through to vehicles from the 1990s. The focus is on models from the 1950s and 1960s, such as the Amazon, the P1800 and the PV444/544, known in Dutch as the ‘Katterug’ or ‘Catback’. His workshop and showroom are located in Ophermet in the Netherlands, and everyone who has visited them is overwhelmed by the sheer size, quality and variety of the collection.

The first question concerns the story behind ‘Volvo Lotte’, which, according to the website, began in 2014 with a lottery win.

Others might have sold the prize straight away or had a bit of fun with it, rather than setting up a business. How did that come about?

Alain: I already had a special connection with Volvos. At 19, I bought my first Volvo, a 164. And I had to start tinkering with the cars straight away, because I didn’t have the money to take them to a professional garage. Then I repaired my siblings’ Volvos, and later I sold spare parts to fund my own motoring. I started fitting these spare parts into my first customers’ cars. Word got around that this bloke repairs classic Volvos.

But winning the 1962 Volvo PV544 in the lottery at the 2014 Volvo Klassiker Beurs in Rosmalen was the decisive trigger. In 2015, I finally founded Volvo Lotte, the name comes, of course, from that lottery win. And we want our customers to feel just as though they’ve won the lottery when they got a car from us.

And even after that, it was still quite a journey. How did you get Volvo Lotte to where it is today?

Alain: It grew gradually. But at some point I realised: if I’m going to do something with this, it won’t be as a traditional classic car dealership. I want to give people something positive. We’re not your average used car dealer who buys an old Volvo for €3,000 – 4,000 and sells it on for €5,000. That just doesn’t work. When we do something, we do it properly. I’ve got a workshop, I’ve got to pay my staff, and I simply don’t want to do it that way.

You know, I’ve probably got about a hundred Volvos here at the moment. That’s partly because I don’t just sell them to anyone. The prices for the cars you get here aren’t exactly cheap. But that’s why we attract buyers who really love the car. We want to match the right cars with the right buyers. To give them a new home with people who’ll keep them in good condition and maybe even have them serviced by us. That’s the only way it can work for us.

Many in the industry are complaining that the classic car business isn’t doing as well as it used to. How are you dealing with this?

Alain: Sure, the world’s a bit of a madhouse at the moment. But as I said: I want to give people a positive experience. Of course, there are all these crises, and you only have to pop into the supermarket to see it: yes, everything’s getting more expensive, and you need to cut back somewhere.

That’s why we’re renting out our cars more and more often these days. By the day. It doesn’t cost much, but I simply want you to enjoy the drive, the old-fashioned way – slowly, at a leisurely pace, without air conditioning, with the windows down or the roof open, the wind in your hair and the sound of the sea in your ears – to show you: See, this does you good! This way, we can help people understand what actually makes a classic Volvo so special. And let’s put it this way: If the world comes to an end, at least you’ll have had a few wonderful experiences.

What exactly makes a classic Volvo so much different from other classic cars that are popular with enthusiasts?

Alain: Look, who used to drive an old Volvo? Especially here in the Netherlands, they were just everyday cars. So people only did the bare minimum to them, just kept them running so they wouldn’t break down completely. Of course, that works quite well with an older Volvo, because they really are built to last. Ordinary, often older people – that was the typical Volvo driver here. But that sense of normality, which is still present in many people of our generation, is also what makes them so appealing today.

The typical classic car enthusiast is a world away from that. He is between 30 and 40 years old, buys the Porsche or Jaguar he’s always wanted as a treat, looks after it with great care, invests in it and enjoys it to the full. But why shouldn’t that work with a classic Volvo too? A classic car has to mean something to you; it has to offer you something you can’t get anywhere else.

It is the value of the stories you experience with them. And in that sense, a classic Volvo is worth just as much as a Porsche, a Ferrari or a Jaguar – perhaps even more? The stories you create with a Volvo are different: Memories of happy holidays with the whole family, of reliability, sturdiness, simplicity and good design – and of that long trip with friends to the seaside, to Paris or Rome.

Is that where your ‚Making Memories‘ slogan comes from, the one you use quite often, for example when you post something on Instagram?

Alain: Yes, exactly. Look, last year we drove across England with the whole family in a Volvo that’s over 60 years old (a Volvo 544 convertible), through the streets of London right up to Parliament. We even dressed up in vintage clothes, and people loved it! Of course, it was exhausting too. But what a story! We’ll never forget it, and neither will my children. That’s how you create a story with a car that you couldn’t create without it. And I’ll probably never sell this particular car. Take the same journey in a brand-new SUV with air conditioning and all the comforts you can get these days. You’ll probably arrive feeling completely relaxed. But the memory, the story – that’s gone.

One of our mechanics drove from here to Morocco in an old Renault R4 a few years ago. I’ve no idea how many times the car broke down. But it’s exactly stories like that you remember!