See that “O” as the first letter on the license plate?
Many Volvo advertisements had “O” as the first letter as that was Göteborgs län (län = county), where the Volvo factory and headquarters were located.
Advertising…it is all about enticing a specific group with call to action. What is the action? To buy the product, of course. Volvo was and still is no different. It was common to show their product in situations that the consumer can identify themselves with or aspire to.
Ironically if you want to call it that, Seattle also used “O” is the designation. This is a plate you would see on a 1967 car in Seattle. Today, it adorns your Editor’s 1967 Volvo Wagon.
Note the “L” on the license plate. That is the county designation as in “Kristianstads län. It was later annexed by Skåne län. Skåne is the most southern part of Sweden. It is very flat with lots of farm country. I am guessing Volvo wanted to suck up to the southern farmer/hunter with this picture.
Here Volvo are sucking up to the inland farmers. “P” stands for Älvsborgs län which is east of Göteborg and the coast.
The target market here seems to be blacksmiths who decorate their shop including the floor with white curtains.
Fun Fact: If you were in heavy Göteborg traffic (back in the day) and spotted a nervous driver in a “P” licensed car it was a sport to tailgate and honk at them and yell “p-bonde” (bonde = farmer)
Since Stockholm is the capital of Sweden they nabbed the letter “A”. If you were of royal decent, you could have a plate starting with A1.
In 1972 Sweden went to a generic number sequence on a larger plate with an area in the center for the license tab sticker. Not only did it loose the county designation, it lost it’s charm as well. It was hated by US car owners as they did not fit the space for a US plate. Also, motorcycle owner were not happy.
One particular gentleman who built a beautiful Harley chopper in the early 70’s refused to install these massive plates on his ride. It ended up in the living room instead.
The new plates were created in an effort to internationalize the plates as Sweden was eyeing the integration with EU.
These letters are used even today to reference a geographic area.