“They wouldn’t let me touch this thing until last week,” he says to me laughing and wiggling into the split bench seat beside me. “They kept me far away from it.”

Volvo is celebrating its 60th birthday and has scheduled a handful of events around the country to mark the occasion, bringing along both the historic cars, including a 1933 PV654; Volvo’s first luxury car, a 1955 PV444, the first Volvo exported to the U.S., and a 1969 P1800S, which made it’s debut in the popular television show, the Saint, and current cars including the new XC90 and the Polestar V60. 

The future of Volvo in the U.S. has been questioned by both fans and customers alike ever since they were sold by Ford and snapped up by the Chinese company, Geely. The company has been relatively quiet for the last 5 years and as Keressemakers says, this year marks Volvo’s revival.

“The last 5 years have been really hard for Volvo in the U.S. We tuned down our sales and have had to focus on completely new platforms, new engines and new top hats for the brand. It’s been a complete overhaul. We’ve been waiting for the XC90 to come to market to show that we aren’t pulling out of the U.S. ” 

Keressemakers says that between now and 2018 Volvo will launch a total of 14 new cars. I ask Keressemakers if he thinks we’ll ever get another great 240 wagon back in the U.S. and he’s surprisingly animated and passionate about the topic. 

“I’ve said this for the last 10 years. From a demographic point of view, wagons should come back because the generation that disliked them so much is older, and the generation that was raised in them seem to love the old ones so much. That’s why we launched the V60 and we’ll launch the V90 in the future.”

From the passenger seat the Volvo Sport feels like a motorcycle. The top is down and the Spanish moss blows gently as it hangs across the road like something out of “Gone with the Wind.” There are no seat belts, which given Volvo’s reputation for safety, is a surprise. When the Volvo Sport was built, Volvo was known as it is today—safe and a bit boring. 

“There’s always the question of whether we’ll get a P1800 again,” says Keressemakers “and we’re looking at that but we are very focused on replacing the bread-and-butter portfolio. It sounds very boring but it’s where the business is and the cream on the cake will come later.”

“The Volvo Sport is really easy to drive,” he says as he uses the gooseneck to shift down into first. The interior of the car is as simple as it is elegant. A handful of black-dial gauges: water temp, water pressure, oil temp and pressure, battery voltage, a simple radio (that sadly didn’t work), five knobs including the choke, a pull chain for cooling, and a lighter adorn the elegant upright dash. All of the writing on the dash is in Swedish, though someone has labeled a knob on the passenger side with “Choke.” The gooseneck shifter comes out from under the dash, unlike the shifter in the P1800 which comes up from the floor. The car ticks along perfectly as we drive.

After a short jaunt we end up in front of a Marriott and swap positions. It’s my turn to drive and I’m nervous, even though I’m no stranger to manual transmission cars, or old ones. But the manuals I’ve driven are the modern kind—not the must-double-clutch kind—and I’m worried I’ll kill the little car or worse. Kerssemakers assures me it’s going to be fine.

The cockpit of the Volvo Sport is incredibly tight, and I have to do a dance of sorts to slide into the split bench seat with the slightest bit of grace. You can’t just slide into the seat like modern cars because the gap between the steering wheel and the seat (which aren’t very adjustable) is rather small. At 5’7” my legs don’t fit under the steering wheel. So, first I sit, then bring in one leg by flaring my knee to the side, followed by the other. It’s a bit of a trick to do elegantly in a skirt.

The dash is very upright—much more like a boat than a car—and the steering wheel feels thin, elegant, and light in my hands. I can feel the vibration of the engine; the clutch is soft and pliable beneath my foot. I’m already grinning from ear to ear. There’s nothing left to do but motor on.

Gently, I depress the clutch, slide the wiggly gearshift into first and gradually let off the clutch as I press the gas. There’s no jerk or jump, and the car rolls smoothly up the hill. The steering is loose and each little road undulation hops the wheel around in my hands. It’s both absolutely terrifying and without question one of the best things that I’ve ever felt.  

Even at 20 miles per hour the car feels dangerous and fun. First is down, second is up and to the right, third directly below, and reverse is all the way to the right. I shift momentarily into second as traffic speeds up but with the three-speed transmission there isn’t really any need to. You could tool around town all day in first and be just fine with the wind blowing in your hair and the jumpy, jilty little car bouncing along underneath you. I can’t imagine what the Volvo Sport would be like to drive at speed, let alone in a crash. It doesn’t surprise me that Volvo killed it off.

Volvo CEO North America Lex Kerssemakers and the author.

“You know, I don’t believe this whole thing about Millenials not driving,” Kerssemakers says as I drive. “People still want mobility and they want to be connected. We offer them that by bringing all of those things together in the new Volvo cockpit.”

As I pull back into the parking lot, nary a dramatic moment on the short drive, the light little Volvo Sport draws attention. I’m sad to see our short jaunt at low speeds come to an end. “You see,” says Kerssemakers, “this is what driving is all about: The enjoyment.”

He’s right. I’m grinning like a fool.