Los Angeles is a bastion of car culture, especially when it comes to rare and obscure stuff. I’ve seen everything from Bugatti Divos and Jaguar XJ220s to Ferrari 250 SWBs and Maybach G-Class Landaulets driving down the street or parallel parked like a normal car, so it’s not often that my somewhat-jaded self spots something that genuinely surprises me. When on a walk in my neighborhood the other day I came across something that got me more excited than any supercar or classic in recent memory: a super-rare 2008 Volvo C30 Boston Red Sox Special Edition.
Now while I love looking at hot men who play sports I’m not exactly a Sports Guy, but I am from Boston, which means that by law I was brought up as a Red Sox fan and I must remain one until I die. I vividly remember the 2004 season, when the Sox reversed the curse won their first World Series since 1918, and the Sox went on to win again in 2007. The latter year is what this limited-run Volvo hatch was built to celebrate.
It might seem like a strange choice for special edition inspiration, but the Venn diagram of Volvo owners and residents of New England is basically a circle. A Popular Mechanics report from 2015 discovered that in Massachusetts the Volvo XC70 sold at 305 percent of the national average while four other models had market shares more than double the average, and those numbers were even greater in other states in New England.
Volvo only built 107 of the Boston Red Sox Special Editions, with each unit representing one of the Sox’s wins in the 2007 season. For reference, McLaren built 106 F1s (race cars included), and I’d wager that far more F1s are still on the road than Red Sox C30s. That also makes the Red Sox C30 five times rarer than the Bugatti Chiron and 13 times rarer than the Ferrari F40.
These C30s got Passion Red paint with the R-Design body kit and silver exterior accents. A small Red Sox badge was added to the front fenders, and the rear glass got a large transparent Red Sox logo, though it looks like this particular C30’s glass was replaced at some point. The interior got floor mats with the Red Sox logo and a numbered plaque on the dash. Each Red Sox car was powered by a turbocharged 5-cylinder engine and could be had with either a 6-speed manual or 5-speed Geartronic automatic.
To really appeal to the baseball die-hards, every Red Sox C30 was authenticated by the Major League Baseball Authentication Program, and each one came with a certificate of authenticity that was signed by the President and CEO of Volvo North America and the President and CEO of the Boston Red Sox. Commemorating the final game that got the Sox the win, car number 107 was donated to the Red Sox Foundation for a charity raffle. When new, the Red Sox C30 started at $30,210, about $7,000 more than the base price of a C30.
I lived in Massachusetts until I graduated high school in 2011, stayed at home on my holiday breaks and moved back for about a year in the middle of college, and I don’t think I ever saw one of these C30s outside of an auto show. Honestly, if it wasn’t for this one’s mismatched front bumper and the bumper stickers at the rear catching my eye, I probably would have just walked past it. There’s never been one on Bring A Trailer or Cars & Bids, and there are barely any current or even old for-sale listings that are Googleable. I wouldn’t be surprised if I never see one of these again — maybe, if I’m lucky, one will pop up at the Pebble Beach Concours in 30 years.
