Too bad for Kurt Vonnegut he fell upon a rear-echelon Swedish car. Had he engaged in a car dealership business involving Volvo marquees, and wrote about them instead for his “Have I Got a Car for You” essay, he could have said only a few valid complaints, probably enough to preserve the integrity of the work and make him a shoo-in for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Testament to the enduring quality of the carmaker we in this forum all love, Volvo celebrates it jubilee year starting March 29 with a Techno-Classica show in Essen, Germany. Billed “As time goes by—80 years with Volvo Cars,” the show is set to be a visual feast of the Swedish carmaker’s history. Slated to break cover again for the event are eight seminal Volvo models, each representing a decade in the Volvo automotive market.

The lineup, predictably, will be spearheaded by the Volvo OV4—the legendary Volvo model that has distinguished itself for being the first to roll off the Gothenburg production plant of the company. From this 4-cylinder open carriage, the Volvo Techno-Classica show will fete a 1930 PV52, the first series of the PV444, an early Amazon, the first version of the 145 estate car, a 240 in jubilee guise, the sporty 480 Turbo, and also the very latest addition to Volvo’s model range, the C30 T5. The lineup is poised to underscore the development of Volvo automotive technology.

The show, organizers say, is a case of looking back to the past to have faith in the future. The latest addition to the impressive Volvo lineup is the Volvo C30 T5, a small, youthful Volvo teeming with driving pleasure features and first-class safety, teems with the confidence that the Swedish automaker enjoys. In Germany the C30 has already received two highly prestigious awards: Goldenes Lenkrad (Golden Steering Wheel) from one of the major Sunday papers, Bild am Sonntag, and Auto Zeitung’s Auto Trophy award in the best compact car class.