Star Wars (both in cinemas and in politics), robots and computers: During the early 1980s, the year 2000 represented wild technological advancements that were supposed to make every day life easier and propel mankind into a new era.

Automakers contributed their fair share of speculation and promised that the car of the year 2000 would be high-tech, efficient, aerodynamic and quiet. The first steps towards those ambitious goals came in the form of on-board computers, talking cars and experimental prototypes.

Often at the forefront of automotive innovation, Volvo started imagining what the car of the future would look like when it launched the Lightweight Component Project (LCP) 2000 project in 1979. It was an off-shot of an electric vehicle project that Volvo started working on 1976 and cancelled for a multitude of reasons.

Engineers were given a strict set of guidelines: The LCP had to offer room for at least two adults, weigh no more than 1,543 pounds (700 kilos) and use a maximum of 4 liters of fuel every 100 kilometers (roughly 71 U.K. mpg / 58 U.S. mpg). In a time period when carburetors were still widespread and emissions testing was almost non-existent, these statistics were almost unheard of. Cars like the Citroën 2CV weighed considerably less but used a little more fuel, and some vehicle that tipped the scale at around 700 kilos used fuel two or three times faster than the rate Volvo was aiming for.

The four LCP prototypes built during the early 1980s were presented to the public at a conference on the environment that took place in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1983. All of them were visually identical and wore a sharp and aerodynamic front end with the headlights and the emblem mounted under pieces of glass. Out back, the cars boasted a tall, upright hatch made out of plastic that enabled the rear passengers to climb in and out of the rear facing seats. To keep the weight to a minimum, the LCP prototypes were constructed out of advanced materials including carbon fiber, plastic, aluminum and magnesium.

Volvo designed two engines for the LCPs: The first was a 1.4-liter 90-horsepower cast-iron three-cylinder turbodiesel that was mounted transversally under the front hood. It could run on any fuel and it was entirely cooled by the engine oil, eliminating the need for a radiator, a water pump, hoses and so forth. The second engine was a 50-horsepower 1.3-liter turbodiesel unit made entirely out of magnesium.

Power was sent to the front wheels via either a five-speed manual transmission or an electronically-controlled CVT.

Never seriously considered for mass production, the LCP prototypes drew mixed reactions from both the public and Volvo’s top brass. Motorists and engineers alike were interested in the answer that the odd-looking cars could provide but very few people would have been willing to sign a check and park one in their driveway.

When the project was done, the data gathered during the testing phase was filed away and consulted regularly over the course of the 1980s and 1990s. The cars themselves were stored at Volvo’s headquarters and forgotten about for several years, but the 480 that was introduced three years later was loosely inspired by the LCP’s boxy, wedge-shaped body.