The film franchise Fast and Furious has nothing on perhaps the greatest automobile theft in history.

Seems that over 1,000 Volvo 144s and other odd construction vehicles and trucks were stolen in the 1970s, and no one talks about it much today. In fact, it’s a theft that I’m sure the Volvo Corporation would rather forget. It began with a customer who put in this large order for delivery of some of Volvo’s products. The buyer asked for a discount since the order was so large, and Volvo had no trouble agreeing to a less-than-off-the-rack price. The negotiations between the two sides were amicable. Volvo had dealt with the buyer before with no issues. Perhaps that was part of the long con that the buyer pulled. Perhaps.

At any rate, Volvo was eager to make delivery on such a large purchase. If they could sell $70,000,000 of their cars and other vehicles at one fell swoop, well… And, again perhaps, Volvo’s eyes at that potential payday might have clouded their judgement. Swedish firms are notoriously (they might say suspiciously or realistically) cautious when it came to making big business decisions. On the other hand, did I mention the incredibly large sale?

So, the deal was struck. The buyer would pay upon delivery of the vehicles. The paperwork was done in Stockholm, the containers were loaded on the ship, and the cars made their way to the buyer. Easy-peasy, right?

Not so fast.

Upon receipt, the buyer simply…didn’t pay for the cars or other vehicles. Any of them. And still hasn’t all these years later. Volvo pitched a rather subdued fit and insisted that payment be made Nope. Not one cent was forthcoming. The company, wishing to avoid the public embarrassment of having been bilked, quietly appealed to the Swedish government to intervene since this particular buyer was overseas. I’m not going to say that the Swedish government laughed in the company’s face, but…oh, wait. Yes. Yes, that’s what I’m going to tell you. The Swedish government basically told Volvo that they could do nothing and, what’s more, didn’t want to do anything about the company losing that much money to what amount to a really grand larceny on the part of the buyer.

And, so, Volvo goes down in history as the victim of the largest car theft ever.

That’ll teach them to do business with the government of North Korea.