Arrrr, mateys! Have you ever fancied one o' them thar XC90s, Billy? Well, here's Billy's chance - on Monday Volvo Car Corporation kicked off a treasure hunt for a buried XC90 V8 to support its promotion of Disney's upcoming movie "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" - no swordplay required.
Here's how it works: you pick up a treasure map at your local Volvo dealer, then sign up at the treasure hunt website. Clues and puzzles are emailed to participants, and if you answer correctly, you remain in the hunt and get more clues. The contest wraps up July 12, when Volvo selects seven finalists from the group of treasure hunters who correctly answered all the clues.Finalists are flown to the secret car burial location, handed shovels and compete to find the car. The first to dig up the Volvo gets to keep it.
This isn't the first time Volvo's donned the corporate eyepatch and played pirate. Disney is the main sponsor of Volvo's entry in the Volvo Ocean Race, and the appropriately named Black Pearl (pictured) is currently in second place heading into the closing stage of the race, which finishes this weekend in Sweden.
[Source: Volvo]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 64)
Jonathan @ Jun 13th 2006 10:40AM
Judging by that map, are we to believe it's hidden somewhere in Switzerland?
PJ @ Jun 13th 2006 11:46AM
Sigh. I'm sure this kind of thing seems like a good idea to marketing departments, and I'm sure it'd be fun if you were actually in attendance. But I can't help wondering how much money automakers would save--and thus be able to funnel back into R&D--if they skipped these cheesy promotions.
Volvo, for instance, might be better able to engineer an inline-Six to replace the groany, "rubber-band"-feeling Fives that afflict most of their current models.
Oh, well. Maybe Disney gave them enough of a kickback that it'll pay for itself. Or maybe not.
Paul @ Jun 13th 2006 12:00PM
God I want that Xc90 so much. HOT version of it.
JGH @ Jun 13th 2006 12:03PM
Ha, at first I thought this was a race to retrieve the XC90s from the ship that sunk when they were first introduced.
Howard Kerr @ Jun 13th 2006 12:07PM
Re PJ,
apparently you haven't heard, the '07 S80 will have an inline 6 with the option of a V8.
PJ @ Jun 13th 2006 12:34PM
D'oh--I forgot about that.
Mike @ Jun 13th 2006 12:39PM
If they dont find it, i wonder what it will grow?
toddp @ Jun 13th 2006 3:44PM
This comment mirrors the commet by JGH. Actually the vehicle is burried under lake Ponchatrane. It will include water marks from being submerged for some undetermined period of time. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://nomoon.org/no/_MG_5751.jpg&imgrefurl=http://nomoon.org/no/&h=307&w=461&sz=61&tbnid=frOcQj9p8Gcu_M:&tbnh=83&tbnw=125&hl=en&ei=eRWPRJvjDanIaOiluMwK&sig2=XFiaOuUndEr5u-M0EDmQrw&start=2&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwater%2Bdamaged%2Bcars%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26rls%3DRNWE,RNWE:2005-34,RNWE:en
Jackson @ Jun 14th 2006 2:57AM
Hmm, metal shovels digging blindly in a frantic search for a car. Somehow, I don't see that as a very good combination.
Doug @ Jun 14th 2006 10:15PM
All that will be found is an empty crate and a partial bottle of rum....the crew that burried the SUV has already stolen it. I guess the hidden pirate in them has emerged.
Eugenia Heist @ Jun 15th 2006 7:46PM
Has anyone figured out how to actually work the darned puzzle? I figured out about the skull card but must be pretty dumb to not be able to figure out a riddle.
Sally-Ann @ Jun 16th 2006 7:08AM
OK, I have solved the clue to the porcelain, but what do I do with it, aprt from keep sliding it around the screen?
aquaman @ Jun 16th 2006 5:00PM
OK, I've gotten to St. Helena .... I'm stuck on figuring out the coordinates from the ladder. Any ideas?
Erik @ Jun 16th 2006 5:10PM
You need to figure out your next map coordinates by reassembling the plate from the fragments. It's driving me crazy! There is one piece you had to find during a previous stop. I have it but it's not helping me. Anybody get it figured out yet?
Erik @ Jun 16th 2006 5:44PM
Ah - figured it out! Now the ladder is giving me trouble.
Nicole @ Jun 17th 2006 12:44AM
I am stuck at St. Helena still trying to reassemble the plates. Any other hints that could help me move along? Thank you so much. My boyfriend and i have been trying since 5:00 its driving me nuts.
SLJ @ Jun 17th 2006 1:16AM
All the peices to the plate are there - but that last one is really elusive. The St Helena ladder has really got me stumped, has anyone out there figured it out? Can you offer a clue, other than the KEY word?
Emily @ Jun 17th 2006 12:40PM
I've got to St helena, but can't figure out the riddle to get in... Can anyone help?
Thanks xx
blackbeard @ Jun 17th 2006 6:30PM
How in the hell do you get off Bermuda?
Barbara @ Jun 17th 2006 6:54PM
"count" is the word to get on St Helens can't figure the cordinates for next location need help