Volvo treasure hunt delayed after locating $500 million instead

In an interesting turn of events, it seems like the winner of Volvo's lucrative treasure hunt won't be unearthing the $50,000 treasure anytime soon, as the automaker's hunt partner (Odyssey Marine Exploration) has happened upon an actual $500 million treasure instead. The reported fortune is located somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean -- in a secretive area known only as Black Swan -- but reports are claiming that a court in the Spanish coastal town of La Linea has "issued an order for the Spanish Guardia Civil to detain any Odyssey vessel should it leave the port of Gibraltar," which has brought about an abrupt halt to Volvo's retrieval plans. Thankfully, it sounds like the Russian winner will still be awarded the dough and a new XC70 to boot, but there's no telling how long it'll be before Odyssey is able to put aside its bigger worries and dig up the (comparatively) paltry $50k.

[Via CarTechMag]

[Riza @ Jun 23rd 2007 12:38PM]

The Volvo in only worth $50k but they spent how much to actualy hide it and now unearth it??
Sounds like this Odyssey company was using the Volvo contest to snoop around in Spanish waters and got busted for it.

[Kenny @ Jun 23rd 2007 1:42PM]

This isn't new news. I heard about this close to a month ago... Still a cool story though.

[Jesse @ Jun 23rd 2007 2:48PM]

wikipedia has a big write up on it under the name

Black Swan Project

[Striker @ Jun 23rd 2007 10:48PM]

Last time I checked, Volvo was giving away an XC90 [an SUV] but not an XC70 [a station wagon]. I don't see the point in giving away an XC90 anyways due to the fact that it was Volvo's foray into the SUV market, but was a failure (My mom has one, it is so bad it hurts; only one good thing, the DVD player). BMW is apparently in talks to buy Volvo, so lets hope they can fix the brand [X3 and X5 are pizzwnage].

[Deoki @ Jun 25th 2007 6:54AM]

They are having problems because they are stupid!
INSTEAD sailling from Spain to the Atlantic Ocean, THEY SHOULD saill from Portugal, wich is pretty mutch better! If they have to cross the "Cabo da Boa Esperança" they would'nt need any licence and Im sure that the Portuguese Coast Gard would help any ship crossing it.
Spain has only 5% of its coast inside the Atlantic, while Portugal has almost 95%, since Portugal and Spain are part of the same peninsula ("Peninsula Iberica", or Iberium Peninsul).