Series End
I shot this in a parking lot of an apple orchard...it was definitely the apple of my eye!
Volvo and sportiness didn’t exactly go hand in hand 50 years ago, although one car with nippy ambitions stood out from the Swedish carmaker’s lineup. That car was the P1800, which came to change Volvo’s fortunes in the sports car arena after the resoundingly unsuccessful, fiberglass-bodied P1900. Volvo churned out 39,414 P1800s between 1961 and 1972, in three derivatives: P1800 S, 1800 S - S stood for Sverige or Sweden, and 1800 E - E stood for einspritzung, which means fuel injection in German.
Volvo P1800 Exterior
For the P1800’s exterior styling, Volvo went to Pelle Petterson, who was a sailor and yacht designer. He was also the son of Helmer Petterson, the man in charge of Volvo’s PV444 back in the 1940s.
In designing the P1800, Pelle worked under the supervision of Pietro Frua, whose studio was at the time a subsidiary of Carrozzeria Ghia. Hence the zesty Italian vibe oozed by the P1800’s body panels, in serious contrast with the Swedish design approach. What’s more, the floor pan of the P1800 was, in fact, a shorter version of the Volvo 121/122S, so the car had a shorter wheelbase as a result (245 centimeters or 8.03 feet). Overall length came in at 440 centimeters (14.4 feet)
As Jay Leno once said, this car could have easily been a Ferrari. It was rare, it was cool, it had just the right visual appeal with those round headlights, long hood, swooping rear side fins and then it had the fame, courtesy of a prolonged appearance in the British hit television series The Saint.
In the last year of its career, the P1800 was also offered in three-door estate form (call it a shooting brake if you wish).
Volvo fitted the P1800 with a then brand-new 1.8-liter (1778 cc), four-cylinder gasoline engine. The initial power rating was 100 horsepower, but over the years, the unit saw it bumped to 108, 115, and 120 horsepower. Come 1968, the P1800 got a 2.0-liter (1986 cc), carbureted engine with 118 horsepower followed by a fuel-injected derivative in 1969 - but power only went up to 120 horsepower.
The gearbox range included three options: a four-speed manual, a four-speed manual with overdrive, or a 3-speed automatic. In the front, the P1800 sported hydraulic disc brakes, while the rear had drums. Later models got discs on all four corners.
Series End
I shot this in a parking lot of an apple orchard...it was definitely the apple of my eye!
Volvo and sportiness didn’t exactly go hand in hand 50 years ago, although one car with nippy ambitions stood out from the Swedish carmaker’s lineup. That car was the P1800, which came to change Volvo’s fortunes in the sports car arena after the resoundingly unsuccessful, fiberglass-bodied P1900. Volvo churned out 39,414 P1800s between 1961 and 1972, in three derivatives: P1800 S, 1800 S - S stood for Sverige or Sweden, and 1800 E - E stood for einspritzung, which means fuel injection in German.
Volvo P1800 Exterior
For the P1800’s exterior styling, Volvo went to Pelle Petterson, who was a sailor and yacht designer. He was also the son of Helmer Petterson, the man in charge of Volvo’s PV444 back in the 1940s.
In designing the P1800, Pelle worked under the supervision of Pietro Frua, whose studio was at the time a subsidiary of Carrozzeria Ghia. Hence the zesty Italian vibe oozed by the P1800’s body panels, in serious contrast with the Swedish design approach. What’s more, the floor pan of the P1800 was, in fact, a shorter version of the Volvo 121/122S, so the car had a shorter wheelbase as a result (245 centimeters or 8.03 feet). Overall length came in at 440 centimeters (14.4 feet)
As Jay Leno once said, this car could have easily been a Ferrari. It was rare, it was cool, it had just the right visual appeal with those round headlights, long hood, swooping rear side fins and then it had the fame, courtesy of a prolonged appearance in the British hit television series The Saint.
In the last year of its career, the P1800 was also offered in three-door estate form (call it a shooting brake if you wish).
Volvo fitted the P1800 with a then brand-new 1.8-liter (1778 cc), four-cylinder gasoline engine. The initial power rating was 100 horsepower, but over the years, the unit saw it bumped to 108, 115, and 120 horsepower. Come 1968, the P1800 got a 2.0-liter (1986 cc), carbureted engine with 118 horsepower followed by a fuel-injected derivative in 1969 - but power only went up to 120 horsepower.
The gearbox range included three options: a four-speed manual, a four-speed manual with overdrive, or a 3-speed automatic. In the front, the P1800 sported hydraulic disc brakes, while the rear had drums. Later models got discs on all four corners.