Volvo P1800
| Volvo P1800 | |
|---|---|
1965 Volvo 1800S
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| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Volvo Cars |
| Production |
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| Assembly |
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| Designer | Pelle Petterson |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Sports car (S) |
| Body style |
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| Layout | FR layout |
| Related | Volvo Amazon |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | |
| Transmission |
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| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 2,450 mm (96.5 in) |
| Length | 4,350–4,400 mm (171.3–173.2 in) |
| Width | 1,700 mm (66.9 in) |
| Height | 1,280–1,285 mm (50.4–50.6 in) |
| Curb weight | 1,130–1,175 kg (2,491–2,590 lb) |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Volvo P1900 |
| Successor | Volvo 480 (1800ES) Volvo Concept Coupe (spiritual) |
The Volvo P1800 is a two-passenger, front-engine, rear-drive sports car manufactured and marketed by Volvo Cars as a coupe (1961–73) and shooting-brake (1972–73).
While the P1800 was more of a stylish touring car rather than a sports car when it came to its speed capabilities, the P1800 first became popular when it was featured as the main car driven by Roger Moore in the hit television series The Saint which aired from 1962-1969. The P1800 featured styling by Pietro Frua and mechanicals derived from Volvo's Amazon/122 series.
The car was marketed as the Volvo P1800, 1800S, 1800E and 1800ES.
In 1998, an 1800S was certified as the highest mileage private vehicle driven by the original owner in non-commercial service — having exceeded three million miles (over 4.8 million km) as of 2013.
The project was originally started in 1957 because Volvo wanted a sports car to compete in the US & European markets, despite the fact that their previous attempt, the P1900, had failed to take off with only 68 cars sold. The man behind the project was an engineering consultant to Volvo, Helmer Petterson, who in the 1940s was responsible for the Volvo PV444. The design work was done by Helmer's son Pelle Petterson, who worked at Pietro Frua at that time. Volvo insisted it was an Italian design by Frua and only in 2009 officially recognized that Pelle Petterson designed it. The Italian Carrozzeria Pietro Frua design firm (then a recently acquired subsidiary of Ghia) built the first three prototypes between September 1957 and early 1958, later designated by Volvo in September 1958: P958-X1, P958-X2 and P958-X3 (P:Project, 9:September, 58:Year 1958 = P958, X: eXperimental.).
In December 1957 Helmer Petterson drove X1, (the first hand-built P1800 prototype) to Osnabrück, West Germany, headquarters of Karmann. Petterson hoped that Karmann would be able to take on the tooling and building of the P1800. Karmann's engineers had already been preparing working drawings from the wooden styling buck at Frua. Petterson and Volvo chief engineer Thor Berthelius met there, tested the car and discussed the construction with Karmann. They were ready to build it and this meant that the first cars could hit the market as early as December 1958. But in February, Karmann's most important customer, Volkswagen VAG, forbade Karmann to take on the job. They feared that the P1800 would compete with the sales of their own cars, and threatened to cancel all their contracts with Karmann if they took on this car. This setback almost caused the project to be abandoned.
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Wikipedia