The Most Beautiful Volvo Ever Made - History of the Volvo P1800 | The Bad Blonde Car History

Most people do not think of the Volvo p1800 when they think of Volvo! It is hands down the most beautiful Volvo ever produced (or fight me). Join me, The Bad Blonde, for an informal history trip talking all about the Volvo 1800 series! #Volvo #Volvop1800 #ThebadBlonde The Volvo p1800 genesis was like many other sports cars… The company wanted a taste of the US and European sports car market. Most of that was US, you see the US was being flooded by foreign sports cars. Now, they had already made a failed attempt with the p1900.. That only sold 68 cars.. It was a cute little fiberglass roadster that was inspired when the Volvo’s president, Assar Gabrielsson, saw the Corvette. Why did the p1900 fail? Well it was poorly constructed and not reliable… The Volvo president successor, Gunnar Engellau, took is for a test drive on a weekend, came back to the office on Monday and cancelled it’s production.. He is quoted to have said “I thought it would fall apart” Alright, so they failed but decided to try again. The man heading the project was Helmer Petterson the man behind the Volvo PV44. Which was a car that helped assure Volvo’s future during and post WWII. So here is a funny thing, Helmer Petterson’s is in charge of this… BUT it is said that unbeknownst to him his son Pelle Petterson who is under the tutelage of famed Pietro Frua.. Side note, Pelle Petterson would also go on to become a prolific yacht designer. Now get this.. Volvo refused to recognize Pelle’s authorship till 2009. Why you might ask? They wanted to it to be known as an Italian design… That is a little silly. Okay so Carrozeria Frua builds the first three prototypes in 1957 and 1958.. And Helmer Petterson picked up one of the prototypes and drove it straight to the manufacturer Karmann in West Germany. You see Karmann’s engineers had already been preparing and they were ready build! BUT you know what happened? Karmann’s most important customer said Nah AHHH.. Yes, Volkswagen forbade Karmann to build the p1800 out of fear it would compete with the Karmann Ghia that had started production in 1957. And good lord this ALMOST caused the p1800 to be entirely abandoned by Volvo.. Well it did seem like Volvo had decided to nix it.. BUT there is a twist Helmer Petterson brought in two investors and tried to buy the p1800 components directly, to sell and market himself! Volvo had not mentioned the car at all in the press and kept quite about it.. Unitl a photo of the car was released to the press with a press release… Which made Volvo have to acknowledge it.. And then they what they hey, let’s do it. And in 1960 the p1800 made it’s public debut at the Brussels Motor Show.. Volvo worked up a deal with Jensen Motors and we had car getting built! The p1800 was powered by the b18 straight 4 engine.. B= bensin, Swedish word for gasoline and the 18 of rhte 1800 cc displacement. The p1800 gained popularity from being in featured in The Saint tv series, driven by Roger Moore.. Interestingly, the XKE was actually offered the opportunity first but they declined! Now important to note, Jensen is located in the UK.. Which means the Volvo p1800 was a car mostly made in the UK… Until 1963 when Jensen lost the contract and production went back to Sweden and with that the name of the car changed to 1800s.. the s standing for the Sweden. Then in 1970 we would see the 1800e hit the scene with quite a few changes.. The E standing for Einspritzung… Which means fuel injection! The 1800e was powered with the b20e engine with Bosche D-Jetronic fuel injection. Side note, that is also why the Porsche 912e has the e on the end 😊 Top speed was 118mph and this was the first of the 1800 series to feature four-wheel disk brakes. In 1972 we would see the final p1800 variant from Volvo… the 1800es a two door station wagon aka shooting brake that featured an all glass tailgate. Only a smidge over 8k were produced in it’s two model years though it did have a lasting influence.. The all-glass rear hatch of the ES-modeal proved quite popular and was used in future Volvo designs. Due to that all-glass rear hatch.. it was Sweden the P1800ES was nicknamed Fiskbilen (The Fish van); in Germany and Switzerland it was nicknamed Schneewittchensarg (Snow White's coffin), because of the all-glass rear hatch. And in 1973 we would see the final production year of the 1800 line.. Having produced 47,492 units since 1961. An absolutely beautiful car.. What do you think? What’s your favorite Volvo? Anything I should make a video on you see behind me? Be sure to subscribe