Volvo P1800: Masterpiece

Introduction

Beautiful Classic Cars. Timeless and elegant design, and are worth millions on the market today. Cars shaped like graceful, silver bullets that cut through the air. The Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, the Lamborghini Miura, the Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing, the Bugatti 58C Atlantic, and the Jaguar E-Type. But you would not expect a beautifully styled car to come out of Volvo, as their cars are famous for being rather mainstream looking and durable.

Meet the P1800, Volvo’s attempt in creating a 2-door sports car for the European and American market. A beauty which would never let you down, and will go the distance, just like what Volvos are known for. It is the most beautiful car to come out of Sweden, with a curvaceous body, long rear and carefully sculpted front end. A beauty that once held a mileage record.

Birth of the P1800

In 1957, Volvo decided to create a sports car that would appeal to the European and American markets. Their previous attempt, the Volvo P1900 didn’t really take off the line, as only 68 cars were sold in total. Volvo assigned their engineering consultant, Helmer Petterson, to lead the project in creating and developing the Volvo P1800. The car was designed by his son, Pelle Petterson, who worked at Italian design studio Pietro Frua.

They built the first three prototypes between September 1957 and Early 1958, called the Volvo P1800-X, X for experimental. In December 1957, Helmer Petterson drove all the way from Volvo’s headquarters in Sweden to Osnabruck, West Germany to the headquarters of Karmann Engineering. Petterson hoped that Karmann would be able to build the P1800. Karmann’s engineers had already been preparing to build the P1800 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, did not want Karmann to take the offer. 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 almost caused the project to be abandoned.

Further Development and Production.

Other German firms, NSU, Drautz and Hanomag, were contacted but none was chosen because Volvo did not believe they met Volvo’s manufacturing quality-control standards. The P1800 project wasa on the brink of being abandoned because Karmann were forced to deny the project due to their strong bonds with Volkswagen, and other German manufacturing firms did not comply with Volvo’s unbelievably high quality standards. This motivated Helmer Petterson to obtain financial backing from two financial firms with the intention of buying the components directly from Volvo and marketing the car himself. At this point Volvo kept the P1800 a secret.

Then a photo of the car surfaced, putting Volvo in a position where they had to acknowledge its existence. The car was presented to the public for the first time at the Brussels Motor Show in January 1960 and Volvo turned to Jensen Motors, whose production lines were under-utilized, and they agreed a contract to manufacture 10,000 cars. The Linwood, Scotland plant was assigned to create the unibody shells, which were then taken by rail to be assembled at Jensen in West Bromwich, England. In September 1960, the first production P1800 left the factory line.

The P1800

The car was powered by Volvo’s B18 engine, paired with dual carburetors, producing a total of 118 HP. The P1800 also came with another engine called the B18B, which was a modified Volvo Amazon with a different camshaft and a higher compression ratio. The new B18 was actually developed from the existing B36 V8 engine used in Volvo trucks at the time. This cut production costs, as well as furnishing the P1800 with a strong engine boasting five main crankshaft bearings. The B18 was matched with the newer M40 manual gearbox through 1963. From 1963 to 1972 the M41 gearbox with electrically actuated overdrive was a popular option.

Two overdrive types were used, the D-Type through 1969, and the J-type through 1973. The overdrive effectively gave the 1800 series a fifth gear, for improved fuel efficiency and decreased drivetrain wear. Cars without overdrive had a lower-ratio differential, which had the interesting effect of giving them a somewhat higher top speed of just under 120 MPH than the more popular overdrive models. This was because the non-overdrive cars could reach the engine’s rev limit in top gear, while the overdrive-equipped cars could not.

The P1800S and P1800E

As time progressed, Jensen had problems with quality control, so the contract was ended early after 6,000 cars had been built. In 1963 production was moved to Volvo’s Lundby Plant in Gothenburg and the car’s name was changed to 1800S, S for Sweden. The engine was improved with an additional 8 HP. In 1966 the four-cylinder engine was updated to 115 HP. Top speed was 108 MPH in the base model. In 1969 the B18 engine was replaced with the B20B variant of the B20 giving a total power output 118 HP.

The car was updated for the 1970 model year with the fuel-injected 1800E, which featured Bosch D Jetronic fuel injection and a revised camshaft, and produced 130 bhp (97 kW) without sacrificing fuel economy. Top speed was around 118 MPH and acceleration from 0–60 MPH took 9.5 seconds. In addition, the 1800E was the first 1800 with four-wheel disc brakes. The base 1800 series had front discs and rear drums.

The P1800ES

Volvo introduced its final P1800 variant, the 1800ES in 1972 as a two-door station wagon with a frameless, all-glass rear. The final design was chosen after two prototypes had been built by Sergio Coggiola and Pietro Frua. Frua’s prototype, Raketen, is located in the Volvo Museum. Both Italian prototypes were considered too futuristic, and instead in-house designer Jan Wilsgaard’s proposal, the Beach Car, was accepted. The ES engine was downgraded to 125 HP by reducing the compression ratio with a thicker head gasket. Although maximum power was downgraded, the car’s on-the-road performance was actually improved.

The ES’s rear backseats folded down to create a long flat loading area, which paved the way to modern day backseats. As an alternative to the usual four-speed overdrive manual transmission, a Borg-Warner three-speed automatic was available in the 1800ES. With stricter American safety and emissions standards looming for 1974, Volvo did not see fit to spend the considerable amount that would be necessary to redesign the small-volume 1800ES. Only 8,077 examples of the ES were built in its two-year lifespan.

The all-glass rear hatch of the ES-model proved to be very popular with future Volvo-designers. Similar designs were used on the Volvo 480, on multiple concept cars and on the Volvo C30.

Mileage Record Holder

A 1966 Volvo P1800S and its owner Irv Gordon owns the Guinness world record for highest mileage. Gordon, who has driven the same vehicle since 1966, has driven about 26,000 miles outside of the U.S., in Canada and Mexico, as well as in Europe. He visited Sweden to his P1800’s birthplace. In 1987 the car reached the one million miles mark. In 1998 it was registered as the vehicle with the highest certified mileage driven by the original owner in non-commercial service, by the Guinness Book of World Records, with a total of 1.69 million miles. In 2002 it reached two million miles.

On April 2, 2002, Gordon and his 1800S were guests on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, after reaching the two million miles mark. In January 2011 Gordon and his Volvo were featured on PBS’s Nova ScienceNow and in November 2011 in Hemmings Sports & Exotic Magazine. In June 2013, the car had reached a little over 2,996,000 miles, and in September 2013 the car surpassed the 3 million miles mark in Alaska.