Born: 1961 Died: 1973What was to become something of a cult sporty car for a company suffering from a bland image was some time in gestation - and very nearly didn't happen because of industrial intimidation by a competitor.
Volvo wanted a sports car, and in 1956 produced a fibreglass-bodied one in the US which was aimed at targeting the same market as Corvette was doing for GM customers. The P1900 had a 70bhp engine, and was built by a Californian sub-contractor, but the car had bad quality problems and was stopped after only 70 were built.
With a view to doing the idea properly, new management at Volvo commissioned Italian chassis designer Frua to come up with proposals for a "real" sports car. The Swedish company had really wanted Frua's parent Ghia to design it, but that company was already working on VW's Karmann Ghia and the German maker is said to have threatened to take that work away if Ghia worked on a competing car.
When the design was signed off, Volvo asked Karmann to build it, but once again VW exercised its muscle and prevented it, so Volvo went to Britain and after looking at both Bristol and Jensen, went for the latter. The bodies were built by Scotland's Pressed Steel company and shipped to Jensen for completion of the cars. A new Volvo engine was produced, with 100bhp output, and the first cars finally rolled off the line in mid 1961.
The P1800 was an attractive car, with very distinctive lines, and it also proved to be quiet and comfortable, and a good roadholder. But Volvo wasn't happy with the build quality, and after a period when it actually located its own engineers in the Jensen factory, production was finally moved to a new factory in Gothenburg.
The name was modified with the move to Sweden, the prefix P being dropped and a new S suffix attached. There were also some changes to the bodywork and lights and more luxurious seating introduced. The car was already achieving cult status thanks to its use by Roger Moore in his Saint TV series . . . he also had one for his personal use.
There were some more minor modifications in 1965, including a new grille and bumpers. The engine got some more punch and a soft-top version was offered as an external conversion a year later. For 1967, the keynote upsweep of the side styling was dropped. A more powerful version was made available for the US, with 135bhp from the engine.
In 1969, a two-litre engine replaced the original 1.8, with 130bhp on tap and electronic fuel injection. It also had disc brakes all round. The car retained the 1800 name, but now got an E suffix. The revised car also had such trim modifications as 'extractor' grilles in the rear fins. Head restraints became standard, in line with Volvo's safety ethos.
Some weaknesses in the gearbox were addressed for 1972, and an automatic became optional. In order to jizz up an ageing design, a cross between an estate and a hatchback version had been introduced a year earlier, with a large full glass rear door, and designated the ES. Power from the two-litre engine was now marginally up, to 135bhp.
But the 1800 was on its runout, and the coupé was dropped in 1973, leaving only the ES to soldier on in expectation of a brand-new car based on a concept shown at the 1981 Paris Motor Show. In the US, emissions restrictions crippled the power output to a mere 112bhp, and in mid-1973 the last 1800ES was rolled out.
The 1971 concept never made it to production, but the P1800 was still making headlines right through to 2004, when one with more than 3.57 million kilometres on its odometer was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the car with the highest mileage ever.