1971 Volvo P1800E

For sale by auction on Saturday 29 August 2015 with Historics at Brooklands. Brooklands Motor Racing Circuit. Weybridge. Surrey. Call 01753 639170
The P 1800 project was started in 1957 as Volvo wanted a sports
car to sell in the US and European markets. The man behind the
project was Helmer Petterson. designer of the PV 444 and the styling
was the responsibility of his son. Pelle. who worked at Pietro
Frua. In December 1957. the first hand-built P 1800 prototype was
driven to the headquarters of Karmann. Volvo had hoped that Karmann
would be able to take on the tooling and building of the P 1800 and. br/>if so. it would have meant that the first cars would hit the market
as early as December 1958. However. in February 1959. Karmann's
most important customer. Volkswagen. forbade them to take on the
job as they feared that the P 1800 would compete with the sales of
their own cars and threatened to cancel all their contracts if they
took it on. This setback almost caused the project to be abandoned
and it looked doomed until a press release surfaced with a photo of
the car. putting Volvo in a position where they had to acknowledge
its existence. These events influenced the company to renew its
efforts with the car and it was presented to the public for the
first time at the Brussels Motor Show in January 1960. Volvo turned
to Jensen Motors. whose production lines were under-utilised. and
they agreed a contract for 10. 00 cars.

The P 1800 was made famous by the hit TV series The Saint. br/>starring Roger Moore and the P 1800 owned by Irv Gordon of New York
holds the Guinness world record for the highest recorded mileage
for a single vehicle. having been driven over three million miles a testament to the robustness of Volvo's design.

This striking metallic silver-blue example has been owned by the
current vendor since 2006 and was restored in 2007. retaining the
original black interior. A bare metal respray in the original
colour was carried out and a photographic record of the work comes
with the car. The engine starts readily and settles to a quiet
idle. A short drive showed the car to be a smooth performer with
all gauges working correctly and a good ride. This fine example
comes with a V 5 C registration certificate. an Mo T certificate valid
until June 2016. a workshop manual and a number of invoices. The
car will be fitted with new wheels prior to the sale and the
original 'clover rim' wheels will be supplied with the car as a
spare set.

The Volvo P 1800 has been widely tipped to be one of the cars to
invest in for the future and this late example should attract
strong interest.

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