Pelle receives honors for his design of the P1800

Pelle petterson received with great honors a special price from Design & Craft museum Röhsska Museet in Gothenburg. A commemoration of his design of the volvo P1800 in 1957,  65 years ago. 

Several pics including Pelle and the 4 owners of the 3 original P1800 prototypes + the 1st production car. These. Congrats to Ericsson Automobile for this initiative, I have to say that back in the 2 years of preparation of the Viking Classic Autoshow while in touch with Volvo cars heritage head I touched this very point early with Claes, and he then (after 60 years) issued a formal acknowledgement in the name of Volvo cars. That design event is a most welcomed additional step! Thanks again Pelle for this unique design in automotive history. 

 

 

 

more on source (c)Sasha Hamilton here on LinkedIN and on Ericsson Website

and about Ericsson Automobile

Why The Volvo P1800 Is A Design Masterstroke

 Why the Volvo P1800 Is a design Masterstroke,

https://www.hotcars.com/why-the-volvo-p1800-is-a-design-masterstroke/ 

I recommend reading this global review of the P1800 attraction, at the same time I fully object the statement of the Author "The P1800 is a forgotten classic car that showcased early Swedish design."

Nothing could be more wrong, any authority in the P1800 history world including my friend Pelle Petterson himself. (the very P1800 designer) would confirm it. The intent of hosting the design at Frua which was a full scale coach-builder whatever commercials later ended with purchase by Ghia, was solely to give an clearly emblematic Italian signature to the car, to compete with the Ferrari and Maserati of the time. Surely it did, because the Frua workshop just hosted at the very same time the famous A6GCS 2000 Sport. The "Frua line" was synonymous with the good taste of a single man.  No wonder the design of the P1800 rivals those thanks to the supervision of Frua and the right mix and soft touches done by Pelle including some of his American attractions inherited from his Pratt institute earlier curriculum and US life.

Never again since the P1800 got any Volvo car such a mark of paternity with a given school of design like the one of the P1800  "the Italian 60's GT sportscars".

 

 

A6G54 spider by Frua

1957 Ghia Luigi Segre + Pelle Petterson + Pietro Frua and the P1800 wood frame prototype

Here we are P1800 413HP Restomod

 This is the new Volvo P1800 Cyan, a modern high-performance interpretation of the classic coupe, or a very impressive restomod if you prefer, from the same guys that won three times the World Touring Car Championship.

Cyan Racing, the official racing arm of Geely Group, is responsible for the design and engineering of this gorgeous machine which is based on the original Volvo P1800 and will enter limited production later this year. That’s right, the Volvo P1800 Cyan is not another special one-off creation.

One can note that contrary to most restomod,  here the general original design from Pelle is kept! showing how valuable it is!

beautiful toy isn't !

 

more here

side note: latest know significant mod of this kind is the Roos Aston Martin 2.5L mod hereunder (built from a stock car w only design change being the hood due to the motor size)

Pelle Petterson: I designed the Volvo P1800, Roger Moore made it famous

Designer of the P1800 Pelle Petterson pays tribute to Sir Roger Moore who passed away one year ago, 23 May 2017. For the first time, he drives the 1967 1800 S that Sir Roger was the registered owner of and was featured in TV series "The Saint".

What does driving a P1800 tell the World about you?

Interesting subject isn't it, for most passionate P1800 drivers like myself, this article on cision-wire wakes-up a core value of our P1800 Passion ! some extracts that speak by themselves:

They say that people tend to resemble their dogs in both appearance and personality. Could the same be true, personality-wise, of people and the cars they drive? Unfortunately, most of us are restricted in the choice of car that we’d really like to own because of financial, family or other constraints. In the world of fictional TV series, however, there are no such constraints and producers often very cleverly provide the perfect match of car and character. Let’s take a look at a few examples.

The Saint

At first the choice of a Volvo as the wheels for the suave, handsome, devil-may-care Simon Templar seems a bit odd. After all, Volvos are staid, reliable transport used by antique dealers and middle class families, aren’t they? So might the thoughts of the sixties TV watching public have run when the Saint first hit their screens. However, the newly launched Volvo P1800 of the time was unlike any Volvo that had gone before.

Being Volvo’s first sports car, the company wanted their new model to have a real impact on the buying public and they turned to Italy for the car’s exterior design. The stunning, curvaceous lines that the Italian (*)designers came up with were a perfect match for the debonair flair and good looks of the Saint, played by Roger Moore. Although not a supercar, the P1800 was no slouch, its 100bhp engine giving it sufficient performance for those occasions when the Saint had to outrun the bad guys.

The P1800 was beautiful but it was also practical; it had a decent-sized boot and could comfortably accommodate four adults in its coupe styled body. Roger Moore was so impressed with the car that he chose to drive one himself.
 
...

There are many more similar examples of enlightened matching of driver with car that brighten our TV screens but these will have to await another article. I hope that at least one of your favourites has been included among the selections above. All that remains is for you to start asking yourself, “What does my choice of car tell the world about me?”

(read full article here)

(*) Pelle Petterson will forgive the author about the common mistake "The stunning, curvaceous lines that the Italian designers came up with", this long lasting mistery of the designer of the Car was revealed and officially published by Volvo Cars Heritage only recently after 50years of being hidden, you most probably know all the story, if not read it on Pelle Petterson's and P1800 wikipedia pages that I contribute to keep as accurate as possible for years (see also my humble page about Pelle here)

New Volvo at Geneva motor show 2012 reveals P1800 landmark

The new Volvo V40 revealed at the Geneva motor show 2012 reveals P1800 touch!

There’s a nod to the past, with a scoop at the top of the rear doors that references Volvo’s P1800 models of the 1960s and 70s.

read more here

There is also to mention the new Citroën released earlier this year that goes even further in duplicating this particular P1800 design detail!

See Pelle, as recently discussed your touch will be forever in the Automobile Design landscape
 

P1800 Pelle & Irv in Techno Classica Essen 2011

The 23rd TechnoClassica in Essen turned out to be a bigger success than ever, not least for Volvo Cars Heritage. During four days, 178.300 visitors admired thousands and thousands of classic vehicles in the worlwide biggest Classic Car show. The VCH stand with its 50th anniversary celebration of the production of the Volvo P1800 was a success with people discussing and asking for autographs designer Pelle Petterson and million-miler Irv Gordon.

Claes Rydholm head of Volvo Cars heritage made again this year a tremendous effect by organizing with his team a great stand including a desk looking very much like one of 1961 where Pelle Petterson and may be Helmer Petterson and Gunnar Engellau may have discussed the release of the P1800 first delivered to the public in 1961. VCH won again this year (after one in 2010 for Carioca) an award.

letter from Helmer Petterson to Frua sitting on the desk

The stand featured the X1 frua prototype but also beautiful production cars of each generation of 1800.

I was really interested by the plaster models of the P1800 that were on display and found back after several epic stories that Claes depicted to me (off the records).

It was a great opportunity again for discussion, have diner with, take pictures, with our favorite figures Pelle & Irv. A great time also was the page by page reading together with Pelle of the new reference book for the P1800 put together under lead of  Kenneth Collander with support of VCH and others : "P1800 from Idea to prototype to production". I truly URGE any enthusiast to order the book (and I do not say that because I am in the list of contributors) by following instructions here http://www.volvop1800club.se/club_image/new_book.pdf
you will discover an incredible amount of NEW documents, text, interview and information provided for some by Pelle himself !

the new P1800 reference book! order it !

Pelle & Claes

Irv is always happy to discuss!

A well deserved Award for the VCH Stand!

50 years ago the 1st P1800 prototype was ready at Frua Ghia workshop

In december 1957, the freshly made first hand made prototype by Frua under direction of Pelle Petterson was presented to Irene future wife of Pelle Petterson at Frua Workshop.

About the prototypes names
The 1st Frua prototype, as well as second and third will be finished between end of 1957 and spring 1958, they would be named by Volvo only later during the project continuation, in september 1958 and were respectively name P (personal car) 9 (for the month of September) 58 (for the year 1958) therefore P958-X1, P958-X2, P958-X3

Irene & Pelle Petterson near P958-X1

Helmer Petterson near P958-X1 

More about Frua & Ghia workshop

After the war Pietro Frua bought an old bombed factory, hired 15 workers and all the equipment to design and build cars. Maserati was among the first customers who contacted Frua to design the new 6-cylinder sports car, the A6G. From 1950 to 1957, Frua built 19 coupe and spiders in three sets of different design - including A6 GCS racing. The initial factory was located  Via Giovanni da Verrazzano 18, Turino, Italy.

In 1953, the Ghia factory initialy located Corso Unio Sovietica 75/79, Turino moved to via Agostino da Montefeltro, 7 (formerly occupied by a small steel milling and laminating company) just within a few miles from their old building, the company was headed by Luigi Segre.


In 1957 Luigi Segre head of Ghia wanted to use the brand Frua because Ghia name was connected with the brand name of car companies that would reject use by any competitors, typically Volkswagen denied Ghia to contract with Volvo for the P1800 project. Frua sold his company to Carrozzeria Ghia of Turin, in return, Pietro Frua was appointed director of Ghia design (1957-1960)

Arround September 1957, the Carrozzeria Pietro Frua moved to the Ghia-Building under the new leadership of Luigi Segre right hand Federico Villani.

This correspondance of July 1958 from Helmer Petterson for directions and payment regarding the 3 prototypes was sent to the new place.

Ghia factory Via Agostino da Montefeltro, 7 turino Italy ( the roof shows the word GHIA )

In 1960 after a disagreement between Segre and Frua on "paternity" of the Renault Floride. Frua left Ghia to start his new design studio.

The known pictures of the Frua prototypes have been taken at Via Agostino da Montefeltro, If you look at this picture you can even see behind the prototype, the train tracks and more important the tower building freshly under construction, this same tower is still standing in 2011, you can even see it from Google map street view or Bing

Google map here

Bing aerial view

the old Ghia factory in 2009

 i

the Osi factory accross the street

osi factory

The Ghia building was still standing in 2010 in Turino Italy "via agostino da montefeltro, 7" with across the street the former OSI factory were Segre expanded his business with the OSI car brand.


View Larger Map
There is nothing left today of the original Frua workshop Via Giovanni da Varrazzano 18, now occupied by
modern buildings:


View Larger Map


In 2010 the city council has decided to restructure the district Ghia-OSI. It plans to demolish the most part, keeping a part of the factory. An office of architecture in Bologna won the contract. In this area, an area of 12,700 square meters is the new "European Institute of Design" .

new project of the Ghia premises