The P1800 one of the Sexiest Cars of All Time

"Sexy" and "Volvo" aren't usually in the same sentence, but the P1800 was a bright spot of sensual design in the otherwise austere Swedish company's history. Roger Moore's other suave, gun-toting hero, Simon "The Saint" Templar, drove one, and the actor loved it so much he bought one for personal use.

http://www.complex.com/rides/2013/02/the-25-sexiest-cars-of-all-time/1961-volvo-p1800

Best wishes for a rolling P1800 year 2013!

Volvo P1800 and Ferrari 250 GT Lusso

The 2 cars are not that far away,  and a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso was built off a Volvo P1800 to create a great replica of Steve McQueens car in Tower Heist.

 the result is pretty interesting

 The "Ferrari" Lusso used in many of the scenes is actually a heavily modified Volvo 1800. 2 were fabricated. Corroboration from the builder found on FerrariChat: "Hi, I'm Erich Schultz. I built the two replica Lussos for Tower Heist. I was hired by Ralph Lucci of Automobile Film Club of America, based in New York to do the job. Brett Ratner, the film's director wanted the job done by Ted Moser of Picture Car Warehouse in LA. Ted and I are friends so I told Ralph I would do the job with Ted and act as the project manager. Initially, we were given just seven weeks from getting the job to the final delivery date for two complete cars. I thought that this time frame was unrealistic and I needed ten weeks. We ended up taking eight and a half weeks from start to finish to build them. The decision to build onto a Volvo P1800 platform was mine. I noticed the similarity between the Lusso's windshield, A-pillar, and side windows with the P1800, which incidentally was designed in Italy. I used the P1800 as a platform for the Lusso mold plug. With the exception of the windshield frame, every surface and the overall dimensions of the P1800 were changed with metal work, MDF, urethane foam, fiberglass, and Bondo to transform it into a facsimile of the Lusso. Our replica is not identical in any way. We had to settle for very close. We did not have access to a real Lusso to get measurements or make plans or templates. I had a photo file of pictures that were downloaded from the internet and had to approximate everything by trying to scale dimensions from those photos."  

As the P1800 enthusiasts are aware,  the P1800 was designed by Pelle Petterson in Turin in the Frua workshop, with the same technique and just nearby the various Maserati A6G and other unique Frua creations of the time, no wonder Pelle as per his mandate included in the design all the features of Italian GTs of the time but also the wood mockup frame used was most probably very close if not similar for some parts with the one used for the Maseratis design. This very story of the design of 1800 on its own is epic and worth a book, I was in touch few years ago with Exner junior about his father the renown Virgil Exner who most probably was one of the other designs ultimately rejected with preference for Pelle's design. You may soon see a book in your bookshop about this ...

1957 Segre, Pelle Petterson, Frua

Hansen: Death of design in cars is nothing but a loss

Hansen: Death of design in cars is nothing but a loss

Special Limited Edition Matchbox 1969 Volvo 1800S

A Special Limited Edition Matchbox 1969 Volvo 1800S has been produced by Color Comp for Matchbox USA as a special limited promotion for the 1960's TV show "The Saint". It includes a specially made custom production box.  Only 50 made. Thanks Michelle to let us know.

this model comes after several variations of special editions based on the model by matchbox

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.
 
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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)

Herpa Volvo P1800 1800S Coupé 1:87 scale

Herpa just reassorted today the gone stock of the recently produced 1800S in 1:87 scale in blue metalic ref 34906 (my favorite color despite the fact my 1800S is "only" ice blue), dont be fooled by the original difference of the herpa pictures with the missing door handles in the 2011 Herpa pictures, the doors have always been present (thank you Michele for this investigation with our German model friends), see more on Herpa site here
This is also a very good opportunity to remind everyone the best in class website regarding miniatures P1800 (in fact best in class for all Volvo miniatures) the revered work of Michelle, please check www.minivolvo.lu