This is with such great sadness that we learned that our friend and guide Irv Gordon passed away while travelling in China Nov 16th while he was telling his daughter "I am having the time of my life"
Words are missing to describe how much he meant for so many of us.
We are missing a worldwide figure and a friend.
I will forever remember the 2 years of preparation with Irv of the Viking Classic Autoshow in France in 2010 where he helped us manage to bring him together with Pelle Petterson the designer of the P1800, this started a friendship for several passions we share together the first one being the P1800 and the second the classic cars, as most do not know that not only Irv was driving his 1800S but also enjoyed miles on other cars too, including several classic cars.
Rest in peace my Friend! Thank you for all the good times, you driving my 1800S, chats, jokes, smile on your face and on the phone all these years, and most important for having set forever among all the flame of the P1800.
Thank you
You've made me feel right at home Thanks. Irv Gordon (driving my 1800S in France 2010)
Irv last picture sent to his daughter "I am having the time of my life!"
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".
Nice review yesterday by Hemmings of our (first...) book about the
living icon, the Volvo P1800. Worth telling the rest of this fascinating
story isn't it...
Pointblank: If you own a Volvo P1800 or are a longstanding admirer of this fascinating sports car, then you must own this book. Without question, this is the definitive P1800 book — no other books on the P1800 can compare.
Laid out in a landscape format of 9 x 11¾ inches in size, this hardcover
book, which totals 280 pages of a quality coated stock, was published
in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2011. Written by two serious Volvo P1800
enthusiasts, Kenneth Collander and Mats Eriksson, their goal was a
simple one: “This book is dedicated to all those people who in one way
or the other were engaged in the creation and development of the Volvo
P1800 and all the enthusiasts around the world who take good care of
these cars, their heritage and history.”
With the foreword written by the man who penned the P1800’s shape, Pelle
Petterson, the book is divided into 11 distinct chapters, each focusing
on one particular aspect of the P1800’s design and development. There
are numerous photographs, mostly black-and-white images, showing the
creation of the Volvo Sport prototype, as well as many fascinating
photos taken at Carrozzeria Frua of the construction of the first P1800
prototype.
Throughout the book there are endless details about the P1800’s
construction, insight as to how and why it was designed and built the
way it was, and all sorts of noteworthy information and minute details
about the parts and trim pieces used in its construction. And the many
side stories about specific P1800s and their owners, as well as the many
world markets where the P1800 was sold, adds greatly to the P1800s’ —
and this book’s — appeal. It’s a captivating and highly enjoyable read,
but be prepared for a tough search in finding a copy as they are very
hard to come by, although the effort is certainly worth it.
Eye Candy: My stylish midlife crisis — a 1973 Volvo P1800
Few other classics are better able to conjure up the illusion of recovered youth and freedom, writes this connoisseur.
o you’re planning a
midlife crisis. Don’t be ashamed: It’s perfectly natural. Marriage,
kids, job is a tough row to hoe. You can’t help but see how the row
narrows ominously into a rut, and how the rut arcs straight down into
the final subterranean stopping place.
There may be no escape, but there’s no shame in trying. Take my advice: It’s essential!
The
only problem is how you do it. A midlife crisis should be enacted with
style. It should also be carefully planned to minimize the inevitable
damage it will cause to one’s finances and personal relationships. For
that reason alone, sexual escapades are not recommended.
On
the one hand woodgrain seems unexpected in a Volvo. Then again
Scandinavia is also famous for slim-lined woody Scandinavian-modern
furniture.
But
sexy cars are a time-proven substitute. And no classic car still
rolling is better able to conjure up that wonderful illusion of
recovered youth and freedom — in a thoroughly responsible and affordable
manner — than the Volvo P1800.
Friends
and colleagues were sceptical when they first saw me swanning around
town with this Sea Green popsie — a ’73 1800ES — as my marriage and
career crumbled in concert, as if on cue, at the apex of my mid life.
“What’s up with that, anyway?” one asked, genuinely puzzled and a little concerned.
“I
don’t know,” I replied, taken aback, because I hadn’t exactly “thought”
much when I emptied the account to buy a 40-year-old car I didn’t need.
“All I know is that whenever I shimmy in behind the wheel and turn the
key, I feel a wave of pure pleasure.”
He understood.
Another scoffed. “Money pit,” he said. But he was wrong.
Back seat offers a good reference point for anyone who might want to restore the front buckets.
Despite
appearances, this car is no mere sexpot. It’s a Volvo – originally
built to lure the North American masses into showrooms full of sensible
sedans, but still a Volvo. The legendary Irv Gordon of no fixed address
has driven his ’66 P1800 more than three million miles, earning it a
spot in Guinness as the world’s most durable car.
Derided
in its day as a “souped-down Ferrari,” the P1800 has outlived all the
brittle glitter girls with whom it once tried to compete. It’s hot, loud
and cranky in urban stop-and-go – just like any respectable classic
with power nothing, a heavy clutch and an engine in your lap — but it
sings and swoops addictively on the open road. I wouldn’t hesitate to
drive mine across the country tomorrow.
The
car is protected by bumpers that can actually take a bump -- the
energy-absorbing ones that for a time were mandated in the U.S., first
for 1973 models.
The
greatest drama of my ownership occurred when Phil Bishop of Pickering
Euro Service told me I needed a new windshield. The money pit yawned:
Where on earth would I find a funky little windshield for a European
sports car that’s been out of production for more than 40 years?
“Let’s
try Volvo,” Phil suggested. Ten days later, a sparkling new windshield
arrived in Pickering. Cost to me (installed): $400.
That, too, was pure pleasure.
Perhaps nobody, before or since, has pulled off the "sporty hatchback" idea better.
So
take my advice: If what you really need is a substitute mistress,
nothing beats the P1800 — a spirited but undemanding workhorse with the
body of Brigitte Bardot. It’s the ultimate sexist fantasy. Slightly
shameful, perhaps, but no one gets hurt.
And
when things change, when the crisis passes, and you have no further
need of the illusions that sustained you so well in your time of need?
Time to sell!
So welcome to Kijiji, darling. It was a great ride. There are younger men who need you more now.
Modern cars are safer, better built, more reliable, and
faster than they ever have been before, and unless something major
happens, next year’s crop is likely to be even better. So at a time when
we have Toyota Camrys putting up horsepower numbers that Ferraris
posted 30 years ago, sport sedans that transform from luxury cars to
world-class corner carvers with the flick of a switch (while returning
gas mileage in the 30s, no less), and an electric sedan with as much horsepower as a Lamborghini, why do we still pine for cars from half a century ago?
Because paradoxically, midcentury cars didn’t have any
of the things we take for granted today. They feel “analog” because they
are; they’re purely mechanical creations, and at their best, they offer
a driving experience that no production car can compete with today. And
for proof of how much people are missing “the good old days” lately,
take a look at collector car auction prices over the past five years.
The swoopy Volvo P1800 shares the screen with Tom Hanks in “Bridge of Spies.”
Among the relatively small number of collectible Volvos, one stands out above the rest: the swoopy P1800 coupe from the 1960s.
And now Volvo's classic -- built to compete with early '60s British, Italian and German sports cars -- is making a big-screen appearance in Steven Spielberg's Cold War drama Bridge of Spies.
In the movie, Tom Hanks plays a lawyer working to free captured U.S. U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers, who was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960. In one scene, Hanks is a passenger in a pearly white P1800 that zips through East Berlin in early 1962, driven by an East German lawyer played by Sebastian Koch.
For reasons necessary to the plot, Koch intentionally exceeds the speed limit so the police will stop the car and detain Hanks for not having the right papers. That is slightly out of character for the P1800 because, looks aside, it never was known as a speed burner.
The P1800's Facebook fans are thrilled to see the car on screen, but several have pointed out the movie car is apparently a later model.
