Lot 09: Volvo P1800S

The P1800 Coup� was almost the Volvo that never happened. The design was entrusted to Pelle Pettersson, the son of a Volvo engineering consultant who was at the time working for Fura where three prototypes were built. In late 1957, the first of these was driven by his father Helmer, to the Karmann works in Osnabruck, Germany, where production was planned for the first cars set to reach the market in late 1958. However, Volkswagen, as Karmann's biggest client, threatened to withdraw their contracts if the project went ahead. Volvo contacted other potential German manufacturers but were unsatisfied with quality control, with the project seemingly floundering. A photograph of one of the prototypes surfaced and Volvo were forced to publicly confirm the existence of the project and finally approached Jensen Motors for production. The first car left their factory in September 1960 with just 6,000 of the English 'Cow Horn' Volvos built before production was brought in-house in 1963, the model designation then suffixed by an 'S' for Sweden. Memorably, the P1800 received tremendous publicity (and increased sales) in the 1960's TV series 'The Saint'. The white coup�, driven by Roger Moore and registered ST 1, became a '60's icon, with a Corgi model to match. Volvos have always had a reputation of great build quality and ruggedness, mostly gained through their early rally cars, boxy saloons and estate cars. However, the greatest testament to the durability of the marque is Irv Gordon, recognised in the Guinness Book of Records as the driver having covered the highest mileage in the same car, a 1966 P1800S. Bought new, the car has never been garaged and had an engine rebuild at 680,000 miles, now some 2 million miles ago, and is still going strong, covering 100,000 trouble free miles a year. This 1967 registered example is finished in gold with red leather upholstery. It is a restored car that remains largely standard save for the fitment of 'Minilite' style alloy wheels. In very good cosmetic condition and seemingly good throughout mechanically, the car benefits from overdrive transmission and the uprated 115bhp B19 engine, and drives well.