A Volvo P1800 for the 21st Century

Jan 2 2012

Remember Roger Moore as The Saint driving around in that delicious white Volvo P1800 in the sixties?  Well, Volvo has re-imagined the P1800 for the 21st century, despite the fact that the last one was manufactured back in 1973 and the model has not been on a production line since.

The occasion is the 50th anniversary of the P1800.  Originally sketched by Pelle Petterson for that doyen of Italian car designers, Pietro Frua, it almost did not see the light of day.  Had it not been for Volvo snapping it up – love at first sight – it may never have been made (a Volvo designer saw it by chance at a Brussels motor show in 1960).

Do not get too excited, though: you probably will not need to pick up the phone to Creditplus to sort out car finance, as the newly imagined model is at this stage just that – an imaginary exercise depicting what an updated version of the P1800 might look like today.  If Volvo Design Director Christopher Benjamin’s digitally doodled sketches are anything to go by, it is pure eye candy.

Based on earlier sketches by designer Mattias Vöcks of Koenigsegg, Benjamin’s version retains the iconic grill but in a stylishly updated way that subtly evokes, rather than simply reproduces, the original.  The new design preserves that dashing, swept-back look, elongated bonnet, and two-door feature, but adds a further touch of danger and aggression.

Volvo is not apparently, planning to manufacture the P1800 anew, so forget about organising a car loan.  The company says that aspects of the design will, though, be used in other models.  However, we devotees can still live in hope.

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