The Volvo P1800 is one of those classic cars that very nearly never existed, Volvo had contracted Karmann to build the beautiful coupé however before full production began Karmann received an ultimatum from VW clearly stating that if they built the P1800 for Volvo, VW would cancel all contracts with them. This left Karmann with no choice but to abandon the P1800, which in turn left the future of the P1800 on very thin ice.
Somewhat by accident in 1958 a Volvo brochure was released that included pictures of the P1800 prototype, the world hadn’t seen the car up until this point and the staggering amount of interest it generated forced Volvo to both admit it’s existence and find a way to get it built.
British automaker Jensen was contracted to build the car and production began in Scotland with final assembly taking place in Bromwich, England. The P1800 went on to feature in the TV series “The Saint” featuring Roger Moore, Moore fell in love with the sporty little Volvo and bought one for himself after the first seasons filming was wrapped up.
Ben Branch has had his work featured on CNN, Popular Mechanics, the official Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with millions of readers around the world and hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
At first glance this 1958 Ice Speedster looks like a prop from one of the original Star Wars films. In fact I wouldn’t be at all surprised if George Lucas had encountered one and used it as a base for the X-34 Landspeeder driven by Luke Skywalker on Tattoine. Snow Planes Those of you from…
This 40% scale Reynard Indycar model was designed for wind tunnel testing, as such it’s built to exacting specifications to exactly match the full scale race cars. Just two of these models were made in 1998, it took a team of over two dozen people three months to complete the project. Each of the models…
The Meyers Manxter 2+2 is the slightly longer wheelbase version of the Meyers Manx – a dune buggy with a form so iconic that it’s been studied in design schools from California to Copenhagen. Unlike the Manx, the Manxter uses a full-length VW Beetle floorpan, without requiring the cutting/shortening/welding of the original. This means that it…
Introduction: Exit the Anglia, Enter the Ford Escort Mk 1 The Ford Escort Mk 1 is one of the most beloved British cars of its generation with styling that quickly embedded itself into the British and European pantheon of humble commuter cars that made good on the race tracks of the Continent, not to mention…
The Small Batch Supply Co. Leather Roll Top Backpack is the first bag we’ve ever featured that has no stitching, and no snaps, buttons, or clips. Small Batch Supply Co. Leather Roll Top Backpack The cleverness of this bag’s design lies in its simplicity, it’s made from a combination of Hermann Oak leather split hide…
It’s thought that only five or so examples of the Centurion Corvette were built in the mid-1960s until General Motors forced Fiberfab to stop construction – either for IP infringement or because the founder of Fiberfab, Warren “Bud” Goodwin, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the killing of his wife who he had discovered in…
