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.
The Moretti 750 Gran Sport Barchetta is an exceptionally rare sports car, just three were made with this body style, and it’s believed that this is the only one with a lightweight tubular steel chassis. Motorsport historians have pondered that the example you see here may very well be the same Moretti 750 that wore…
These are Frank Sinatra’s original fingerprint records from his arrest on the 26th of November 1938 – he was charged with the crime of seduction. His alleged conviction was for engaging in sexual intercourse under promise of marriage with an unmarried woman of good repute. The fingerprint record lists Sinatra’s age, weight, height, hair and…
The Ferrari Testarossa is a supercar that can almost single-handedly define the 1980s – an decade of excess, Synthwave, fluorescent colors, Back to the Future, fast cars, and big hair. Unlike many of the well-known supercars from the ’80s like the Lamborghini Countach, the Porsche 911 Turbo, the De Tomaso Pantera, and the BMW M1 which…
Editor’s Note: This post has been updated with a highlights reel to showcase the best of the Goodwood Festival of Speed for this who missed the livestream. The Goodwood Festival of Speed has grown to become one of the world’s pre-eminent motoring events. It’s a competitive hill climb held on the grounds of Goodwood House…
The 1932 Ford “Blue Boy” Roadster is about as close to the perfect highboy hot rod as we’re ever likely to see. It was conceived by industrial designer Jack Boxstrom and constructed over a two year period by the highly-regarded Longley Restorations, specialists in post-war traditional hot rod building. The build started with an original…
The Lotus Elan is a British sports car with a cult following around the world, since it was first introduced it’s had an impact on the motoring world that can still be felt today almost 60 years later. Perhaps the greatest accolade the Elan ever received was when Formula 1 and supercar designer Gordon Murray…
