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.
Just one example of the Ferrari 330 GTC Zagato convertible was ever built, and it owes its existence to a fender bender in 1972. If not for the accident, the car would likely have forever stayed a standard Ferrari 330 GTC, and one of Zagato’s more unusual creations from the era would never have seen…
The original Dukes of Hazzard TV series and the ensuing movies have become pop culture icons, they’ve aired around the globe giving the world a look at the American South, and I’m still not sure if the most popular character is Daisy Duke or the car you see here – General Lee. The Dukes of…
This is our annual collection of the most popular cars on Silodrome for the year – this list is compiled in reverse order based on which automobiles got the most visits on Silodrome over the past 12 months. There are more than a few surprises on the list, there are a few vehicles missing that…
The story behind the design of the Volvo Amazon is quite complex and takes in influences from a number of sources. Volvo had recruited Jan Wilsgaard from the Handicraft Society School (which is nowadays called the HDK, School of Design and Crafts). The young Wilsgaard’s first design work for Volvo was a large V8 powered car called the Volvo Phillip made in 1950.
This unique Aston Martin DB2/4 Mk II is one of the most well-known surviving examples of its model line, it’s taken part in the modern Mille Miglia (2013) and it was at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este when it was seen by its current owner who bought it on sight. The Aston Martin DB2/4 Mk…
Keith Richards doubtless has pockets full of all sort of nefarious things, the least harmful of which is an Okapi folding knife. He’s been carrying the knife for decades, and once famously pulled it out and stabbed it into a table to get rid of a casino owner named Trump. Okapi is an African company…
