Friday, October 15, 2010

Volvo P1800 - a car, that almost looked like a Ferrari

Here's an ad from 1961 showing the Volvo P1800. It was a gorgeous sportscar that combined Swedish solidity with Italian design. The front almost looked like a Ferrari, the side and back was probably influenced by the Americans. It drove well, even if it was not that fast. Many people admired it, including Simon Templar in the so called TV series. When I was young I lost a tennis match against a P1800 driver, but the ride home was worth it.

1 comment:

areopagitica said...

Franco Scaglione gets the likely credit for the Volvo P1800, although the nephew of the CEO of Volvo was at Pratt Institute in New York when this design was done and has also been cited as its progenitor. That seems to square with a bit of ill temper of an ex Loewy guy who was in NYC at the same time and muttered of having been stiffed by Volvo for some work he had been asked to do on this very project. I surmise that he had taken the young Mr. Petterson under his wing but did not properly contract for that help. The fellow I can name as having been the late Bob Andrews, of later Avanti fame.