[McReis]

he Swedish company was best known for solid, though sometimes unexciting, family transport. But for the 1961 model year it came up with a sexy sports coupe in hopes of altering that image while inexpensively adding to the corporate bottom line. Basic mechanicals – a sturdy 4-cylinder, twin-carb, B18B engine and 4-speed manual transmission – were borrowed from Volvo sedans in time-honored industry fashion.

The P1800 was perfectly proportioned, the detailing exquisite.

Shortly after the Volvo P1800 was launched it became Roger Moore's mount in The Saint, a famously-successful British TV series.

Moore, by the way, liked the P1800 so much that he bought one (no doubt at a huge discount) and used it as his primary transport for many years.

In 1961 Volvo launched a special version of the P1800, combining the practicality of a station wagon with the style and handling of a sports coupe. Family men with small children finally had a compromise their spouses could live with in the handsome 1800 ES. That 4-cylinder engine was by then producing 140 hp, a figure still respectable today.