[mopedman]

Originally Posted by 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.

The engine wasn't borrowed from a sedan,Volvo itself said its a completely new engine. Moore was given the p1800 at the same time the makers of the Saint tv show were given one. At the end of production the engine was making 130 hp.