The Volvo P1800. Even though the P1900 was a horrific failure, Volvo had decided that it wanted to get into some more sporty models so they conferred with Karmann ( a subsidiary of Ghia). Somehow the plans got leaked and Volkswagen was pretty ticked. VW told Ghia that if they helped manufacture this car with Volvo, then they would cancel all their contracts. Ghia couldnt afford a loss like that so they had to part ways with Volvo. Volvo wasnt very impressed with any of the other German builders, so they wound up making a deal with Jensen. This seems kind of odd to me because Jensen (at least the interceptor) wasnt really known for its quality. Maybe their reputation was different back in the 50s. The four cylinder 1800cc motor was modeled after the V8 engines that were being used in their trucks. They made it dual carb and swapped out the cam. They also decided to up the compression a bit. The crank had five main bearings which wasnt common for a four cylinder engine at the time. The hardiness of this motor shouldnt surprise any Volvo fan. The P1800 had a few transmission options through its production life. The two most popular were the four speed manual, and the four speed manual with electrically actuated over-drive. The electrically actuated over-drive transmission was essentially a five speed, and conserved on gas, but it couldnt ever get above 3000 rpms (or so) when in over-drive. The straight up four speed had a slightly lower range which gave it poor gas mileage at highway speed, but it had a higher top speed because it allowed the engine to reach the higher power band. These cars had some really wild styling lines for a Volvo, but they remained very tasteful. They stood out, but werent gaudy. Unfortunately, the chassis suffer from rust in main support areas, and the interior workings can be....quirky. If you would like to purchase one of these, you will actually save money (in the long run) buying one from a dry warm state like California. The initial cost will be higher, but it will not need as much major surgery. The average price Ive seen is between $10k-$15k for one in pretty good shape. Any further info, or suggestions to prospective buyers, can be left in the comments section.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 03:45:10 +0000
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