{"id":60356,"date":"2021-01-18T18:10:48","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T18:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.secret-classics.com\/?p=60356"},"modified":"2021-01-25T05:30:55","modified_gmt":"2021-01-25T05:30:55","slug":"60-years-of-volvo-1800","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.secret-classics.com\/en\/60-years-of-volvo-1800\/","title":{"rendered":"60 Years of Volvo 1800"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are probably only a few Volvos that are better known than the 1800. Possibly still the Amazon, but sports coup\u00e9s have more prestige. Hardly anyone expected such a car from the Swedish brand. Especially not after the P1900 Sport never got beyond small numbers. This two-seater roadster was launched in 1956 with a fiberglass-reinforced plastic bodywork. However, production ended after only 68 units. At the same time, initial preparations were being made for a new sports coup\u00e9. For this, the company turned to Pietro Frua in Italy. His design studio was at the time a subsidiary of Ghia and employed a young Swedish designer named Pelle Petterson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Production negotiations with Karmann<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, Petterson’s fingers were particularly itchy when he heard that he was to design a Swedish car. Especially because his father Helmer worked as an independent consultant for Volvo and knew nothing of his son’s activities at the time. In all, Frua produced three drivable prototypes between September 1957 and early 1958. Those were later called P958-X1, P958-X2 and P958-X3. This designation, given by Volvo, means P<\/strong>rototype 9 (September) 58 (1958) and eX<\/strong>perimental. Helmer Petterson drove the first prototype to Karmann in Osnabr\u00fcck\/Germany in December 1957. Negotiations took place there to have the new sports car produced there under contract. These were already quite advanced when in February 1958 Volkswagen, Karmann’s main customer, threatened to cancel all contracts if the Volvo order was accepted.<\/p>\n\n\n

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