First two years of production the 1800s were built by Jensen in
Wolverhampton England.
Correct, Peter as in 1963 production was moved to Sweden. The Jensen
built cars were a nightmare due to shoddy body construction. They
leaked everywhere and were unreliable on even a misty day. Drivetrain
was fine but the rest bad--and that's not a shot at the Brits, just an
honest comment. Postwar Britain had many labor issues back then and
the workers were unhappy.
Actually, when full production and assembly went to Sweden the car was
then known as the 1800-S as of April 1963 and I had two of them.
While it's true that many still refer to any 1800 manufactured before
1970 a a "P" 1800," only the cars from before April 1963 be called a
"P" series. Note that only the Jensen built cars are "P's" and 6,000
of them were built.
They did make an 1800E with
Yes, as I recall Bosch D-Jetronic fuel injection was introduced to
some Volvo cars in the North American market in 1970.
Initially it was a disaster for the dealers, as the ECU's were
primitive and had frequent failures. I was in my first year of
university at the time and working for a Volvo dealer--and spent a LOT
of time driving to pick up angry customers who were stranded in their
new and expensive Volvo. I usually did that in my 122 wagon as most of
the new FI cars had a tough time in extremely cold weather.
Eventually the ECU issues got worked out--but Volvo may have lost a
good few customers for life as once the car was out of warranty a
replacement ECU was over $500--and that was a lot of money back then.
To be fair to Volvo, any other manufacturer who implemented D-Jet had
the same issues.
Then in 1972 they
Hmmm..I'd call it a wagon or estate rather than a fast back, but
that's just me.
Then in 1973
Sorry, but the 1800 was designed by Frua in Turin--not Ghia--and never
once did anyone mistake any of my 1800's for Ghia, and that includes
folks who knew nothing about cars but had seen a Kharmann-Ghia.
Hmmm...I never had a hard time with that but then again seldom wished
to put it sandwiched between two other cars. Dead on aboout the
understeer though, as Volvo saw it as a safety issue for typical
drivers and felt until at least 1993 that understeer was good.
I can say my 140's and 240's from pre 1976 were harder than a pickup
truck to parallel park.
True, and here is a bit of C&P from saint.org:
The Volvo Car Corporation supplied the "The Saint" television
producers a total of five P1800 models for use on their show. Volvo
happily supplied the first one in 1962, registered as 71 DXC, within a
week of its being requested.
In 1964, Volvo moved production of the P1800 line from England to
Sweden, and sent one of the new 1800S models, registration 77 GYL, to
the set of "The Saint&qout;. The first car was then chopped up for
better interior shot access.
Three years later, in 1967, Volvo supplied yet another car. This car,
however, didn't get much use as it was wrecked in a crash fairly soon
after its arrival. The production company did manage to salvage some
of the parts, and used them to update the 1964 car with the new
straight bumpers, chrome, and more modern trim rings for the wheels.
A short time after the crash, Volvo supplied two more cars. One,
registered as NUV 647E, was used for Roger Moore's personal use, and
the other, NUV 648E, was used for filming.
Production numbers for the 1800 series:
Make Total
P1800 Jensen models 6,000
1800S models 23,993
1800E series 9,421
All 1800 coupes 39,414
1800ES wagons 8,078
All 1800 series cars 47,492
My favorite was my 1971 1800E as it was 130 horsepower and ran like
stink with a better cam and some suspension work. Got 30 MPG in town
and 37 on the highway. Only downside was the cheesy looking "contact
paper fake wood" on the dash. I'm looking for another as an idiot 18
yr old girl hit me head on while I was at a light stopped driving
Daddy's big 1980 Buick.
I like to keep things original but will do a very nice burled wood
veneer on the dash of my next 71 1800E.
Regards,
Doc
