If you stand in front of this stylish Volvo P 1800, you can think back to a day (1963) when this very nice copy was picked up at the dealer. Later in the street the family and the enthusiastic neighbors enjoy the beautiful blue paint. The nice smelling upholstery. The brand new tires and the sparkling chrome, a feast for all senses.
By: Dirk de Jong
For the Volvo connoisseurs: this Volvo P 1800 is one of the few with cow horn bumpers that were still built in Sweden after the production stop in England. The bodywork was still built in England at Pressed Steel. Now more than 50 years later it is still a pleasure to watch and… to drive.
You can safely call it 'tangible' love. And how that came about is soon told. Jan Venema was chief mechanic in a Volvo garage in his working life. Now that he has been promoted to 'pensionado' for several years now, he could not let go of his old profession. It will therefore come as no surprise that his key workshop contains rare cars that temporarily sleep under a blanket. They are treasured as treasures and when the time is right they are again prepared to return to the road.
For example, he and his friends (soulmates) are involved in various projects, such as an Austin Healey Frogeye and several MG sports cars. We called Jan Venema pensionado and he is, but his honorary title is: Autorestaurateur. Do you find it strange that he and his friends can talk about it for hours? Certainly not, because you too undoubtedly know the infectious enthusiasm.
Also interesting to read:
- Volvo P1800. The Saint's car
- The Volvo 1800 S. Coherence and enchantment
- Volvo P1800S Volvoville
- Volvo GTZ 3000 according to Zagato
- Saint Tropez in 1961
Nice how crooked those cow horn bumpers are when you count the boxes on the grille. Which absolutely does not bother. Those were coaches with a high tolerance level in terms of dimensions.