Volvo gets a lot of cred when it comes to reliability. It explains why they are one of the most prevalent brand around soccer practice and school pick-up and drop-off lanes. The P1800 Cyan is a different breed from the Swedish manufacturer. This isn’t your Daddy’s regular old Volvo, but a lightweight track-hog built from the ground up to race to the depths of hell. Jay Leno featured this impressively fast sports car on his latest episode of Jay Leno’s Garage.
The '60s P1800 Volvo owes much of its global fame to Roger Moore of The Saint Britishtelevision series. The P1800 Cyan, on the other hand, is unlike anything that aired on the popular 1962-1969 thriller.
It is a restomod done by Cyan Racing, a remodified version of the 1960 classic. Unlike the 62-year-old version driven by Simon Templar, this P1800 comes with a carbon fiber body slashing the weight down to 2,183 lbs (990 kgs).
According to Hans Baath, the Managing Director at Cyan Racing, the P1800 starts with a 1964 Volvo P1800. The engineers change some of the steel (to modern steel) and triangulate it to stiffen the weak points.
“Even though we put some bits and pieces that weigh more, the carbon fiber reduces. So, we are pretty aware the car is as a standard car.” Baath revealed.
Under the hood, it packs a 2-liter four-cylinder engine making 414 hp (420 ps). It’s paired to a 5-speed Holinger transmission running on a rear-wheel-drive platform. According to Baath, the engine is based on the modern Volvo engine (same cylinder head and block).
The Volvo P1800 Cyan is more about handling than brute-force straight-line power. It has an independent setup with a limited-slip differential and forged 18-inch wheels.
“A lot of people just buy a car based on one or two performance statistics. Zero to sixty, oh, that’s a tenth faster, so you are missing the whole point of a car. Leno said behind the wheel of the restomod.
We recommend watching the video below for some on-road action footage of this phenomenal race car reminiscent of its ‘60s classic.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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