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Volvo Celebrates 50 Years of P1800

The year of God 2011 is of very special importance for Swedish manufacturer Volvo as well, not only for the Germans from Mercedes who captured the world's attention with their 125th anniversary parties and stuff! At least, this is what Volvo is trying to say again this week, as they've announced, for the second time this year, that their P1800 is turning 50.
 

Volvo had its special moment with the P1800 in March-April, when it took the model and the party to the TechnoClassica. And for a car that was never intended to go into mass production, the display of force at the show was impressive.

The P1800 was perhaps the most “international” car of its time. It has been planned in Sweden, designed in Italy, and built in the UK. The most successful market for the model was the US, where Volvo sold the bulk of the models.

In 1961, Volvo launched onto the market a car that has been working on for four years. It continued to produce it for the next twelve, not selling as much as they would have liked, but managing to give birth to an eye catcher.

Described by Volvo President Gunnar Engellau as "not a bad car, but a bad Volvo," the sports car was intended to draw crowds to the car maker's dealership and buy. Not necessarily a P1800, but any Volvo.

The model came with a fixed roof, a steel body, parts borrowed from the Amazon and a newly developed B18 engine, capable of delivering 100 hp in the sports version.

Later this month, autoevolution will run a cover story on the P1800, to show you how a not very successful model managed to bring back Volvo's glory.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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