Photo: Bruno Arena on Instagram
The history of Sweden's biggest car manufacturer is full of iconic models, and the most surprising thing is that a lot of them are station wagons. You'd expect coupes and sports cars to be the ones that catch your eye, but not in the country that also gave us furniture in flat boxes.
Leaving IKEA aside, the Swedes do seem to have a thing for wagons, and if you think about it, they are the cars that make the most sense. They offer the maximum amount of usable space for the same ground patch, meaning you literally get the most bang for your buck in terms of volume. So, the Swedes are the boring, practical type.
Nope. Instead of becoming boring thanks to all the wagons they drive, they decided to make this body style cool, and the Volvo P1800ES is the best example you can think of. Technically, it should be filed under the "shooting brake" category, but since it would be pretty alone in there, we'll treat it as a regular wagon.
Introduced in 1972, the P1800ES is the last model in the P1800 range, and it's only fitting that Volvo chose this body style for its swan song. Not to take anything away from the coupe, but next to the ES version, it instantly looked pretty bland: there were hundreds of two-door sports cars out there, but only of a handful of shooting brakes at best.
The funny thing is the P1800ES we eventually got wasn't even the craziest one that Volvo considered. The carmaker had two Italian designers send in their proposals, and both of them were built into actual prototypes. One was called "The Rocket," which is a pretty suitable nickname considering its shape. They didn't make it into production, but they sure became part of Volvo's history and, as you're about to see, acted as a source of inspiration for car designers nearly 50 years later.
So, we're back to 2020 where we have automotive designer Bruno Arena coming up with a modern interpretation of the Swedish classic model. Looking at his design, though, a more suitable year for these renderings would be 2030, or even beyond. The world is definitely not ready for either of these: a P1800ES remake, as well as a modern "Rocket" with that unmistakable rear window. The only bad part about Bruno's creation? We don't get to see the front end. It's bothering us more than it should.
Nope. Instead of becoming boring thanks to all the wagons they drive, they decided to make this body style cool, and the Volvo P1800ES is the best example you can think of. Technically, it should be filed under the "shooting brake" category, but since it would be pretty alone in there, we'll treat it as a regular wagon.
Introduced in 1972, the P1800ES is the last model in the P1800 range, and it's only fitting that Volvo chose this body style for its swan song. Not to take anything away from the coupe, but next to the ES version, it instantly looked pretty bland: there were hundreds of two-door sports cars out there, but only of a handful of shooting brakes at best.
The funny thing is the P1800ES we eventually got wasn't even the craziest one that Volvo considered. The carmaker had two Italian designers send in their proposals, and both of them were built into actual prototypes. One was called "The Rocket," which is a pretty suitable nickname considering its shape. They didn't make it into production, but they sure became part of Volvo's history and, as you're about to see, acted as a source of inspiration for car designers nearly 50 years later.
So, we're back to 2020 where we have automotive designer Bruno Arena coming up with a modern interpretation of the Swedish classic model. Looking at his design, though, a more suitable year for these renderings would be 2030, or even beyond. The world is definitely not ready for either of these: a P1800ES remake, as well as a modern "Rocket" with that unmistakable rear window. The only bad part about Bruno's creation? We don't get to see the front end. It's bothering us more than it should.
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