Volvo's Greatest Car And How The Brits Almost Killed it! Volvo P1800s

Roger Moore not only bought one of them, but drove the car over a hundred thousand miles, all over Europe, signing up TV stations for his new show called 'The Saint' : He was a shrewd and clever Producer and owned a third of the rights to the books. He was in profit even before they began filming. He did exactly the same thing in late 1969, when he selected an Aston Martin, again, travelled across Europe and raised cash for 'The Persuaders' - at the time, the most expensive TV show in British TV history, at a cost of nearly $100,000 per episode. Again, as uncredited producer and part owner, they were in profit even before they began filming! Such was the respect and character of Moore, he went to Lou Grade of the ITC network to commission the show...and both men merely shook hands on the deal...there were no contracts or paperwork. They trusted each other and it paid off. Jay Leno currently owns the original car used by Moore in the early series of The Saint.

Here in the USA the ad agency for Volvo got cheeky. Pictures with prices: Aston Martin $12,500 Ferrari $12,900 BMW $10,500 Maserati $11,400 Facel Vega $12,990 Mercedes Benz $11,099 Then headline: What’s it like to own a $10,000 car? Followed by a profile shot of the P1800 and second headline: Find out for $3,995. Then the ad copy. Cheeky!

My dad had a white P1800 in the late 60s. One day when he walked towards the car, there was a group of kids admiring it. One of them asked: Are you the Saint?

Whenever I see the 1800s I immediately think of Simon Templar and the Saint!

Thanks so much for not having audio tracks. I love hearing the cars in their completeness. Engine, exhaust, suspension clunks. Great overall description. Next to add smell-o-vision. One of the best part of classic cars is the leather, petrol, oil, wood varnish smells.

I owned one just like this, except it was a RHD UK car. In 8 years between 1996 and 2004 I covered around 50000 miles as a daily driver, including a trip to the Volvo factory at Gothenburg. I spent a fortune on fighting deep-seated rust in the bodyshell. Panels were expensive even then, and they have to be fettled, welded-in and leaded - true coach-building. Fantastic cars, but wow the price now! I paid £1750 for mine and sold it for £4000, having spent something like £25000 on it.

My parent's had an early split bumper P1800 before I was born, it caught fire twice, the second time on the drive back from the garage where it had just been restored. Unfortunately they had to sell it because my mum was too pregnant (with me) to get behind the wheel. Something I have jokingly got the blame for, every-single-time they reminice about how much they loved that car.

I've had 4 of these, 72 1800e (fuel injection) 68 1800s,71,1800e (scrapper, sold for 200 quid!) and a 1800es that I used every day as a normal car.

One of the prettiest cars ever imho... They are even more beautiful in the flesh. My local Volvo dealer displays his own 1800S permanently in his showroom, it's immaculate.

i bought a 1967 1800S when I was 21 in 1981 for 200 quid, but couldn't afford to repair it. It had Borg Warner overdrive. Swapped it for a 121 Amazon. Amazed at what they go for these days... I will always remember the first time I drove it at night, with those lovely turquoise clocks. happy days... lovely video, thanks

The most beautiful car Volvo has ever made. I bought a book on Volvo P1800s before I could learn to drive some 42 years ago. It was pre internet so bought it just to look at the photos. White with minilites for the win.

Looked at a couple of these at a local car classic car show. Lovely looking cars. Also liked the 1800 ES with the glass tailgate , incredibly stylish

One of my favourite memories is in around 1972/73 we were camping at Byron Bay NSW a very beautiful part of Australia and Dad' friend arrived in one of these as it was his company car ( he worked for Volvo Trucks )to taking us to a grass airstrip to take up a Cessna for a joy ride. He parked the P1800 next to the plane on the strip taking off and landing next to it. It would have been an amazing photo opportunity for Volvo advertising. It was so cool even cooler today.

I had a '64, black. Wonderful machine, and definitely one of the best cars I ever owned.

My car! I enjoyed this video as much as the one Jack did recently on my fabulous Lancia Flaminia GTL. It may surprise you to know that there are only 140 P1800’s of all variants currently road-registered in the UK. This makes my specific model very rare indeed. It could be for sale…

My uncle had one of these when I was a kid and I was very disappointed when he sold it to someone else before I could buy it off him. I still have surprisingly fond memories of a trip to Teeside with my aunt and uncle up front with 3 kids in the back seat.

I'm from West Bromwich where Jenson were based. Back in the 80s, my Dad used to send his kid (me) to get the Sunday paper from the newsagent. One of the routes I could take involved going through an alleyway in which, one day, a red P1800 in a bad state suddenly appeared. It was first P1800 I had ever seen in the flesh and I did have some affection for Volvos as the first new car my Dad bought was a 340 (the third car ever in our family). Over successive weeks I saw the car get robbed of parts and vandelised. A really sad end to a lovely car. It was only much later that I learnt of Jenson's involvement and wonder if the example I saw was an early "Jenson" model.

The first ones have some of the prettiest lines of any car ever made both inside and out. The dashboard is sumptuous!

One of my favourite cars. Roger Daltrey had one back in the day, not what you'd expect from the 'horrible 'oo

The Volvo P1800 are great cars. Many years ago I owned a mint condition 1961MY Volvo P1800 in white with red interior. I still miss that car. It was just wonderful sitting beside the car admiring the lines of the beautiful bodywork. To my eyes the early P1800 is one of the most beautiful cars ever made. I am of course a huge fan of Roger Moore and the Saint. Thank you for another brilliant and interesting video.