Volvo P1800E 1969 to 1973

Swedish coupe. Built from 1969 to 1973. Originally fitted with a 165R15 radial, this was replaced with a standard 185/70VR15 in 1971.

Effectively an Amazon coupé, the Volvo 1800, or P1800, was first shown at the 1960 Brussels Auto Show but it didn't go on sale until 1961. The first cars, featuring a 1.8-litre engine, were made by Jensen but Volvo wasn't happy with the quality, so production was moved to Sweden in 1963 with the stylish coupé now known as the 1800S (for Sweden).

From 1968 the Volvo 1800 featured a 1986cc engine which was a bored-out version of the 1.8-litre unit. For 1969 there was fitted with fuel injection and a name change to 1800E, for Einspritz (German for fuel injection). In 1971, just one year before 1800E production ended, an automatic gearbox was made available.

The story wasn't over though because in 1971 Volvo unveiled the 1800ES. This was a shooting brake instead of a coupé but the 1800ES was mechanically identical to the 1800E coupé that it replaced. The 1800ES went out of production in 1973, killed off by US crash safety regulations.