Volvo P1900

Volvo P1900, also knows as Volvo Sport, was first attempt of Swedish company to production of a sports car. Assar Gabrielsson, Volvo’s president and founder, while in United States saw a Chevrolet Corvette and was determined to make a similiar car that would add something new to the Volvo cars. Gabrielsson contacted Glasspar, an American boatbuilding company, to create a fibreglass/reinforced polyester body. The 1.4 engine was taken from old Volvo PV444/544 and provided 70 bhp and even though the car was very light the top speed was still not very impressive.

Why is it legendary?

This car was first approach of Volvo to build a sport car and it was a spectacular flop - there was very little demand for small roadster, the performance of the car was terrible and the build quality was far from the typical Volvo standards.

But what clinched the fate of Volvo P1900 was change on the position of company president - Gunnar Engellau replaced Assar Gabrielsson and took one of the P1900s for a weekend trip. After returning to the office on Monday he cancelled the whole production stating "I thought it would fall apart on the road".