OVERDRIVE

Other interesting cars we've been driving, Art of the estate

 

IT’S ALL TOO easy to imagine that Volvo estates are stodgy, square and slow. Maybe it’s just a British perception, but it’s based on a snapshot from the history of this Swedish icon. Sure, the 240 generation was perhaps over inspired by Volvo's experimental safety cars of the early 1970s, although it certainly had a USP. Yet here we have, in the 1800ES, a shooting brake to rival the Scimitar GTE, maybe even the Lynx Eventer, a car more about style than practicality. Though it isn’t exactly fast, it couldn't be any less stodgy or square. And while the turbocharged 850 T-5R is quite literally) square, well... You get the gist.

Oldest first. This 1800ES dates from 1972, one of only 8077 built during 1972-73, the swansong of P1800 production that had kicked off with the original coupé in 1961. Volvo had wanted a more sporting car to sit alongside its PV and Amazon saloons, and the engineering consultant Helmer Petterson came up with the stylish P1800, styled by his son Pelle under the tutelage of Pietro Frua. It should have been built by Karmann and almost foundered when VW forbade the Osnabriick coachbuilder from working for its competitor.

Petterson was about to buy the rights and market the car himself when, after false starts with NSU, Drautz and Hanomag, Volvo presented its coupé at the 1960 Brussels motor show, and signed up with Scotland-based Pressed Steel for bodywork, to be assembled in West Bromwich by Jensen Motors. Before the 10,000strong contract had been fulfilled, Volvo brought production in-house, added power and subsequently increased engine capacity from 1.8 to 2.0 litres.