Classic Car: The Volvo Sport
Posted on 02-06-2014 at 22:25 by JordyS – 14 Comments”
Rarely turned out to be a Volvo such a failure as the Volvo Sport: the first two-seat roadster from Gothenburg. Today celebrates this strange duck in the bite, will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary.
We write in the early fifties. Volvo was a brand with a lot of fame within its own borders, but little beyond. Co-founder Assar Gabrielsson went on to the United States to investigate or Volvo, there also the foot on the ground could get. He ran inside at a company that cars of fibreglass made and came there at the same time, behind that Americans love were on a small, European sports cars.
Prototype falling apart of misery
One plus one quickly became two for Gabrielsson: that two-seater roadster, the Volvo just had to get there. In 1954, built in Sweden, the first prototype of the P1900, as the car is known internally. The criticism of the own staff was not nice: the chassis turned out to be very weak, the plastic tore, the doors didn’t fit well and the gearbox proved to be anything but sporty. Reason enough to the concept of quiet to ponder, as you would think.
Not the Volvo of the fifties, for the Swedes made it known that from 1955 300 Volvo Sport would produce purely for export. A year later, the first 44 cars delivered to customers, followed by 23 in 1957. That was it, because general director Gunnar Engellau was terrified of an accident during a testritje in the weekend. He realized at that moment just how bad the Sport actually was and explained the production directly still.
67 or 68 Volvo Sports?
Incidentally, no one knows how much the Volvo Sport’s eventually made. Judging by the chassis numbers there was a production after 67 cars, but from later research turned out to be two of the same number (20) had been given. Today is the day drive there are still about fifty around: an incredible number for a car of this build quality. We can not only be negative about the P1900. This car laid the basis for the Volvo P1800, a significantly greater success.
Gallery: Volvo Sport 1954
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