Volvo P1900

Last updated
Volvo Sport
Volvo Sport (P1900) 1956 on display at Gothenburg airport, May 2019.jpg
1956 Volvo P1900 Sport Cabriolet
Overview
Manufacturer Volvo Personvagnar
Also calledVolvo P1900
Production
  • 19561957
  • 68 produced
Designer William Tritt (body only)
Body and chassis
Class Sports car (S)
Body style Roadster
Layout Front-engine, rear-wheel drive
Powertrain
Engine 1,414 cc (1.4 L) B14 I4
Transmission 3-speed manual
Chronology
Successor Volvo P1800
Volvo P1900 driving adjacent to Volvo museum Gothenburg Sweden Volvo P1900.jpg
Volvo P1900 driving adjacent to Volvo museum Gothenburg Sweden

The Volvo Sport (also known as P1900) is a Swedish fiberglass-bodied roadster of which sixty-eight units were built, first 19 by Glasspar Company in California, between 1956 and 1957 by Volvo Cars.

Contents

Assar Gabrielsson, Volvo's president and founder, got the idea for the car when he saw a Chevrolet Corvette in the United States and wanted to make something similar. He asked Bill Tritt of Glasspar, an American boatbuilder in Santa Ana, California, to design and tool a fibreglass/reinforced polyester body, which was later produced in Sweden. Glasspar was a pioneer in building fiberglass auto bodies from 1951 to 1957.

Erik Quistgaard was appointed as development team leader. The car was built on a tubular-steel chassis and used the Volvo PV444's 1414 cc engine producing 70 hp (52 kW)[ clarification needed ]. The engines (B14A and B16B [ citation needed ]) were fitted with twin SU carburetors, driving through a three-speed manual gearbox. Many other parts were taken also from the Volvo PV444.

Demand was low, and the build quality was not up to Volvo standards. [1] Gunnar Engellau, who replaced Gabrielsson as president in 1956, took one for a drive on a holiday weekend and was dissatisfied enough that on returning to his office the following week cancelled the remaining production. "I thought it would fall apart!" is the legendary quote.[ citation needed ] The Volvo chassis design was far too flexible to accommodate a fiberglass body, and that Volvo resisted recommendations by Glasspar to alter the frame to address their concerns.

The total "Volvo Sport" production was sixty-eight cars, plus four or five prototypes. Forty-four were built in 1956, mostly for the Swedish market, and most still survive.[ clarification needed ] The bulk of 1957's production went to the U.S. and elsewhere, and fewer of these are still in existence.

The development of the P1900 led to the tuning of the B-16 engine however, which was later put into the PV 444 series, making this car powerful enough to enter the US market.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porsche 356</span> 1948–1965 sports car

The Porsche 356 is a sports car that was first produced by Austrian company Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH (1948–1949), and then by German company Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH (1950–1965). It was Porsche's first production automobile. Earlier cars designed by the Austrian company include Cisitalia Grand Prix race car, the Volkswagen Beetle, and Auto Union Grand Prix cars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volvo Amazon</span> Swedish mid-size car

The Volvo Amazon was a mid-sized car that was manufactured and marketed by Volvo Cars from 1956 to 1970. It was introduced in the United States as the 122S at the 1959 New York International Auto Show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volvo Duett</span> Motor vehicle

The Duett is an automobile from Volvo that was in production from 1953 until 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volvo PV444/544</span> Motor vehicle

The Volvo PV is a series of two-door, four-passenger car models — the PV444 and the PV544 — made by Volvo from 1947 to 1965. During World War II's early stages, Volvo decided that a new, smaller car that could deliver good fuel economy would assure the company's future. A raw materials shortage during the war drove home the point that an automobile should be smaller, and also complicated Volvo's ability to mass-produce the product. In 1944, when the car was finally introduced to a car-hungry public, response was very positive and orders poured in from the Swedish population. It was another three years though, until 1947, before series production began.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volvo B4B engine</span> Motor vehicle engine

Volvo's first overhead valve passenger car engine was the inline-four B4B of 1944 and its descendants, the B14A and B16. These were cast iron engines, and used just three main bearings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saab Sonett</span> Motor vehicle

The Saab Sonett is an automobile manufactured between 1955 and 1957 and again between 1966 and 1974 by Saab of Sweden. Sonetts share engines and other components with Saab 93, 95 and 96 of the same era. It was mainly intended for the lucrative American export market and was only offered intermittently in the Swedish domestic market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volvo Cars</span> Swedish multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles

Volvo Cars is a Swedish multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Torslanda, Gothenburg. The company manufactures SUVs, station wagons, and sedans. The company's main marketing arguments are safety and its Swedish heritage and design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volvo 164</span> Motor vehicle

The Volvo 164 is a 4-door, 6-cylinder luxury sedan unveiled by Volvo at the Paris Motor Show early in October 1968 and first sold as a 1969 model. 46,008 164s were built before the car was succeeded by the 264 in 1975. The 164 was Volvo's first venture into the luxury segment since the end of PV 60 production in 1950, and was the first six-cylinder Volvo since the PV800 last produced in 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferrari 250</span> Series of sports cars and grand tourers built by Ferrari from 1952 to 1964

The Ferrari 250 is a series of sports cars and grand tourers built by Ferrari from 1952 to 1964. The company's most successful early line, the 250 series includes many variants designed for road use or sports car racing. 250 series cars are characterized by their use of a 3.0 L (2,953 cc) Colombo V12 engine designed by Gioacchino Colombo. They were replaced by the 275 and 330 series cars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volvo PV800 Series</span> Motor vehicle

The Volvo PV800 Series is a taxicab manufactured by Volvo from 1938 until 1958. The Sow series dominated the Swedish taxicab market during the 1940s and 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfa Romeo 1900</span> Motor vehicle

The Alfa Romeo 1900 is an automobile produced by Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo from 1950 until 1959. Designed by Orazio Satta, it was an important development for Alfa Romeo as the marque's first car built entirely on a production line and first production car without a separate chassis. It was also the first Alfa Romeo offered with left-hand drive. The car was introduced at the 1950 Paris Motor Show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volvo ÖV 4</span> Motor vehicle

The Volvo ÖV 4 was the first car built by Volvo. The designation ÖV 4 stands for "Öppen Vagn 4 cylindrar" in Swedish, which means Open Carriage, 4 cylinders. The model ÖV 4 has later often been referred to as "Jakob" but that was just a name for one of the 10 pre-series ÖV 4 that was ready on 25 July 1926, Jakob's name day. All 10 prototypes were assembled in Stockholm at the company AB Galco, Hälsingegatan 41 where Gustaf Larson worked at that time. Only one of the 10 pre-series cars manufactured during 1926 was saved for posterity and is housed at the Volvo Museum in Gothenburg, Sweden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volvo PV51</span> Motor vehicle

The Volvo PV51 is a car introduced by Volvo in December 1936. It was replaced by the mildly restyled PV53 in 1938. This car remained in production until the end of the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assar Gabrielsson</span> Swedish industrialist (1891–1962)

Assar Thorvald Nathanael Gabrielsson was a Swedish industrialist and co-founder of Volvo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gustaf Larson</span> Swedish automotive engineer (1887–1968)

Erik Gustaf Larson was a Swedish automotive engineer and the co-founder of Volvo. He held a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in mechanical engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfa Romeo 6C</span> Motor vehicle

The Alfa Romeo 6C name was used on road, race, and sports cars produced between 1927 and 1954 by Alfa Romeo; the "6C" name refers to the six cylinders of the car's straight-six engine. Bodies for these cars were made by coachbuilders such as James Young, Zagato, Touring Superleggera, Castagna, and Pinin Farina. Beginning in 1933 there was also a 6C version with an Alfa factory body, built in Portello. In the early 1920s Vittorio Jano received a commission to create a lightweight, high performance vehicle to replace the Giuseppe Merosi designed RL and RM models. The car was introduced in April 1925 at the Salone dell' Automobile di Milano as the 6C 1500. It was based on Alfa's P2 Grand Prix car, using a single overhead cam 1,487 cc in-line six-cylinder engine, producing 44 horsepower. In 1928 the 1500 Sport was presented, which was the first Alfa Romeo road car with double overhead camshafts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercedes-Benz 540K</span> Motor vehicle

The Mercedes-Benz 540K (W29) is a car built by the German firm Mercedes-Benz from 1936 to 1940.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volvo PV650 Series</span> Motor vehicle

The Volvo PV650 Series is an automobile manufactured by Volvo between 1929 and 1937. The model name stand for PersonVagn, 6 cylinders, 5 seats; the third digit indicates the version.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volvo TR670 Series</span> Motor vehicle

The Volvo TR670 Series was a taxicab manufactured by Volvo between 1930 and 1937. The model name stands for TRafikvagn ("taxicab"), 6 cylinders, 7 seats; the third digit indicates the version.

References

  1. Hunt, David R. (n.d.). "The Volvosport P1900". volvoadventures.com. Retrieved February 24, 2010.