My parents like Volvos. They had several of them through the years, and I always associate my childhood with Volvo wagons. Their very first one was bought in 1976. Mom was driving a four-speed 1974 Mercury Capri at the time, my Dad’s former company car. Dad had been friends with Mike Lundahl since high school, and his dad owned the Volvo dealership in Moline at the time. A used 1973 1800ES came in, and Mom was smitten. The Capri was fairly new, but it was a stick, and the ES had an automatic. They went down to look at it: bright red with black interior and red carpets, chrome roof rack. Mike closed the deal, and the Capri was traded in on the shooting brake Volvo.
1973 was the last year of the Volvo 1800 series. Introduced in 1961 as a coupe, the first ones were built by Jensen in England. Volvo wasn’t too crazy about the assembly quality, so the P1800 became the 1800S (for Sweden) in the spring of ’63 and the car was produced in the then-new Torslanda plant. The car was never meant to be a hot-blooded sports car, more of a refined GT. Something competent, but not fire-breathing, with space for two, decent luggage compartment, and solidly built. As the ads at the time said, it was sort of a souped-down Ferrari. (full P1800/ES history here)
Fuel injection was added in 1970, along with new wheels, a new black plastic grille, and extractor vents on the rear quarters for a new ventilation system. The problem was that the basic body was still unchanged, and with its curves and small fins on the back, was looking seriously dated. Several proposals for a totally new replacement were considered but rejected, and in the end Volvo decided to just update the existing car, resulting in the ’72 1800ES.
Basically, the car was unchanged below the windows, but a two door wagon roofline was added with an all-glass hatchback and long, fixed quarter windows. The whole look was better than the relatively minor sheetmetal changes would have suggested, and there was quite a bit of interest in it. Both the coupe and wagon were available in 1972, but the wagon was the sole offering for 1973, the final year. What finally did in the 1800ES was the 1974 Federal 5-mph bumper regulation. It was fine to re-engineer the volume sellers like the 140 series and 164E, but for a low production vehicle like the ES it just didn’t make financial sense, so the ES was finally discontinued in July 1973, with 8077 wagons made in two years.
My Mom’s ES served us well, but was not a daily driver for very long. My Dad was a claims investigator at the time, and got company cars every couple years. In 1976 he got a ’77 245DL wagon, navy blue with a blue vinyl interior and integrated foglights in the grille. The ES (and all 1800s) were not available with power steering, and the steering was pretty heavy for such a small, sporty car. Dad had asked Mike if a power steering unit from a 240 could be retrofitted to the ES, but it was not possible, as there was no room for it.
Since the DL had power steering, when Dad got a ’77 Monte Carlo as a company car, he bought the DL for Mom. So the DL became Mom’s daily driver, and the ES was basically kept to drive on nice days. I came along in 1980, and remember both the DL and ES well. I could tell that the ES was special. It and my Dad’s ’51 Porsche stayed in the garage, while the DL and Dad’s ’81 242DL sat outside.
Much to my chagrin, the ES was nearly always locked when Dad was puttering around the garage. I really liked sitting in that car. The dash looked very cool to me, with the woodgrain and all the round gauges and knobs. It didn’t have a glove compartment, but had a small lockable compartment between the seats. I was young enough that I rode in the back seat of it several times and wasn’t cramped. It was always a treat when we went for a ride in it.
I loved that car, but between 1983 and 1985, my brother and sister had come along, and a nearly nine year old wagon wasn’t getting very practical, let alone an almost thirteen year-old special occasion two door wagon with basically no back seat. A new cream yellow 1986 240DL wagon was ordered from Mike and the ES traded in. The ’77 DL was sold to a friend of my Dad’s, who in typical fashion, drove it into the ground within a few years. I have missed the ES ever since and have seen only a couple others in the last 25 years. They were special cars. Today my Mom has an XC90 and my daily driver is a V50 2.4i. The V50’s roofline reminds me a lot of the ES. Some things never change.
THIS would have been the car from ‘Harold and Maude’ if it had been made a few years later. It looks just like that Jag XKE hearse.
@Tom – I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of Irv Gordon, the guy with 2.9 million miles on his 1966 1800S which he bought brand-new.
I have a recent issue of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car Magazine with that particular car as part of the feature article. Irv says he is due to hit 3 million miles within a year.
I also should include my personal Volvo history. My current daily driver is a 1999 S70 with 115k miles on it, which my mom bought new and is still in great condition today. I also still own my college car, a 1996 850 sedan. You would like this – it only has 89k original miles and it has never been driven in the winter time, a rarity for Volvos. I actually haven’t driven it in a few years because I can’t bear to part with it – it’s in a heated garage in Florida, under a cover. I used to wash that car every single day whether it needed it or not.
I have that Hemmings magazine, Irv Gordon and his 1800 are pretty amazing! I had a ’99 S70 AWD in desert wind (kind of a green-gold) with tan leather. Bought in 2004 with 61000 miles. It was a sharp and comfortable car, but in spring of 2007 it started having expensive problems and it was traded for the V50. It had 94000 miles on it, and the dealer sold it pretty fast – I’m a little OCD with my cars and I’m sure that helped. I loved that car though! Interestingly, the guy who bought it works a block down from my Dad’s office and I still see it often. Desert wind is a pretty rare color so it’s easy to spot. The new owner seems to be taking good care of it.
PJ, I have a 77k mile 855T that belonged to my grandmother. It’s that weird Autumn Gold orange color. I plan on driving it for at least the next 20 years. :^)
Unfortunately, this will be its first winter, as I shipped it from SoCal to here (Boston).
Those rear quarter views bring home to me just how much Volvo were evoking this car in the late 80s when they introduced my Mum’s shooting brake Volvo: the 480 ES. I always knew the 1800 ES was the inspiration for that car but – never having seen one in the metal, and usually seeing front or side images – I’d never realised how strong some of the visual similarities are.
Mum had two consecutive 480 ES between 1988 and 1993. She still calls them her sports cars – though like the 1800 ES they were pitched more as comfortable sporty-looking tourers.
Nice write-up of a lovely car – thanks!
Thank you, your mom had good taste! Unfortunately, we never got the 480ES here in the States, so I’ve never seen one in person. I do have one of the 1/64 scale Matchbox versions though.
very cool. didn’t know about the 480es. obviously, the c30 is the current decedent of the volvo shooting break. i’ve been passing this parked 1800es in jersey city for a couple of years now.
A beautiful car. Always wanted one.
got one if interested..30k orig miles..
Always liked the P1800 & ES Volvos first saw them on The Saint quite a rare car here but I recall Volvos being common in Aussie especially amongst the elderly you couldnt drive anywhere without being stuck behind a slow moving Volvo.
The 1800ES is a really pretty car — the new roof works well enough to make you overlook odd details like the vestigial remains of the coupe’s tail fins on the rear fenders. It’s a pity Volvo weren’t able/willing to spend a little more money on refining it a bit more.
When Reliant and Ogle created the Scimitar GTE in 1968 (likely a major inspiration for this car), they stretched the Scimitar GT coupe’s frame a few inches to provide actual rear legroom, and redesigned the chassis to suit the altered weight distribution and slightly higher CG. Volvo left the ES with the same wheelbase and same suspension as the coupe, which didn’t do its handling any particular favors, and meant that the back seat was still a tight squeeze for adults. Of course, the GTE wasn’t widely offered outside the UK, so in markets like the U.S., I suppose it was a moot point.
Glad I’m not the only person who wondered if the Volvo stylists were thinking of a Scimitar when they did the ES!
From the dates I found, it’s possible that Volvo up with the shooting brake concept before the Scimitar GTE was introduced to the public, unless they knew about it beforehand (which isn’t necessarily unlikely — automotive designers tend to have at least some idea what rivals are up to). The design renderings for the two versions Volvo considered appear to have been done in mid-1968, and the Reliant bowed at Earls Court in October. The actual full-size mockups of the Volvo weren’t built until after the London show, however, so by then, one has to assume Volvo knew about the GTE. And of course the Scimitar had been on sale for three years before the production 1800ES was introduced.
Volvo was synonymous with “college professor” back in the 60’s and 70’s… you’d see your sociology teacher, jacket with patches, jumping into his 544 or 122S Amazon sedan… And if you went to Berkeley, in the early 70’s, there were HUNDREDS of wives of profs driving 240 wagons… As for the P1800: it was seen as the “sporty” alternative, usually driven by engineers and computer geek-types. Just wondering: who buys Volvos now?
My grandparents drove Volvos (until a dodgy PRV-engined 264 scared them off), so I was aware of the 1800’s existence through the brochures Volvo kept sending my grandfather through the 70s and early 80s. Very, very few of them here in NZ though, I think I’ve only seen a couple in the metal. The coupe looked a little odd to me, the glass area always seemed a bit disproportionate, but the 1800ES solved that – I though they looked great! When the 480 was released here I liked how they referenced the 1800ES in the glass tailgate. Check out Mattias Vocks’ p1800 on google, he’s done some awesome renderings like the one below!
A friend had a P1800 coupe in the late 60’s. Red like in the photos. Man, that was one sharp car. My buddy up the street had a ’59 PV544, customized a bit. Both were really cool cars and bring back great memories, which is a story I will tell when a PV544 is ever featured.
There’s a good bit of the 1800 in the relatively new C30. Especially if taken in from the rump. I was weeks away from putting a deposit on one before things blew up on me in the winter of 2008. However, hope is eternal and I hope to pick up a gently used edition in the next few years .
My wife’s daily driver is a XC70 which we got a 36k and it’s been nothing but a tank– however she’s making noises about an X 60 which I will fight tooth and nail as I abhor SUVs.
Oh, one small note that’s not in the text: while the earlier P1800 and 1800S derived their name from their 1.8-liter B18 engine, starting in 1969, the engine was actually bored out to 1,986 cc.
I don’t know why Volvo didn’t just call the injected cars 2000E and 2000ES, which would have made more sense. I assume it was a branding thing — even the Volvo Viking hatchback that they considered to replace the 1800 was called 1800ESC, although it almost certainly would have had the B20 engine, as well.
One of the few times I’ve seen a fairly stock wagon and thought… “muscle wagon.”
I get odd looks from people when I mention Volvo and Sexy in the same breath. I use this as my “exhibit A”.
I’d really love to find an 1800ES in need of an engine. A B234F with Penta cams, twin carbs, bumped compression and a long tube header backed by a T56 would make one of my dreams come true!
This looks almost exactly like my ’73 ES that I’ve been bringing up to speed over the past year, except mine has Volvo white racing stripes along the bottom, near the rocker panels:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jesse_buday/4972272023/
It gets a lot of looks around Boston, where there aren’t many 1800s these days.