THE 1800 PROTOTYPES – PROJECT 958 By Kevin Price
Members may be interested to know that there were in fact 6 Prototypes of the 1800 produced in the late fifties/early sixties, three being produced in Italy by Frua of Turin and three by Jensen Motors of West Bromwich, England. The Italian cars being coded P958-X1 to X3 and the Jensen cars X1PP to X3PP.
The first hand-built prototype X-1 was completed in December 1957 and was painted light blue in colour, followed by X-2 and X-3, which were painted yellow and light grey. It is believed that all three Jensen built cars were painted white, although photographs suggest that they were in fact Grey, Red and White? (If anyone has any information to confirm colours, please let me know). The Jensen cars were identical to those made by Frua except for minor changes to the trim and mechanical components. These included a different remote fitted to the gearbox and a shorter gear lever. The exhaust tailpipes were moved to the sides of the rear and not two separate pipes out of the rear valance. One of the Jensen cars also had ‘Cowhorn Bumpers’ fitted to the rear of the car and two separate lights over the numberplate.
The P1800 as it was finally called, made its debut at the Brussels Motor Show in January 1960. The car shown was in fact the Italian Prototype P858-X2 and not due to delays in manufacture, a Jensen built vehicle. Again at the New York Motor Show later that year, P958-X3 was displayed, in lieu of a Jensen car. It had fitted Wire Wheels manufactured by Robergel of France, which were on later production cars an optional extra, as was the Wood-rimmed Steering Wheel. There was much interest in the two cars, with many people placing orders, although delivery would not be for a further year in Left Hand Drive form and two years for Right Hand Drive models. It is interesting to note, that both cars displayed at these Motor Shows were not painted in production colours and that the early P1800 Sales Brochure issued by Volvo at the time displayed the yellow prototype, complete with opening ‘D’ Windows and the Frua Wheel Trims. When finally production commenced in 1961, P1800’s were only available in White and Red, with Dark Grey Metallic a later addition after Chassis No: 601. (All three colours were non-Volvo shades). Only 6,000 of the P1800 cars were built between February 1961 February 1963. Chassis Numbers 0 to 6,000 inclusive.
If any members have any further information on the Prototypes or any of the Jensen built cars, particularly any period photographs etc could they please contact me.
Many thanks.
Kevin Price
Reproduced from Issue No: 16 of the Volvo Enthusiasts Club Magazine
Additional Information:
In addition to the six LHD Prototypes produced by Frua and Jensen Motors, a number of RHD Prototypes were built at West Bromwich in early 1962. I am at present collating information on these cars but if anyone does have any period photographs or other details on these vehicles I would be very please if you made contact. Many thanks, Kevin. |
