Rebirth of a Volvo Legend
The Story of Rebuilding the Original TV ‘The Saint’ Car
By Kevin Price – Chairman/Founder Volvo Enthusiasts Club

Early History:
In the Spring of 1962 Lew Grade of ATV Television held a Press Conference where he launched ‘The Saint’ Series with actor Roger Moore, who would play the famous Simon Templar in a series of 26 one hour shows (News to Roger Moore who had been contracted as he believed for only half hour episodes).

The famous Simon Templar like other dashing TV/Film hero’s e.g. Batman, James Bond etc required a recognisable form of transport and ATV’s first choice was a white ‘E’ type Jaguar, which had been launched at the Geneva Motor Show the previous year.  Jaguar were approached to lend the TV company a car in lieu of advertising but in view of the already high demand for the model in the USA and being unable to keep up with current production requirements they declined the offer, suggesting that they did not require the publicity the series would provide. It is rumoured that Roger Moore even offered to personally purchase a MK10 Jaguar to use in the series, as the best supply date for  an ‘E’ type was over 2 months.

Search for an alternative car was on and again it was Roger Moore who came to the rescue suggesting that the company look at the new Volvo P1800, which had only just been launched in RHD form on the UK market.

Within a week a white Volvo P1800 was delivered to ITC from a London Dealership – Reg: No: 71 DXC (Plate ‘ST 1’ was placed over the cars ordinary numberplate only while filming) and it is believed that they were invoiced full price for the car. As no white P1800 was available, unbelievable as the cars were being produced at Jensen Motors Ltd, West Bromwich in England, it is said that a car had to be airfreighted back from Sweden to fore fill the order at such short notice.

The Jensen built P1800 - 71 DXC appeared in the opening sequences of the very first episode “The Talented Husband” and was used in many of the original 26 episodes, where its owner, The Saint could be seen visiting places as far afield as Germany, France and even the Bahamas (how the car got there was not explained). In fact due to financial constants the car never left the British Isles, it was all ticks of the camera.

With production of the 1800 moving to Sweden in 1963. Volvo in 1964 provided ITC with a new replacement car, an 1800S – Reg. No: 77 GYL. In order to provide continuity in the series the later fitted ‘V’ Red Hubs were replaced with the original ‘Jensen Caps’ from 71 DXC. Both cars can be seen in early 1964 episodes but if you look carefully there are some scenes where the car was still fitted with its original Red ‘V’ caps.

71 DXC was finally fully replaced 77 GYL in late 1964 but the original car was used for publicity of the Series.

Rebirth of 71 DXC:
Stage 1 – Stripping the Shell at Edwards Auto Services
In June 2007 it was decided that it was time to start the total rebuild of the Original Saint Car. Phil Edwards, of Edwards Auto Services of Kidderminster offered his services. The initial work was to totally strip the bodyshell of all parts so that it could be taken to SPL (Surface Processing Limited) – specialists in paint stripping, degreasing and derusting, who would remove all rust etc from the body prior to the shell being rebuilt.

Having collected the car, it was taken to Phil’s Garage in Kidderminster where the process of removing the remaining parts from the car was undertaken and prepared for the next stage of the process at SPL in Dudley.

Stage 2 – Rust Removal at SPL – Surface Processing Limited

Having removed all parts from the bodyshell the next stage was to collect ALL the replacement body parts and panels together that would be used/fitted to the completed body after the rust removing process. The process offered by SPL is comprehensive and requires that ALL parts that are fitted also go through the process.

The remains of 71 DXC were loaded onto a trailer and delivered to SPL in the heart of the Black Country, near Dudley. Where several strong workers lifted the shell from the trailer really for the forklift to transport the shell into the factory for strengthening and the rust/paint removal process.

All the other parts which would eventually be welded etc to the shell were also delivered and were tagged to make sure ALL parts for the car were returned on completion of the process.

On arrival at SPL Managing Director Adrian Mc Murray and his Works Manager were taken aback by the general very poor state of 71 DXC with its extensive corrosion, rust and flaking of the paint, which had in the main been caused by the many years of poor storage. Many people who had in fact seen the car prior to the rebuild felt that it was unrestorable and once all the rust had been removed all that would be returned would be a ‘load of scrap in carrier bags’ – how wrong they were! – Details of the process can be seen via the link on the website and follow the links through ‘Suppliers/General’. Click on the link to Edwards Auto Services and also Dave Gate – Phoenix Motor Bodies who undertook rebuild of 71 DXC’s bodyshell