This gorgeous example is a 1965 Volvo P1800S. It’s a two-door, rear-wheel-drive, touring coupe designed for the US and European markets in the 1960s.
The P1800 is a very significant car for Volvo. Their previous sports car – the P1900 – was a complete failure, and the P1800 almost never came to life.
Sir Roger Moore’s favorite car
Volvo P1800 rose to fame after starring in the 1960s TV series “The Saint” with Sir Roger Moore, who would later play James Bond in seven consecutive 007 movies.
In 1961, the producers of the “The Saint” actually approached Jaguar for supplying the hero car, but after they declined, Volvo gladly took their place and the P1800 appeared on the screen.
Later, Sir Roger Moor would recall the P1800S as his favorite movie car in which he had many precious moments on the set, and off.
Highest Mileage World Record
Four decades later, Volvo P1800 entered the Guinness Book of World Records. Irv Gordon purchased his car in 1966 and drove more than 1.69 million miles by 1998. When he passed away in 2018, his trusty P1800 had more than 3.2 million miles on the odometer.
This particular 1965 model wound up on the other side of the world, in Peru, where its owner embarked on a grand journey to restore the car’s original splendor.
But this was not the ordinary restoration project.
A timeless classic with a modern electric powertrain
The car’s owner enlisted Eurotek Motorsports in Lima, Peru, to remove the deprecated 4-cylinder engine and replace it with an electric motor and a set of batteries in the back.
Unfortunately, the team gave very little technical details about the powertrain, however, they mentioned the car had become:
“very agile with amazing torque and power and range of more than 400 km (250 miles)”
This is not hard to believe, considering the original 1.8-liter inline-4 engine had around 100 horsepower and a top speed of 109 mph.
Eurotek also had to redesign the suspension because the battery pack added 440 lb to the rear of the vehicle, disrupting the balance and handling.
Everything else was restored according to the original design using authentic and period-correct parts.