The Saint's Volvo 1800
Volvo and Roger Moore as The Saint
 The classic image of
Roger Moore driving his Volvo sports car in the 1960's TV show, The Saint, endures even today.
The Volvo Car Corporation supplied the "The Saint" television producers a total of five P1800 models for
use on their show. Volvo happily supplied the first one in 1962, registered as 71 DXC, within a week of its being requested.
In 1964, Volvo moved production of the P1800 line from England to Sweden, and sent one of the new 1800S models,
registration 77 GYL, to the set of "The Saint".
The first car was then chopped up for better interior shot access.
Three years later, in 1967, Volvo supplied yet another car. This car, however, didn't get much use as it was
wrecked in a crash fairly soon after its arrival. The production company did manage to salvage some of the parts, and
used them to update the 1964 car with the new straight bumpers, chrome, and more modern trim rings for the wheels.
A short time after the crash, Volvo supplied two more cars. One, registered as NUV 647E, was used for Roger Moore's
personal use, and the other, NUV 648E, was used for filming.
If you would like to see one of the cars, the "Cars of the Stars" museum in Keswick,
England has the official 'Saint' car on display. Their car is the fully
restored 1964, registration 77 GYL, with a giant Saint logo on the hood.
Photo supplied by The Volvo Car Corporation, and is used with their kind permission
Corgi Toys
Corgi Toys (Great Britain) #258, The "Saint's" Car, Volvo P1800
The Saint was at a peak of popularity in the 1960's.
The Saint television show, starring Roger Moore and his Saintly white Volvo 1800, was a
big hit. In 1966 Corgi repainted their Volvo P1800 models
in white, and added a Saint logo to the hood, as a testament to the success of the show.
A Quick Word about the Hirondel
 In the Saint books by Leslie Charteris,
Simon Templar drove a Hirondel. The problem that
the television producers had when they started to produce the 1960's Saint TV series
was that the Hirondel was a fictional car. They decided to go with a contemporary car, and had two hot new sports cars to choose
from: the Volvo P1800 or the Jaguar XK-E. Volvo was happy to supply a beautiful white P1800 for the show, leaving
Jaguar to regret their decision not to provide a XK-E (something they rectified in the 1970's by giving
The Return of The Saint show a white XJ-S).
The mighty and mythical Hirondel was covered in the First Quarter 1972 issue of Automobile
Quarterly (volume 10, number 1), with five different artists presenting
their representations of Simon Templar's famous automobile.
The Saint's Volvo C70 Coupe with Val Kilmer
 The latest marriage of
The Saint and a Volvo, the C70 debuted at the
International Automobile Show in France on October 1, 1996.
It was Volvo's first true sports coupe since the popular P1800 series in the 1960s
and arrived just in time for the new Saint movie (Val Kilmer drove a cherry red one in the 1997 Paramount picture, The Saint).
Styled by Volvo's chief of
design Peter Horbury, the C70 draws from Volvo's past, present and future. Horbury incorporated the traditional
sloping 'V' hoodline and shouldered door panels from the P120 series, the P1800's rakish
rear window and body site-line, along with today's 850 front styling, and the future
of Volvo styling into a Coupe unlike any Volvo ever before.
Borrowing from the proven 850
series, the C70 utilizes the 850 platform, engine, drivetrain, suspension just as the new Volvo S70 series has.
In total the
Coupe shares the same wheelbase as the 850 but is two inches longer making this an honest
four seater. New for the C70 will be a manual transmission coupled to a 2.4 liter turbocharged 230 hp,
five cylinder engine. Some of the standard safety features are: dual front air bags, side
impact protection system (SIPS) that includes the worlds first front occupant side impact air
bags, pyrotechnic seat belt pretensioners and headrestraints in all four seating positions.
The 1998 Volvo C70 Coupe was the first model year of this new sports era for Volvo.
Inspector Teal's Report
For more pictures, and a detailed review of the C70, read Chief Inspector Teal's report on an incident
he had with Simon Templar and his new Volvo C70 turbo coupe.
The Saint's Convertible
What if The Saint wanted to drive a convertible? Well, be sure to read
about Volvo's convertibles
throughout the years. Some of them are extremely worthy of The Saint's attention!
Volvo P1800 Advertisements
In A Class By Itself
For real fun and pleasure, there is no car like the new P1800 Gran Turismo. Be more than just alive.
Be lively! Where do some people get the verve that makes their lives so rich and vibrant? Simple - - - they
just go to their nearby VOLVO dealer and buy . . . .
The best of the personal cars
P1800 by VOLVO
April 1963
2000 YEARS OF SWEDISH PROGRESS
At last . . . a car that captures the rhythm of our modern age in its dynamic lines.
The centuries-old Swedish flair for beautiful, practical design is combined with modern engineering skill
and craftsmanship in the sensational P-1800 Sports Car.
The P-1800 offers a combination of big car comfort and unbelievable small car economy that can be matched by no
other car, domestic or imported. . . . compare it feature by feature . . .
and you'll see why thousands of motorists are making Volvo one of America's fastest selling
imported cars.
Volvo Owners Are Our Best Salesmen!
VOLVO P1800
IN ALL THE WORLD, THERE IS NO CAR LIKE A VOLVO!
November 1962
Swedish Iron
By Bill L. Webb
Swedish Iron is a must-have for Volvo 1800 fanatics. This coffee-table
book has a complete production history, photographs, and a maintenance and
restoration guide. It describes step by step techniques used by the author
who has owned over 45 special-interest cars and 25 Volvos! It's the only
book of its kind--the result of working with Volvos for 30 years. 8.5"
X 11", 160 pages on quality stock, with over 200 illustrations.
This book covers such topics as painting, bodywork, electrics, suspension,
drivetrain, metal plating, history, and many other aspects of the Volvo
1800.
The author, Bill Webb, also puts out a bi-monthly magazine containing reprints of Volvo road tests,
maintenance information and parts listings covering all Volvo components.
Volvo Western States Magazine is
available for $20.00 per year from Bill Webb at 12400 Old
Town Road, Bakersfield, CA 93312 USA. Phone: (661) 588-1832.
If you are interested, I have set up a second Volvo page with the following information:
- A table of the total production figures for the Volvo 1800 family.
- A list of Volvo 1800 Car Clubs.
- Some links to other Volvo-related Web sites.
- Information on a few Volvo Internet mailing lists.
My first Volvo was a white 1964 Volvo 1800S with red interior.
My second Volvo was a light blue 1972 Volvo 1800E with black interior.
|
|
![[Sound Icon] border=0
WIDTH=](images/sound.gif){kind=small}
Listen to a
