Can You Drive A Classic Car In The Modern World?

Planned in Sweden, designed in Italy and built in Britain – the Volvo P1800 was a truly cosmopolitan car. Jeremy Taylor drives a classic record-breaker.

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Test Drive: Volvo P1800

At A Glance

• Year 1962
• Price New £1,836 12s 9d
• Engine 1.8-litre
• Power 100bhp
• 0-62mph 12.2 seconds
• Top Speed 110mph
• Streaming The Saint, Orbital
• Rating ★★★★★

Irv Gordon loved his car. He loved it so much that he kept it for years and years… and years. In fact, when he died in 2018, the New Yorker had covered more than 3.2 million miles in his Volvo P1800, and driven into the history books.

Irv’s cherry red coupe cost £3,000 when he bought it new in 1966 – the year England won the World Cup and petrol cost 24p a gallon. The teacher combined a long commute with weekends away to stack up the equivalent of seven round trips to the Moon, or 130 laps of the world.

The secret of his Volvo’s longevity? In 2017, Irv told me a regular service and oil change was all he needed to immortalise his motor in the Guinness Book of Records, acclaimed for driving the greatest distance in the same car. That plus 112,889 gallons of fuel, 492 spark plugs and 33 sets of tyres.

Sustainability wasn’t such a topic of conversation 60 years ago. But nowadays, while most of us will average more than a dozen cars in a lifetime, perhaps more drivers should be considering taking a leaf from Irv’s book?

To try and prove the point, I’ve borrowed a P1800 to see if you really can drive a classic in the modern world. This particular car is the second oldest right-hand drive model in the world.

Originally launched in 1961, this svelte coupe gained iconic status after it appeared in the TV series The Saint, with an up-and-coming young actor called Roger Moore behind the wheel. The producer’s first choice had been the ultra-cool E-Type but Jaguar wasn’t interested!

Botoxed modern cars look huge compared to the elegant, almost dainty P1800. The Volvo also feels tiny behind the steering wheel, which isn’t adjustable but somehow falls neatly to hand. There’s a bank of switches, dials and knobs, plus this car has three-point safety belts!

That’s thanks to Volvo too. The Swedish company patented the design but made it available to every car manufacturer, helping to save hundreds of thousands of lives ever since. Depending on your viewpoint, the P1800 also lacks all those sensible but annoying warning sounds that plague every modern car.

A modest 1.8-litre engine would have been quite sporty 60 years ago but fitted with a manual gearbox, the coupe can barely keep up with a Transit van today. That said, the plucky P1800 is perfectly comfortable at motorway speeds and scoots along a country A-road with gusto.

The P1800 stayed in production until 1973 and after a week behind the wheel, it’s easy to understand why. The Italian styling, chic appeal and bombproof build quality set the standard in the Sixties, turning heads wherever the Volvo went. Irv picked the right vehicle but somehow, I doubt many of us will be covering millions of miles in any modern car.

Explore

Check out Revival Autos, which refurbishes vintage cars with electric engines and sustainable interiors. revival.autos