‘Halo’ Essen: Volvo to show off The Saint’s P1800S at Techno-Classica
Volvo Cars is to exhibit the 1967 P1800S once owned by Sir Roger Moore and featured in television’s The Saint at the Volvo Cars Heritage stand at Techno-Classica Essen in Germany, between Wednesday, March 21 and Sunday, March 25.
It will be the first time the car has been seen at a European classic car show.
Moore’s car was built at the Volvo Torslanda plant in November 1966, after a failed venture with Pressed Steel and Jensen saw P1800 production move to Sweden ( the ‘S’ in P1800S).
Inside, the car still has details from the filming of The Saint, such as a thermometer on the dashboard and a separate interior fan, used to cool the actors during studio filming.
Moore is the documented first registered owner of the P1800S, now owned by Volvo itself. The London registration plates, NUV 648E, were issued on 20 January 1967. Moore signed the registration papers two weeks later and they have followed the car since.
In The Saint, the car sported the famous ‘ST 1’ plates and made its debut in the episode ‘A Double in Diamonds’; filmed in February 1967. It was then lead character Simon Templar’s transport until the series ended in 1969.
Moore later sold the car to actor Martin Benson, who played Mr Solo in the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964). By then, Jaguar had reneged on its earlier decision to supply The Saint’s production company with cars: Moore’s successor Ian Ogilvy drove an XJ-S in 1978’s Return of The Saint.
After Benson, several more owners took the wheel of The Saint’s P1800s before a restoration beckoned in the early Noughties
“Volvo Cars proudly purchased this car a few years ago and we are very excited to be able to show it at Techno-Classica. It is a unique car with a remarkable history,” said Per-Åke Fröberg, head of Volvo Cars Heritage.
At Techno-Classica, Moore’s car will park alongside another Volvo 1800 in a five car showcase for the model; the P1800 sat adjacent belongs to Håkan Samuelsson, President and CEO of Volvo Cars. Samuelsson’s classic is painted in a rare Light Green colour and is arguably one of the best 1800s left in Europe.
“The Saint with Roger Moore was my favourite TV show in the sixties and since then I always wanted a P1800,” said Samuelsson. “It is the most legendary Volvo model of all time and a great example of Scandinavian design.”
Volvo Cars will also show a one-off 1968 1800 ES prototype built by Italian coachbuilder Pietro Frua, an unrestored 1973 1800 ES in Orange that has never been driven on the road, an extremely rare 1966 1800 Volvoville convertible, of which only 30 were built, and an early 1961 ‘cow horn bumper’ P1800 barn-find built by Jensen.
