Volvo's Not-So-Italian P1800 Italian-Themed Sporty Car

Volvo's P1800 (1961-73) was a successful sporty addition to the firm's conservative passenger car line.  According to this source, Volvo management wanted the car to have an Italian look, the very best when the project was launched in 1957.  So Frua was hired to do the design.

This was around the time Pietro Frua sold his firm to Ghia.  Moreover, it seems that Frua supervised the design, but most of the work was done by Pelle Petterson (b. 1932), a Swede who happened to be working for Frua.  So the P1800 was more of a Swedish design than Volvo was willing to admit for many years.

P1800 styling is pleasing, which probably accounted for its market success.  The most noticeable feature is how small the passenger greenhouse is compared to the rest of the body.  Rear fender tops are in the form of what amounts to vertical blades, a mild kind of tail fin that was in vogue during the late 1950s when the car was styled.  Subtle creases extended along the sides from near the headlights back to the tail light assemblies.  Chromed spears on the front fender sides were placed immediately below the creases and then curved upwards towards the aft of the doors, echoing the lower curves of the rear quarter windows.  At that point, atop the fender lines, thin chromed strips continued along the ridge of the rear fender blades, ending at the taillight assemblies.  Early production front bumpers were in two segments with a gap between them for front license plate placement.  Near the gap, the bumpers angled upwards at around 45 degrees, much in the manner of 1954-1957 Cadillacs, but without the Cadillac "Dagmar" bumper guards.  Later the front bumper was redesigned as a one-piece, horizontal unit.

Gallery

This is a publicity photo of a 1961 Volvo P1800.  It differs little from the prototypes shown below.

A poor-quality photo that shows what seems to be the first Frua prototype in an Italian setting.

Studio photo of a prototype P1800.

Rear view of what might be the prototype in the previous image.  The kinked, segmented rear bumper was not a production item.

A Volvo studio photo of what is probably the gray P1800 shown in Italy, above.

Two photos of Pelle Petterson and an early production P1800.

Restored 1961 Volvo P1800, Hyman Ltd. photo.

Publicity photo, year unknown, showing the rear styling that has a few detail differences from the prototypes.

Volvo's Ford-Like PV 444

It's no secret among the styling cognoscenti and, for that matter, people who were new or used car shopping 55 or so years ago, that Volvos looked a lot like 1940s Fords.  Since many readers of this blog are under age 60, I might as well mention that fact yet again.

The Volvos I'm thinking of are the PV444 and 544 series, and I'll focus on the PV444s here.  Some were built 1944-1946, but mass production took place 1947-1958.  That's according to this Wikipedia entry.

So if prototypes first saw the light of day around late 1943 and early 1944 (before being formally announced late summer '44), this implies that styling was done during the early 1940s.  Surely Volvo staff dealing with body design were aware of the restyled 1941 Ford line and must have been influenced by it.  Below I compare PV444s with 1942 Fords, the last model year before World War 2 halted production.

Gallery

Examples of PV444s.  The first image might be of a prototype or early production car, the lower photo seems to have been taken about 1948.

A 1942 Ford Tudor Sedan for comparison.  The Volvo's fender/front/grille ensemble sits slightly forward of the front of the hood, a styling touch that usually interests me for some reason.  Ford front end styling is more conventional for its time.  The fender shapes are very similar, as are the profiles of the side windows.  The Volvo's fastback curve is a little more gentle than the Ford's, but the price paid is less headroom for back seat passengers.  Both cars feature divided, flat-glass windshields, though the Volvo's is raked back a bit more than the Ford's.

A publicity photo taken around 1955 (judging by the California license plate).  By this time, the PV444 was about to be introduced to the American market.  Note the revised grille.

1942 Ford Tudor seen from towards the rear (Auctions America photo).

Volvo PV444 photo found on the Internet showing rear styling.  Ford had more advanced glass shaping technology that was available to Volvo, hence the divided backlight seen here.  Aside from that and the shape of the top's curve, the cars are very similar.