Celebrating 60 Years since the Volvo Sport P1900

Source: Motortrend

The Volvo Sport Roadster made its debut on June 2, 1954, and unlike the svelte Volvos we're used to seeing today, the Sport was short and fat, measuring 8 inches shorter than the Volvo PV 444. The roadster made quite an impression with a large grille that resembled a turbine, and underneath the hood was a version of the 1.4-liter PV 444 engine, except in this application, the engine was tuned to make 70 hp and reach a top speed of around 95 mph. 

The two-seater was pretty much a research project by the company's founder Assar Gabrielsson in the early 1950s. Garielsson frequented in the U.S in an effort to research the market before launching Volvo in the 'States, and during one of his trips, he crossed paths with a company called Glasspar in Montecito, Calif. Since 1951, Glasspar had been building hulls for boats and bodies for sports cars using fiberglass, which was a newer material at that time. Gabrielsson was fascinated with the manufacturing process, and while he wanted to introduce the material to Sweden, he also wanted to build a small European sports car for the U.S since he noticed there was a huge interest in them. As a result, he asked Glasspar to design and build a sports car prototype, in addition to training Volvo's staff on how to design and manufacture fiberglass bodies. Meanwhile, engineers in Gothenburg were in charge of developing a chassis that would fit the body. 

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Source: Motortrend

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