The very first sports car that Volvo had produced was the Volvo P1900. It was considered to be an automobile tragedy for it did not do well. In fact, it was only able to sell a skimpy sixty eight units. Despite the downfall of Volvos first attempt at producing and manufacturing a sports car, the company still has taken a great leap so as to design and craft another sports vehicle. And this was the very reason for the Volvo P1800. This vehicle started as a project in the year 1957.
The person who was behind the project on the Volvo P1800 was Helmer Petterson. Petterson was an engineering consultant in the company and he was also responsible for the Volvo PV 444. The actual design aspect of the Volvo P1800 was crafted by Pettersons son, Pelle Petterson. The company that Pelle Petterson worked for was also the company who built the very first prototypes of the Volvo P1800. Of course, the prototypes were named differently. The first three prototypes held the designations P958 X1, P958 X2, and P958 X3.
It was during the last month of 1957 when Helmer Petterson first drove the first hand-built P1800 prototype which was the P958 X1. He then had some engineers look at...