Volvo P1900

The Volvo Sport (also known as P1900) is a Swedish fiberglass-bodied roadster produced from 1956 to 1957. A total of 68 units were built, with the first 19 assembled by the Glasspar Company in California, and later by Volvo Cars. Assar Gabrielsson, Volvo's president and founder, got the idea for the car when he saw a Chevrolet Corvette in the United States and wanted to make something similar. He approached Bill Tritt of Glasspar, an American boatbuilder in Santa Ana, California, who were pioneers in building fiberglass auto bodies from 1951 to 1957. They were was tasked with designing and tooling a fibreglass/reinforced polyester body, producing molds, building the first prototype, as well as training Volvo’s staff in how to design and manufacture fiberglass bodies. Erik Quistgaard was appointed as development team leader. The car was built on a welded tubular-steel chassis and used an upgraded version of the Volvo PV444's 1414 cc engine producing 70 hp (52 kW) at 5,500 rpm. The engines were fitted with twin SU carburetors, as well as a different camshaft, larger intake valves and. higher compression than the PV444. Power was sent through a three-speed manual gearbox. Many other parts were taken also from the Volvo PV444. Demand was low, and the build quality was not up to Volvo standards. Gunnar Engellau, who replaced Gabrielsson as president in 1956, took one for a drive on a holiday weekend and was dissatisfied enough that on returning to his office the following week cancelled the remaining production. He reportedly either said "I thought it would fall apart!" or "I thought the doors would fall off". The Volvo chassis design was far too flexible to accommodate a fiberglass body, and Volvo resisted recommendations by Glasspar to alter the frame to address their concerns. Volvo had planned to...