By 1960, the first 1800s were rolling off the line with 1.8L B18 engines and M40 4-speed manuals, with the M41 4-speed with 'D-type' overdrive for B18s and 'J-type' for B20s available as an option from 1963.Īs with many other Volvos from the late 1950s through the 1970s, 'overdrive' in cars with this option was a separate overdrive unit attached to the rear of the transmission, between the transmission and the driveshaft. Volvo sought to have Karmann in Germany produce the bodies for them under contract, but after VW intervened (fearing competition with their own Beetle-based Karmann Ghia), Volvo turned to Jensen Motors in the UK. Design and prototyping work began on this new 1800, now using Volvo Amazon running gear under a swoopy body designed by Pietro Frua and Pelle Petterson (son of the P1800 project manager Helmer Petterson), with both contracted to famed Italian coachbuilder Ghia. To meet Volvo's quality standards, the way forward was clearly mass production methods, not low-volume hand assembly. This experiment, the Volvo 'Sport', sold a mere 68 cars from 1956-1957 before production was cancelled due to quality issues: when Gabrielsson stepped down, incoming president Gunnar Engellau test drove one and declared afterwards, 'I thought it would fall apart!'

In the late 1950s, Volvo president Assar Gabrielsson was interested in a sporty 2-door in the same mould as the Chevrolet Corvette: a low volume roadster, with engines and equipment borrowed from other Volvos and fiberglass body panels.

Laycock overdrive j type