The Volvo P1800 Cyan is the coolest interpretation of the classic car, even though basically it’s all-new, inside out.
There’s a “new” Volvo in town, the Volvo P1800 Cyan. All we can say, this one is not all that “saintly.” Of course, if you ever caught the TV series, The Saint, you might have seen a car mentioned as the “Hirondel”, a fictional steed for Simon “The Saint” Templar. Building the aforementioned Hirondel would have been way out of the purview of ‘60s Tinseltown, so they tried to get their hands on a Jag. When Jaguar refused, finally, Saint took the Volvo P1800 as his faithful steed, immortalizing this sports car forever.
But the new Volvo P1800 Cyan is a very different beast, and ironically, it’s not new at all. It’s an old classic turned new and costs a bomb. And it’s made in-house by Cyan Racing, as much as the convoluted history of Volvo and Polestar allows it to be.
The good news is that it’s not just a Europe-only beast and can be had by the Americans. The not-so-good bit is that you’d have to be an American with deep, deep pockets to be able to afford it. And so we will talk about the coolest Volvo ever, the P1800 Cyan, because a thing of beauty, deserves an ode. Or at least, an article. Read on, Macduff!
The Volvo P1800 Cyan Costs $700,000!
Don’t get misled by the name. Just because this car is the Volvo P1800 Cyan, don’t expect it to carry too much of the good old sixties. The Volvo P1800 Cyan retains (a part) of the original steel chassis, hood release, vent controls, and well, windshield vipers. That’s about it.
The rest of the entire inventory of this quarter-of-a-million-dollar beast is all new and made or sourced by Cyan Racing. Think of it as an all-new car built around the shell of the old one. So yes, the aesthetic resemblance is there, but that’s about it. From the engine to the transmission to even the insides, everything about the Volvo P1800 Cyan is new.
The credit goes to Cyan Racing, a racing team from Sweden that wasn’t known for much given it used boxy sedans, until it started winning. Back then, the racing company was Polestar and its grand success merited a Volvo “official partner” badge in 2009. In 2015, Volvo went ahead and bought Polestar and turned it into its EV brand. So Cyan Racing came to play, and with the P1800 Cyan by its side, we expect awesome innings.
The Specs Of The P1800 Cyan Are Up To Any Challenge
With a spanking new carbon-fiber body bonded to the classic steel chassis, the greenhouse steps back a little for a way more panache. The curb weight of the car is just 2,180 pounds, rivaling the likes of the Lotus, with Porsche-challenging power specs: 420 horsepower, 336 lb-ft torque, and a redline up to 7,700.
The engine is no “biggie” per se, given that it’s a modest 2.0-liter inline-four sourced from the Volvo S60 race car, mated to a five-speed Holinger gearbox. There’s now an independent rear suspension, and since the P1800 Cyan comes designed for canyon racing, it tends to dart on straight roads as well.
The classic looks come enhanced with the new 18-inch wheels, bearing 14-inch AP brakes. Sadly, the trunk space already has a tenant, a motorsport-grade fuel cell. Also, neither the trunk hatch nor the door will stay open on their own, lacking stays. Given the fact that this Volvo P1800 comes built for speed, none of these things matter.
If you hop into the P1800 Cyan and expect a bumbling classic, do so at your own risk given that it can zip 0-60 mph in 4.0-5.0 seconds, depending on the level of abuse you can dish.
Think Of The Volvo P1800 Cyan As A Continuation Series
Cyan Racing, a privately owned company, specifies that the Volvo P1800 Cyan has got nothing to do with Volvo, per se, and comes developed independently by them. The “Volvo” and “P1800” trademarks are still owned by Volvo, respectively.
That said, Cyan Racing developed the P1800 Cyan as their interpretation of a “continuation” series of the P1800. The original Volvo P1800 debuted in 1960, preceding the Jaguar E-Type, Ferrari 250 GTO, and the Porsche 911. All of the latter three have a continuation so Cyan Racing’s Christian Dahl felt, it was time to create a racing legacy for the P1800 as well, as he stated, it is “what could have been if we as a race team had been there during the sixties, racing the P1800, and got to design a road version of our race car.”
So think of the Volvo P1800 Cyan as cheers to the classic, with a retro feel to the modern interiors, and a rakish stance to what was once the hero car of a forgotten TV series. The iconic Volvo P1800 is dead, long live the Volvo P1800 Cyan!
Sources: IMDb, Cyan Racing
