Zippy
Don't ask me why I'm up before seven in the morning on a Father's Day Sunday watching an episode of Jay Leno's Garage on YouTube but here I sit. This episode is about a 1967 Volvo P1800 sports car used in the TV series The Saint.
I can remember seeing a two-door station wagon version of this car for the first time somewhere back in the early 1970's. I saw one on the streets of Portland maybe or Lewiston and it was love at first sight. But I was a poor commoner and this thing was just out of my league. Wikipedia identifies this as the P1800ES and refers to the two-door station wagon design as a "shooting brake". I knew it as a sport wagon design. Wikipedia says Volvo made this ES version for only two years, 1972 and 1973. 1973 was when all the car manufacturers watered down the compression ratio of their engines to accommodate lead-free gasoline so 1972 seems like the year to have.
Somewhere in the deep recesses of my subconscious mind this car conjures up memories of the 1955 Studebaker Commander two-door sedan that my dad owned as our family car through the late '50's and early '60's. Dear Old Dad traded that Studebaker for a brand new 1962 Rambler Classic which he eventually traded for a slightly used 1966 Chevy Chevelle Malibu, his pride and joy until he was no longer able to drive. Oh yeah, I think it was a 1948 or so Hudson four-door Sedan that Dad traded in to get the Studebaker.
In any case seeing this sport wagon was love at first sight for me. If anyone ever wants to give me a truly meaningful Father's Day present, one of these ES models fully restored would be a real hoot! Don't bother getting me the coupe version either. It's the ES station wagon design that turns my head.
Anyway, two of the people Jay Leno interviews in this video refer to the P1800 as "zippy" and Leno has fun pointing out that in six years of doing his show, nobody had ever used that word to describe a car and all of a sudden here are two different people using the word.
Zippy...
I actually remember that word being used to refer to cars.
I can remember seeing a two-door station wagon version of this car for the first time somewhere back in the early 1970's. I saw one on the streets of Portland maybe or Lewiston and it was love at first sight. But I was a poor commoner and this thing was just out of my league. Wikipedia identifies this as the P1800ES and refers to the two-door station wagon design as a "shooting brake". I knew it as a sport wagon design. Wikipedia says Volvo made this ES version for only two years, 1972 and 1973. 1973 was when all the car manufacturers watered down the compression ratio of their engines to accommodate lead-free gasoline so 1972 seems like the year to have.
Somewhere in the deep recesses of my subconscious mind this car conjures up memories of the 1955 Studebaker Commander two-door sedan that my dad owned as our family car through the late '50's and early '60's. Dear Old Dad traded that Studebaker for a brand new 1962 Rambler Classic which he eventually traded for a slightly used 1966 Chevy Chevelle Malibu, his pride and joy until he was no longer able to drive. Oh yeah, I think it was a 1948 or so Hudson four-door Sedan that Dad traded in to get the Studebaker.
In any case seeing this sport wagon was love at first sight for me. If anyone ever wants to give me a truly meaningful Father's Day present, one of these ES models fully restored would be a real hoot! Don't bother getting me the coupe version either. It's the ES station wagon design that turns my head.
Anyway, two of the people Jay Leno interviews in this video refer to the P1800 as "zippy" and Leno has fun pointing out that in six years of doing his show, nobody had ever used that word to describe a car and all of a sudden here are two different people using the word.
Zippy...
I actually remember that word being used to refer to cars.
posted by Bill | 7:32 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home