1964 Volvo P1800S review
Evening Argus'. Wednesday. September 9th. 1964
EVEN MORE ZIP FOR THE VOLVO AND QUIETER TOO
By ‘Mac’
You might wonder why anyone should want to bother with “hotting up” the Volvo P1800S coupe. After all. It is Sweden's fastest production car and at £1.651 the most expensive Volvo model, and it will cruise happily all day at a steady l00 m.p.h.
But K.N. Rudd (Engineers), Ltd., of High Street, Worthing, are just itching to send people along to their associate company, Ruddspeed, Ltd., at Ford Aerodrome to have Volvos “breathed upon.”
The Ruddspeed P1800S can be regarded as the excellent Volvo car with a great deal more acceleration, which mean that higher cruising speeds are more readily attainable, and even greater refinement than is provided with the normal Volvo car.
PART EXCHANGE
You can spend up to £200 with Rudd’s on improving your Volvo if you have all the improvements carried out to a new car, a bit more if your own car is converted, without having the advantage of being able to let Rudd’s give part exchange values on unused parts which are replaced by their modified components.
The last word in Ruddspeed Volvos is a 140 bhp P1800S, which is quieter and more flexible than the original version, as well as being so much quicker in getting up to its cruising speeds.
It does not cost as much to ring this car to the peak of Ruddspeed development as, for instance, a Volvo 121 saloon, which begins life with a 75 bhp single carburettor engine and drum from brakes.
The P1800S already has many items of equipment fitted to it when it leaves the Swedish factory that Rudd could otherwise provide later. In theory there is nothing on the Ruddspeed P1800S which I tested which cannot also be fitted to the cheapest Volvo.
Items which are standard on a P1800S and which can be added to the cheapest Volvo are an overdrive, sports type silencer, oil cooler, servo-assistance for the brakes, carpets in the interior (all Volvos except the P1800S have rubber floor covering), locking petrol filler cap, spare wheel cover and a remote control gear lever.
In addition, of course, the P1800S has an engine output of 108 b.h.p in its standard form, and the early stages of Ruddspeed development work bring the power output up to a figure of this order.
To take the P1800S to the full Ruddspeed specifications entails a good deal of extra specialised work.
There are modifications to the cylinder head, a new camshaft, a new exhaust manifold system of separate outlet pipes (on this model Rudd’s are currently using the standard silencer system, but could also fit a silencer of their own specification) and, in the ultimate conversion, a pair of twin choke Weber carburettors fed from a cold air box taking its air through a large-bore pipe direct from the front grille of the car beside the radiator.
The cylinder head (£19 10s. For the exchange unit) has a higher compression ration than that of the standard head, going up to 11 to 1, compared to 10 to 1 used normally, and it has carefully modified combustion chamber and ports to give easier flow of gas and more efficient burning.
The camshaft is the Ruddspeed “SS” type, costing £12 15s. To modify and providing increased valve lift and more overlap than the normal camshaft. The exhaust manifold is a four-branch unit costing £17 17s. And it feeds into a down pipe, which bolts o to the existing silencer of this model, which is efficient both in silencing and releasing exhaust gases.
On the car tested, a pair of side-draught twin-chokeWeber carburettors, of the type used in most models of racing ar these days all over the world, replaced the usual twin S.U. carburettors. They were fed from a cold air box (£9 9s.) and were not at all noisy. The cost is £78, with allowance of £15 on the S.U. carburettors when the conversion is carried out to a new car.
Without checking it against a stopwatch, which reveals that the car will reach 60 m.p.h. in nine seconds when accelerating from a standstill, you might be a little disappointed in the Ruddspeed P188S. It obviously goes quickly — the way in which you leave the other traffic behind is clear evidence — but it is so smooth, quiet and flexible that there is none of the drama which is often associated with performance converted cars.
You can use overdrive top gear from under 30 m.p.h. and it will whisk you away effortlessly, and keep on accelerating well until more than 100 m.p.h. is reached. The maximum of 112 m.p.h. is not particularly high but must be partly due to the use of overdrive and the low final drive ratio which is fitted.
The effect of this is to make it impossible to reach maximum speed in direct top gear, because you would then over-rev the engine, while you cannot achieve maximum revs in overdrive.
It does mean, however, that rapid acceleration is available to nearly 100 m.p.h. in direct top, and you can drive as hard as you like in overdrive, knowing that you cannot over-stress the engine.
Part of the credit for the effortless and quiet manner of the Ruddspeed Volvo’’s ride must be taken by the “Silent Ride” kit of sound-deadening materials which had been applied to it. It cost £10, and must be worth all of it.
The test car was also fitted with a set of knock-on wire wheels, which entails the fitting of special hubs. The cost is £89 (£20 less with allowances for removing parts of new cars).
A further refinement was a set of Koni shock absorber (£17 10s. — less £1 10s. On a new car), which with the Pirelli Cinturato tyres, which are standard equipment on the P1800S, helped to make this car simply cling to the road when it was both dry and wet.
Prepared as a Ruddspeed model, the P1800S becomes a particularly rapid car in which its grand touring nature has not been spoiled in any way but has actually been enhanced.
Wire wheels and two small emblems are the only exterior indications that this Volvo P1800S is a Ruddspeed version. More performance and even greater refinement are the differences, Details: Two-door, two-seater, fixed head coupe. Prices: standard model £1,651 2s 11d, (inc tax) plus £217 1s, for Ruddspeed equipment. Engine< Four-cylinder, pushrod ohm, 1,789 cc, 140 bhp. Top speed 112 mph. Fuel consumption 18-25 mpg. Average 86 miles per £. Dimensions: Length 14ft. 5 1/4in.; width 5ft. 7in.; height 4ft. 2 1/2in; turning circle 32ft.; weight 24 cwt.