Volvo P1800

Being the youngest child in my family and who was born in the 80s, I was certainly exposed to a lot of classic music, TV serials and even movies right from the 50s to the 80s. There will be some of you who would remember one of the most iconic TV serials of the 60s, The Saint which starred none other than Roger Moore (now Sir Roger Moore) as Simon Templar. And there was another attraction to the serial and it was a Volvo P1800 which had the plate 'ST 1'. The Volvo P1800 was a car built right from the early 60s to early 70s and close to 50,000 units were built which included coupes and sports estates or commonly known as wagons.

The Volvo Museum in Sweden

The P1800 was built with the ‘sports car’ direction in the mind of the designers and Volvo. They came in a number of variations such as the P1800, 1800S, 1800E and 1800ES. The general bodylines were the same but minor cosmetic differences such as bumpers and chrome linings made the difference. There were also two engine variants which were the B18 and the B20 of which the B18 was a 1.8 litre engine and the B20 a 2.0 litre engine. But of course eventhough they have different models they are all commonly known as P1800 to the common man which in this case includes me.

There are two P1800s that I come across very often. Below are shots of one of those, a pristine Volvo P1800 owned by a friend who is also a Volvo restorer and collector. This definitely has to be one of the fine examples of this model here in Malaysia. This car has also recently been given a full round of bodywork as well as a new coat of paint. And the other is a rare left-hand drive (US spec) variant which is known to be the only one of it’s kind in this part of the world. This car was also used for my wedding so of course it deserves special mention here.

 The rare left-hand drive

One in beautiful condition would fetch close to RM100,000 but that of course means it’s close to mint if not mint. This is a car which has definitely appreciated in it’s value over the recent years so chance are if you get one at a good bargain, you wouldn’t loose money on it. I’ve attached two videos below. One a description of the car and the other a testament of this car’s capability, running 3 million miles on the same motor. Yes, I said it correctly, 3 million miles. :)

The left-hand drive US Spec

The 3 million mile car

 

Lamborghini Gallardo

If one were to ask a kid growing up in the 70s - 90s regarding his/her favourite sports car, the answer would most likely be a Ferrari or a Lamborghini. Previously, I had done a write-up on a Lamborghini Diablo which happens to be my favourite Lamborghini of all time. Well, here’s another Lamborghini but this time it’s the newer Gallardo. The Gallardo was basically the little sibling of the Murcielago. Built for about 10 years between 2003-2013, there were 14,000 units built. There were three generations of the Gallardo built during it’s lifetime of which I’m not going to get into details as there were too many ‘Special Editions’ that came along. With regards to the Gallardo name, it simply means 'Brave' in English.

As like other Lamborghinis, there were not many engines available. The Gallardo had a 5.0 litre V10 and later a 5.2 litre V10. The 5.2 litre V10 engines were made available to the second generation models which were launched in 2008. Basically, if you are not a Lamborghini Gallardo person, chances are you won’t know the differences between the models. Most models had basically the same engines but came with different customisations which included the interior and the exterior. There were also some other editions which had their engines tweaked to produce more power which increased the cars speed of course.

Being a person who’s not got too close to a Lamborghini or a Ferrari as in my earlier post Ferrari 360, I was recently given the chance to get up close with a super-rare limited edition Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Squadra Corse which was designed with track usage in mind. It was to be what they call the street version of the Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Super Trofeo. There were only 50 units of the Squadra Corse made around the world and according to records this is the only one in Malaysia. It is the final limited edition Gallardo that will be manufactured and it also signalled the end of production for the Gallardo. One look at it and you will know that this is not your ordinary Lamborghini Gallardo and it’s most distinctive addition that sets it apart from other is it’s matte black rear wing. Carbon composite material was used for it’s hood, and rear wing. And of course like most special edition cars of this nature, carbon ceramic brakes were used. A lot of carbon fibre was also used for the interior which included it’s door panel. This was all done to make the car lighter and faster. If you would compare between the standard Gallardo(above in yellow) and the Squadra Corse(below in white), you will be able to see the differences.

Well, that’s enough about the car at the moment and I’m sure if you want more details about the car you can always get onto a search engine and do so. Like I mentioned earlier, if I were to do a detailed write-up on this car, I’ll definitely end up writing a long essay. To keep things short, below are some of the shots of the gorgeous Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Squarda Corse and I’ll also leave you a short video with some description for you to understand the car better. I really hope I could drive one of these fast cars on the track someday and I’m sure It’ll be an unforgettable experience.

And the video

Daimler DS420

Sticking to our theme this week of big luxury cars, today I present the Daimler DS420 or simply known as the Daimler Limousine. I’m sure by just looking at the picture above you will understand why it’s called a limousine. It’s size certainly makes it’s presence felt wherever the car may be and of course when there is such a car present, you will know that there is someone important present as well. The Daimler DS420 was used by many countries as their official car which of course included Great Britain. Other than that, a notable non-royalty owner was Howard Hughes who was also a well known aviator.

 Later model with rubber bumpers

Landaulet model with a rear passenger open top

The Daimler DS420 indeed had a very long production period which lasted about 25 years from 1968 up to 1992 and in those years only around 5,000 units were built. That is certainly not much from 25 years of production but that’s what made the car exclusive to it’s owners. It only came with one engine variant and that was the famous 4.2 litre inline 6 cylinder. Even though there was only one engine variant but there were many types of bodies available, mainly built by coachbuilders.

With so few built, this model still never became a sought after vehicle. Checking out prices overseas showed that the cars were available for as low as £2,000 depending on it’s condition of course. Many are sued as wedding rentals as a car it’s size is quite suited to be used for such occasions and the rear space is just enormous and it also had extra foldable seats at the rear (pic above). But I’ve personally not seen any in Malaysia as yet though there may be a few hiding in garages around the country but personally I doubt all are in running condition. I leave you with two videos to get you closer to the car, on the screen at least..

Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit / Silver Spur

Probably the best selling Rolls-Royce after the Silver Shadow, the Silver Spirit is undoubtedly a car that was most commonly used by royals in Malaysia in the 80s and 90s. It was always the automobile of choice whenever they attend functions as it oozed class when parked as well as when on the move. The Silver Spirit was produced between the years 1980 – 1999 and there were about 20,000 units built during that period. There was also a long wheel base version of the Silver Spirit which was known as the Silver Spur. A notable feature of the Silver Spirit was that it had rectangular headlamps and it was a first for Rolls-Royce. It was also the first model to feature the retractable ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’.

At the time when the Silver Spirits were produced, Rolls-Royce and Bentley still belonged to the same parent company as Bentley. I had a write-up on this is one of my earlier posts titled ‘The difference between a classic Rolls-Royce and a classic Bentley’. The similar platform was used by Bentley to produce their models in the same era which included the Bentley Eight, Mulsanne as well as the Bentley Turbo models. Of course, the differences were only cosmetic and naturally they were carrying different badges. 

The super-luxurious interior

All models were powered by the 6.75 litre V8 engine and being a huge car it certainly needed a big heart to move it from one place to another. Over the years they had done some facelifts to update the car as well as introduce new suspension systems, the introduction of ABS as well as fuel-injecting the later models. The initial models were twin-carburetor powered. And coming to the transmission, the earlier models has a 3-speed automatic gearbox mated to the enormous 6.75 litre V8 but in the 90s, a 4-speed automatic was adopted which personally I think was a good move.

Below is the long wheel base Rolls-Royce Silver Spur which happens to be a very rare model. It was spotted at one of my visits to a friend of mine. It wasn’t really in fantastic condition but it was a Silver Spur. It’s really a stunner if you like big cars like me. Buying one in Malaysia is not too expensive and it’ll cost you about RM 80,000 onwards for a good example but maintaining it with the road tax and general maintenance of course is not that cheap. The full road tax for this model is almost RM 20,000 per year unless of course your car is more than 25 years old and you’ll be eligible for the 80% discount of which the road tax will be RM 4,000. It’s a lot of difference but it’s still a lot of money!! But sitting in one will definitely make u feel like a king.. haha..

Below is a video of a 1989 UK Rolls Royce Silver Spirit