The Saint's Volvo 1800
A white Volvo P1800 (with licence plate ST1) driven by Simon Templar, played by Roger Moore, was featured in the TV series The Saint beginning in 1962 and played a prominent role throughout the entire run of the show. Roger Moore was so smitten with the Volvo that he bought one for his own personal use.
Two new cars had been introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in 1961, a Jaguar E-type and the Volvo P1800. Jaguar was first offered the opportunity to provide an E-Type for the TV series but declined, feeling they had too much demand already and not seeing the need for additional press. When asked for a P1800, Volvo jumped at the chance. This led to an increase of sales of the P1800 and the creation of a 1960's icon. Initially, Volvo lent two cars for the series, one for static studio shots and the other for moving shots. When the P1800S came along, one of the earlier cars was cut up to allow better interior shots.
When the series The Return of the Saint was created in the 1970s, Jaguar made up for their mistake and offered the new XJ-S for the series.
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