My 1970 Volvo P1800E

The Brisbane business owner has restored a Volvo P1800 sports car like the one driven by one of the coolest guys on the planet - Roger Moore as Simon Templar in the 1960s TV show, The Saint. His car is the later and more powerful 1970 P1800E series which has the same shape and style as the original 1961 P1800 driven by Moore.

"I spotted it on a hoist in a garage near work and instantly fell in love with it," he says."I'd never seen one in the flesh before.”

“I remember seeing the TV show as a kid. It's the coolest Volvo ever made”

"The new ones are nice, but in between this and now they weren't good looking."

So Scholz tracked down the owner and asked her if she wanted to sell.

She did and Scholz bought the car in 2000 for $5500, but he says it was in pretty bad shape.

"The paintwork was shot and the interior was completely gone," he says.

The restoration took four-and-a-half years to complete and Scholz says he did most of the work himself, except for the paint.

"I used to be a sheet metal worker by trade so I'm pretty good with my hands," he says. "I completely stripped it and put it on a rotisserie to straighten it out.”

"I pulled out every bit of wiring and tagged it, put it in a bag and three years later I came to get it out and all the tags had come off. I had to get a bit of help from an auto electrician to fix it."

The car is now a show-winning restoration in "Volvo Gold", not white like The Saint's white car.

It has won 12 trophies including second place in this year's annual Volvo Rally at Armidale.

"It runs great and never misses a beat, although I only drive it to shows and club events," he says.

"It was never any powerhouse and I wouldn't say they are the greatest handling cars on the road as they tend to have a bit of body roll."

Still, it is claimed to be capable of a top speed of 190km/h and will reach 100km/h in less than 10 seconds.

Scholz points out that the P1800 was hi-tech for its time with fuel injection, four-speed manual with electronic overdrive, four-wheel disc brakes, a rear window demister and lap/sash seatbelts which were made compulsory in 1967 in the UK where the vehicle came from. Three-point seatbelts were made compulsory in Victoria in 1970 and later in other states.

It also has some quirks such as the electronic overdrive switch where you would expect the indicators to be.

"If you are not careful you can whack it into overdrive thinking you are indicating a turn," Scholz says.

The dashboard looks impressive with seven gauges (clock, oil pressure, speedo, tacho, water temperature, oil temperature and fuel gauge).

The odo shows 96,471 miles (155,255km), but Scholz has only added about 10,000km since the engine was rebuilt.

But Scholz need not be concerned about longevity as a Californian-owned P1800 is in the Guinness Book of Records with almost 3 million miles (4.8 million kilometres) on the original engine. The Volvo is not Scholz's only restoration.

He also restored a 1976 Kawasaki Z900 - a later model of the bike featured in the Australian movie, Stone - which he sold to a Japanese collector and has a 1960s Honda S800 sportscar sitting in his shed awaiting restoration.

COOL HISTORY

SIMON Templar could have driven an E-Type Jaguar in the 1960s show, The Saint, but the British car manufacturer turned down an offer from the show's producers.

However, Volvo jumped at the opportunity and sales of the P1800 went through the roof on the back of the show's success with Roger Moore playing the suave Templar.

The Volvo sportscar project had started as early as 1957.

It was long thought to be designed by an Italian having been drawn up at the Pietro Frua design studio.

However, in 2009 Volvo admitted it was the work of Swedish sailor and yacht designer Pelle Petterson who was a student at the studio at the time.

Coincidentally he was the son of Volvo engineering consultant Helmer Petterson who battled for several years to have the vehicle produced.

The vehicle debuted at the Brussels Motor Show in 1960 and because of a lack of Volvo assembly line availability the Swedes turned to the British sportscar company, Jensen Motors, to build the sportscar which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

However, quality control was not a strong suit of British industry at the time, so production was moved in 1963 to Gothenburg in Sweden and the model name was changed to P1800S with the added S standing for Sweden.

In 1970, the P1800E added fuel injection and a more powerful motor, and in 1972 a rather ugly P1800ES station wagon was added.

Production ended in 1973 and it wasn't until the 2006 C30 that Volvo produced another "cool" car.

Year: 1970
Price New: $7300
Price Now: about $30,000-$35,000
Engine: 92kW 1986cc fuel-injected 4-cylinder
Body: 2-door, 2-seater sportscar
Trans: 4-speed manual all-synchro with Laycock electronic overdrive
Did you know: Roger Moore liked his Volvo P1800 TV car so much he bought one.