BOLT FROM THE BLUE
THE SHUTTER CLATTERS SLOWLY UPWARD on a nondescript industrial unit near Silverstone circuit to reveal a vast, near-empty expanse of shiny concrete floor and a small, shockingly blue car – of which I know little – sitting in the middle of it. I’d vaguely noted a press release that had arrived from Cyan Racing about its new P1800-based restomod, and thought then how tasty it looked, but it was a busy week, and when the subsequent email came through inviting us to drive it at short notice I thought it best to say ‘yes’ first and ask questions later.
To be honest, I’m not exactly a fount of knowledge when it comes to Volvo’s P1800. It was already a classic when I was still in short trousers, and often seemed to be mentioned in the same breath as Roger Moore – who the young Towler simply knew as James Bond – because he’d driven one in a ’60s crime caper that people occasionally mentioned in passing and that by then already seemed as though it hailed from a different planet, let alone decade. I do know that the standard P1800 is a sports car that trades on the lighter side
