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Honourable Members |
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A person can be appointed to Honourable member if he/she, to a very large extent, has contributed to the purposes as stated in the constitution of the club. |
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Earlier Honourable Members Bo Lindén, founder of the club, # 0001 Paul Bjelkander, spare parts saviour, # X010 Pelle Petterson, designer # P1800 Sir Roger Moore, Saint, # ST1 Bo Oscarsson, Spare parts expert # 0199.
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Jan Wilsgaard |
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Presentation of new Honourable Member 2005 by Fredrick Beste |
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Born in N Y C, Norwegian father. Studied Arts and craft in Gothenburg Discovered and hand-picked by the Volvo executive team when a new design department was established in 1950. Astonishing design career for more than 4 decades. First job: modifications to the Volvo PV60. Last job:Volvo 850 (1991) Succeeded as design manager by Peter Horbury (S60, S80, V70 etc.) Annual scholarship at HDK (his alma mater) to a prominent student in the name of Jan Wilsgaard. |
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Career of Jan Wilsgaards Has designed almost all Volvo cars 1950 – 1990 wit the exception of: Volvo P1900 (”Sport”) But he did anyway modify this plastic creation so that it could reach manufacturability. Volvo P1800 Coupe Was designed, as we all know, by the “Italian” designer Pelle Petterson |
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Selected models by Wilsgaard Volvo Philip, his first own job in 1950, American inspired, big V8 engine… |
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| PV 179 (1952), prototype |
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Project “PV 55” Internal Volvo competition between several designers, including Wilsgaard and Helmer Petterson. The proposals were merged into one, which became the PV544 “Secretly”, Wilsgaard was working with…
P 1200 – Amazon |
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Volvo P 1400 – the safety car (1967) |
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Wilsgaard & Volvo 1800 Already in the middle of the 1960ies, a successor for the P1800 was discussed. Wilsgaard made a proposal, called the P172, planned to replace the P1800 already in 1968. After lots of considerations, the Volvo management decided not to produce that car. In the meantime, the P 1400 (later: Volvo 140) was created, replacing the Amazon (120). |
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The sketching of the proposal of the P1800 successor continued during the entire 1960ies. Several external designers created proposals as well, e.g. Italian Fissore. Finally, Wilsgaard was assigned the task – main requirements were to improve rear view and better loading space.
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The sketching resulted in two proposals: ”Beach Car”:
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…and the ”Jaktvagnen” (“hunting car”): |
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Volvo decided to create 2 proposals as 1800 successors. Cars were taken from the production line and driven down to Italy (Coggiola and Frua) where they were to be changed into “fastbacks”. Wilsgaard himself drew one of the cars down under a very adventurous journey. |
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Clay model at Coggiola with asymmetric left/right sides, the shape of the windows differ. |
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”Raketen” (the Rocket) was built by Frua – discarded as “too futuristic”.… Test driven extensively outside Gothenburg. Today at the Volvo Museum.
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Final solution: 1800 ES, by Wilsgaard. Less extreme version of Beach Car. ES = ”Estate” according to Jan Wilsgaard. In Production 1971-1973, one year longer than the 1800E. Then the Amazon and Duett were discontinued, which meant no more common components were available. American safety and pollution regulatory effective from 1974 would have meant vast redesign of the 1800ES, the chassis and the engine. |
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n1800ES
is famous for its ahead of time design of the boot
–
just a piece of glass!
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ES Final Version |
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Wilsgaard's works after 1800ES, a selection |
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 240 serien |
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 Sista Bilen, 850 Sedan |
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About 240… Jan Wilsgaard once commented the enormous success of the Volvo 240 series in Sweden: ”It might be due to the fact that the car is a little square and sluggish, just like the Swedes themselves.”
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Honourable member(# 1800ES) from 2005. Was interviewed Spring 2005 in His home by Fredrik Johansson and Mats Eriksson. |
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