The Club's History

It all started in 1978. Bosse Lindén had just purchased a P1800 1961. He got an idea that it would be fun to start a club for the owners of Volvo P1800. So he put an ad in a magazine called Teknikens Värld and he immediately got about 30 answers. He got in touch with people in the neighbourhood who owned P1800. To keep the interest alive he started making a simple magazine during his spare time.After one year there were 300 members in the club. The next year 600, and by the 5-years jubilee 1984 there where nearly 1400 members. That meant that the Swedish Volvo P1800-club was the largest car club in Sweden. The picture above shows the very first magazine 

The very first meeting
The first club meeting was arranged at the tourist motel in Omberg in September 1979. The participant number did not make an impression at first. Just a few answers had arrived a couple of days before the meeting. But at 11 o’clock on the day of the meeting about 30 shiny P1800 were driving in to the harbour of Stocklycke. Dark clouds were hanging in the sky but they disappeared fortunately. Most cars came from the neighbourhood, but some from far away had also turned up. The long distant price went to Erika Erlandsson from Tommelilla. The cars were lined up in two nice rows and after looking at each other’s cars and a great deal of discussion the planned annual meeting was held. A council was elected, and there was a discussion about activity in the future. After the annual meeting it was time for a cruise in the beautiful surroundings of Omberg. The local press took some pictures and after that it was time for all the members to return home again.

 

1980
In the spring this year a meeting and visit at the Volvo factory premises of in Gothenburg was arranged. The factory tour unfortunately was cancelled due to a strike, but Volvo arranged a tour to the Volvo museum instead. The membership of Bo Oscarsson really was a jackpot for the club. Bo has due to his good connections with Volvo saved a great deal of spare parts from destruction. He is also the leading man behind the well-attended Västerås-meeting (nowadays held in Köping). Bo Oscarsson has been working with Volvo spare parts since 1954. He is still member of the club and also a member of the board.

1981
The club’s deputy member Tommy Agren started an agreement for co-operation with Folksam, an insurance company to get better insurance terms for the members of the club. In 1981 the first meeting took place in Västerås. This meeting was very appreciated and has since then become an annual event.

1982
The club  got it's member #1000. When the annual meeting at Sundbyholm was planned there were great expectations that many participants would turn up. Only 28 came!! 

1983
A rainy Sunday in June 1983 Volvo arranged the 1:st International Swap in co-operation with Bilsport and Motor-Trend, two Swedish motor magazines. The club participated. The annual meeting was held at Silver Hill in Klippan. In this village the largest private collection of Rolls Royce can be seen. A new record was set when one hundred and forty P 1800 cars arrived! At Silver Hill the members had a chance to take out a special insurance that the club had arranged in co-operation with Trygg-Hansa, a Swedish insurance company.

1984
The fifth year jubilee was celebrated in 1984, and the club joined MHRF, the Historic Cars Association of Sweden. A big meeting was held at Verdexa in Malmö where 65 P1800 cars attended. Some foreign visitors also turned up. At the Västerås meeting spare parts for 200 000 SEK were traded compared with 1981, when the first meeting was held , parts for 35 000 SEK were traded.

1985
The number of members was reduced to 1350 

1986
In 1986 Bosse Lindén resigned as president of the club but he is still member number 1. The same year 40 P1800 cars came to the meeting at Skeppsholmen in Stockholm in brilliant sunshine.

1987
The annual meeting was held at Dagsberg outside Norrköping and 35 cars came. At the big Volvo-meeting at Mantorp, the same year, nearly 70 P1800 cars participated 

1988
The meeting in Västerås was held i May, glorious weather and a little more than 125 P1800 had arrived. The interest for the meeting in Stockholm has declined, only 15 cars attended. The annual meeting this year was held in Åsa, close from Gothenburg and a small but brave crowd was there. A rally, Östgötasvängen was held between Linköping and Dagsberg, a great event that enticed 25 cars. 

1989
The 10 years anniversary this year and the annual meeting was held in Omberg, the place were all once was started. For the first time, a meeting in the northern Sweden, Sundsvall, was held, in co-operation with the Amazon and PV clubs.

1990
Dörarp, 3 miles south of Värnamo,hosted this years annual meeting. 15 P1800 were there. Other meetings this year:  Classic Volvo Rally in Gothenburg with app. 70 cars of different Volvo models and   Trollenästräffen a meeting in association with the Motorhistoric Club  and  Club-69. The meeting: Smålandsträffen was held in Hultsfred,  a Semmy Lingefjord initiative. 

1991
22 P1800, 10 PV, 22 Amazons and 1 Volvo 164 came to Sundsvallsträffen this year. The annual meeting was held in Uppsala. The meeting in  Stockholm got a very nice summer weather and was visited by 8 P1800 and many Volvo Amazon. 

1992
During this year, lots of things occurred for the benefit of the club. We got great PR by the magazine Bilsport who had a 7 pages story about P1800. The organisation SVIS was formed after long discussions with Volvo and as a result of this, all Volvo-clubs in Sweden got the opportunity to buy spare parts  that otherwise had been sent away for destruction. The opening of the SVIS-stock was at October 10th in Köping. A great success this year was the meeting in Västerås, 71 cars came and parts for 410 000 SEK were sold

1993
In 1993 the Västerås meeting was moved to Köping since the S.V.I.S warehouse was located to Köping. In brilliant sunshine about 100 cars arrived. The annual meeting was held at the same time and 50 members participated. The Dutch, German and Austrian Volvo clubs held a jubilee meeting at Volvo in Gothenburg because it was 20 years since the last P1800 was produced. During 1993 the membership number 4000 was distributed. The total number of members was 1500.

1994
The club celebrates it's 15 anniversary. The first meeting at Gotland was arranged. A great meeting, VROM, was held in Gotheburg and our club was represented. Other meetings: Eskilstuna (only 7  participants), Köping (44 P1800). The club decided to explore how many P1800 cars there were registred in Sweden. The number was 3638. Our logotype was undergoing a minor change - the word "Svenska" was included prior to "Volvo" and new decals and flags were produced

1995
5 issues of the magazine was published instead of 4 and a special gift was given to all contributers to stimulate a better respons from the member. Meetings: The Gothenburg Motor Show, Bilen Genom Tiderna at the Arlanda Airport, Gotlandsträffeb, Eskilstuna and, of course, the big meeting at Köping (42 P1800).  A fire hit the SVIS-stock  but lots of parts, almost 75% were saved by a heroic work of some members.

1996
The magazine was published 5 times and a homepage was started at the Internet. A new location for the burned down SVIS was found in Köping. Several meetings were held; Gotland, Eskilstuna and Köping. Some of the members in the western area of Sweden formed a new section: Region Väst and  meetings were held at Kungälv and Alingsås. VROM was held for the 10th time and 41 P1800 were exhibitioned.

1997
The year started with a big survey among the members for the board to get a clear picture on what the members thought about the club. The club also participated in a big meeting with all different Vintage Volvo clubs represented.  The future of the clubs was discussed. Should we continue as separate small clubs or merge into a larger one?  There were different opinions expressed about this, but the co-operation between the clubs were nevertheless strengthened after this meeting! During the year, new procile products were required. Also the Club Internet Home page has become popular. the magazine was published in 5 issues. An increase in the number of members was noted. two "pure" 1800 meetings were held and 13 common gatherings with other Volvo clubs.


1998
A very succesful year for the club in many ways! The Internet home page had becom very popular. The Internet efforts have "paid off" well and resulted in a number of new members, and for teh first time in several years, passed the 1600 mark. During the year, 5 issues of the amgazine were published, and 17 internet news letters.  2 1800  and 18 common meetings took place. The board has made lots of planning duting the year for next year's 20th anniversary. The idea is to celebrate this in several places around Sweden.  Already in teh beginning of the year, the increased intrerest in arranging meetings could be noticed. Hopefully this is a trend that will persist. Also the activity of the members by sending material to the club magazine increased quite a lot. The future of the club looks bright in many ways

1999
A year full of activites! In 1999, the Swedish Volvo P1800 Club celebrated its 20th anniversary. This was celebrated mot than 10 places around Sweden in connection with several local arrangements The club had sponsored the gatherings with special cakes, free for all participants! Special celebration gifts were also handed out to everyone participating in the meetings! After the "meetings season", all club members that had participated in any meeting received a special jubilee medal. The annual meeting was held in the isle of Gotland, in conjunction to the increasingly popular Gotland Summer gathering. On the whole,  1999 was a year with more 1800s showing up at meetings than ever before. A very positive trend for the club as well as for the meeting organizers. A common gathering with the Volvo Amazon club  was held during fall at the SVIS warehouse in the town of Köping, this was very appreciated by the visitors.  24 newsletters and 5 club magazines were issued.

2000 
During the year, we participated in 17 meetings joint with other clubs and 2 own 1800 gatherings. A very well-attended meeting was the Gotland gathering which included no less than 17 cars!  The number of members grew to 1539 at the end of the year.  The magazine published 5 issues. 16 newsletters were sent out via Internet. The club editor also had the opportunity to meet with Roger Moore for a chat when he visited Gothenburg to inaugurate a hotel. The meeting resulted in an article for the club magazine. The Club Home Page  has become very popular.  the number of visitirs  increased by 44% to over 62.000 hits!
The Club shop introduced more merchandise during the year, e.g. sweatshirts and wind jackets.  The annual meeting was held at the gathering at Parken Zoo in the town of Eskilstuna. Unfortunately only 13 participants showed up.  The day was however very nice  and featured also a visit to the Volvo BM Museum.  In the beginning of the year, the discussions in the club magazine were intense on the subject of  the cars original conditions or not.  The board finally decided that ALL 1800 cars and their owners were welcome as club memers regardless of their car's condition. The supply of spare parts form SVIS  is still relatively good. Some things are however out of stock, while  some other items have been introduced.

2001
143 new members joined the club. 2 1800 and 8 joint meetings were arranged throughout the country. A few merchandise items  were introduced in the club shop, like ties with "The Saint" logos in various colurs. Several  board members participated in gatherings and promoted the club by selling stuff.
When it comes to spare parts for the 1800, the SVIS organization in co-operation with GCP (Genuine classic parts) in Jönköping, have manufactured samples of windscreen and grill trims. The windscreen trims were approved but the grille trim was decided not to be of enough quality, after having tested 3 different samples.
The annual meeting was held outdoors in a heatwave! The small town of Målilla was the place this year, a place that also keeps the heat record for Sweden with + 38,5 centigrades!  Great weather thus, and the annual meeting procedures could be held among flowers and pick-nicks.
During 2001, the club continued to send out several news letters via the Internet. The magazine published 5 issues, and the biggest change was that from issue #4 2001, the magazine introduced a number of colour pages in every issue! A much appreciated addtion!  All contributers to the club magazine received a specially designed letter operner this year as a gift.