To begin the history of the saints Volvo p1800 you have to go back to the year 1961 in which a new British television series was being planned. This was to be based on Leslie Charters' character Simon Templar, alias "The Saint" - which was also to be the series title. For many, this series was to be their first introduction to the character, but in fact Simon Templar first appeared in a Charteris novel in 1928. This was followed by dozens more books, comics, radio stories and films so that by the time the TV series was planned Simon Templar was already one of the longest running characters in detective fiction. Simon Templar was essentially a British 'hero', although his adventures took him around the globe and he had naturally 'driven' a great deal during his first three decades, his own cars including the fictional Furillac and Hirondel in the Leslie Charteris novels. For the television stories, the Saint's car was to be a regular and significant feature and the production team was looking for an exciting sports model which reflected both the performance and style of the main character Simon Templar. What happened next is now part of Saint folk'law.

Around that same time another new sports car which had recently been introduced to the car world was Jaguar's spectacular E-type. The programme makers decided this was the model they wanted for the Saint who, following their failure to sign Patrick McGoohan, was now to be played by Roger Moore. An approach was made to Jaguar to supply a white E-type for the series but the company declined, believing that they did not need additional publicity because they believed they could sell as many E-types as they could produce.Yet years later when the "Return of the Saint"was being produced Jaguar jumped at the chance to give the series a white Jaguar XJS,no doubt realizing their big mistake first time around.Anyway faced with the decision that Jaguar did not want to know, an alternative sports car of distinctive design was sought and Volvo' was hurriedly approached to provide; white P1800. A London Volvo agent obliged by providing a gleaming, bright white P1800 (registered 71 DXC). All parties were oblivious to the fact the Volvo was about to receive more publicity for its 1800 Series than it could ever have achieved by any other means and the TV company reputedly paid the full list price for the first 1800 car.The Saint's car carried the registration plate ST1, but this was added purely for filming, the plates often crudely hooked over the official number plate while shooting took place. Filming commenced in 1962 and the TV series was an immediate success being screened around the world From the very first episode- entitled "The Talented Husband" the car made regular and often lengthy appearances. Twenty--six episodes were initially commissioned which frequently featured the bright white Jensen-built model. A mock-up of the inside of the car was also created for interior shots which was almost perfect - apart from the omission of interior lights on the rear pillars.A fact you may not know is that In one episode, this interior (together with Volvo engine sounds!) was used to act as the inside of an Aston Martin DB5 - which carried registration BMT 216A, which many will recognise as the number carried on an Aston in the 1964 James Bond film, 'Goldfinger'.

As the series progressed, the Saint was to be seen regularly driving his Volvo in France and Germany, and in one episode in the Bahamas - which took some explaining since the story involved the Saint flying in and out of that location! In reality, the car didn't leave British shores but clever editing linked scenes of real locations to studio shots at Elstree. Some driving sequences were taken 'on location', often with a "stand-in" at the wheel and a clever trick used more than once was to print a traffic scene in reverse on screen to create the illusion of the car driving on the right-hand side of the road! One of the most exciting sequences was filmed for an episode called 'The Rough Diamonds' where a spectacular car chase takes place in Central London with Simon Templar pursued by villains in a Ford Zephyr 4 (the villains' car was inevitably a Ford Zephyr for British stories or a white Citroen if the plot was set in France). The drama of the chase was filmed on London streets among real London traffic - and would be difficult if not impossible to undertake today without closing the roads to the public at large.

During 1963, assembly of Volvo Pl800s was transferred from the UK to Sweden and a few minor changes to the detail of the car occurred with this move, while an 'S' suffix was added to the model designation. Not surprisingly, the huge impact made on the popularity of this model by its appearance in the series was now obvious to everyone and, late in 1963 a new Swedish-built P1800S was supplied to add to the previous car. This car was registered 77 GYL and, significantly, in addition to its film role was also to be Roger Moore's own personal car for the next few years. However, among the changes caused by the transfer of production to Sweden was an alteration to the range of colours in which the cars were finished, and instead of bright white the nearest available alternative from the range of standard colours for Swedish-built Volvo cars was Pearl white - which was much 'creamier' than the previous shade. In view of the image created by the Saint's white Volvo, this seems an extraordinary situation for although the TV series continued to be filmed in black and white - so it was virtually impossible to tell the difference on screen - a customer wishing to purchase a white Saint-car look-a-like had, from now on, to be content with a rather disappointing 'cream' compared with the original one portrayed on TV.

Another variation with the Swedish-built cars was that they featured Volvo's standard chrome hub caps with red 'V' emblems in the centre. It was decided however to fit Jensen-style discs on the new Saint car (which production. 'Swedish' models never had) to maintain continuity of appearance, but in episode fifty-five entitled 'The Contract', three scenes occur, intermingled with others, showing the car before the wheel trims were switched. Frequently, episodes featured scenes with both the 'Jensen' car and later 'S' models interspersed but the only occasion when two 1800s appeared side-by-side on screen was in 'The Miracle Tea Party' where a scene at Waterloo Station shows the Saint's car passing a dark-coloured 1800.

As production of these cars continued in Sweden, now known as the "1800S", several further detail changes took place - as is regularly the case with car production. The point was therefore reached where the TV series was in danger of portraying an out-of-date car as modified bumpers, grille and yet another type of wheel and hub cap had been introduced. It was therefore decided to provide Simon Templar with an up-to--date 1800S with modifications consistent with those introduced from 1965. To achieve this the programme producers imaginatively devised a situation in 'The Frightened Inn-Keeper' , in which the Saint's car was blown-up.This incident conveniently took place behind a hedge so no actual damage to a car was necessary! This story began with a bright white 'Jensen' model in the opening sequences, which could have been 71 DXC, the original car, as all the details such as aerial and GB plate matched, except bullet-style wing mirrors were fitted. After the explosion, the story-line involved the Saint taking delivery of a replacement car, and a shiny 1800S with the latest features arrived on screen. This could well have been yet another car but it has been suggested that in fact it remained 77 GYL, as its bumpers, wheels etc were modified to the latest style for continued film work. In this updated form the car continued to be prominent, but continuity errors continued during following episodes, with scenes mixed with older car(s) from time to time, including two episodes later in 'The Smart Detective' in which the London car chase scenes were re-used!

By the end of 1965, seventy-one episodes had been made and "The Saint" was to switch from black & white to colour. Although still a few years away, this was in readiness for the coming of British colour TV and also catered for certain overseas markets, but the next series could initially still only be broadcast in the UK as a black and white transmission. It was to be several years before British viewers could enjoy re-runs of "The Saint" - and later still home video versions - in full colour. From this point the cream, rather than bright white car colour became obvious in many scenes - although some shots appeared to continue to suggest the car paintwork was bright white. It is possible an original Jensen car remained with modified grille and bumpers, or a car had been repainted. A third possibility is that photographically a brighter shade is conveyed, especially in night scenes, as this is certainly often the case even today with still colour photography of these cars. The interior of all Saint Volvos used up to this point was red, including the interior mock-up which remained in regular use, even though clearly based on a 'Jensen' design with its distinctive parcel shelf arrangement. After 14 colour episodes, the 1800S appeared on screen with a further modification as eight-spoke sports wheels were now to be seen, but Volvo was by this time making still further improvements to its 1800 range including replacement of the curved side chrome trim with a straight design, while power had now reached 115 bhp. Existing versions could not easily be updated and, in any case, the TV cars were growing older in other respects too. As a consequence, further changes to the TV Saint's transport occurred during 1967.

Early that year two new cars were delivered to completely replace the earlier models. Registered NUV 647/8E, they were again finished in the cream 'Pearl white' shade rather than bright white (the latter remaining unavailable yet Volvo publicity continued to illustrate cars in bright white!); and spoked wheels similar to those introduced on the previous car were also fitted. Internally, one was upholstered in red and was for Roger Moore's private use, while the other, with black interior, was primarily for film work. These cars remained until the Roger Moore Saint programmes ceased to be made in 1969, receiving reflective 'ST 1' number plates for the final episodes. Forty-three colour versions of "The Saint" were made together with two feature-length stories, making 116 programmes in total when added to the earlier black and white productions, the majority including the Volvo cars. With the exception of the Bahamas story mentioned earlier, whenever the Saint appeared in an overseas location where he would have been unlikely to have taken his car, a different type of local car became his means of transport - although it was invariably white. Just once, in an English story entitled "The Checkered Flag", did the Saint appear - without any explanation - driving a Bentley Continental. "The Saint" was produced during a period when British television was itself rapidly developing, and private car ownership was booming. The series promoted Volvo 1800s in a way that is difficult to parallel and which could never have been achieved by any other method, yet all this occurred largely by accident! As a result, this model will always be associated with the Roger Moore Saint series.

In the early days of the Saint, Roger Moore drove the Volvo on many locations but as he became more famous a driver double was used so that Roger Moore could shoot the main scenes on different locations while his double shot around the country doing the quick takes. The Saints Volvo became so popular in the end that the toy company Corgi who already had a model of a red Volvo p1800 decided to spray it white and stick a logo on the bonnet and a figure of Simon Templar at the wheel,all in all it was a good all round likeness to the TV Volvo.To buy this toy today would cost you about £300.00 upwards in mint condition in the original box,you can buy a reproduction model on ebay for about £20.00 if your budget doesn't reach the heights to pay for the orginal.

Minichamps have released a volvo p1800 in white in a 1/43 scale which you can try to hunt down on the internet which is the best volvo p1800 to date. For detail it beats all the rest and comes with its own stand and glass box to keep it in mint condition.Minichamps have also released a 1/18 scale volvo but its the estate version,But the good news is the company Revell have released a 1/18 scale,which is a very nice model and retails under £20.00,check out the web for places that sell it.Another 1/43 scale to try to find is the one released by brooklyn,they have based it around the saint version released by corgi in the 60's only with more detail and a saint logo on the bonnet.Let me warn you now that this is a hard to find model and if you do get it then expect to pay a nice price for it.

If anyone wants to know where they can see one of the cars used in the series then a place to visit is Cars Of the Stars in the UK, they still have one volvo p1800 reg number 77 GYL which was Roger Moore's own personal car for a few years,check out their website for info on opening times and to find out where they are in the uk.There is also a phone number and email on the website for contacts.Peter Nelson who runs Cars Of the Stars owned two of the volvos from the tv series but volvo reg NUV 648E was sold to Bill Krzastek who spent a fortune to renovate it back to its orginal condition,you can see images and a write up on this volvo at Roger Moore.Com where Bill Krzastek has posted a write up on his adventures,well worth a visit.