“Norrsken”, Swedish for Northern Light, is, as obvious as this might sound, not a word about noise, but it is about presence. Now, the word will take on a new identity entirely, thanks to Autoforma, in collaboration with Volvo Lotte, who have launched a design-first reinterpretation of the legendary Volvo 1800 ES. Distilled, sharpened and rebalanced for a new era, and best of all? It’s a part-time Shooting Brake!
As we gaze through the provided renders, it’s easy to imagine this project come to fruition, the P1800 is one of Volvo’s most loved vehicles, blending a sophisticated body shape with a sporty edge rarely seen on the brand. The ES variant allows this restomod to break away from a previous restomodded P1800, yes, incredibly there’s now two modern interpretations of what is already a rather niche machine. The previous was the Cyan Racing GT, which transformed the coupé example into a full-blown speed machine. The Norrsken, however, is far more about being a Grand Tourer than a speed freak, despite it housing a rather special engine under its hood.
A tuned Volvo T5 five-cylinder engine with bespoke twin-exit exhaust will be revealed once the hood is lifted, as well as reengineered suspension, and an upgraded braking system to allow it to put the power down safely. Further still, the car has been carefully recalibrated within its chassis geometry, with carbon fibre detailing both underneath and throughout the interior skin.
Autoforma will build each Norrsken according to set themes, which they’ve labelled as ‘Heritage Heaven’, ‘Modern Marvel’ and ‘Forward Fashionista’, which we can only assume the latter is the render with glowing pink wheels. Bringing back such a loveable classic to a new era is no easy feat, but Autoforma are more about making a P1800 perform as intended while retaining its ice-cold cool presence, with a sprinkling of modern-day goodness and fairly healthy performance uplift from the original. This is one restomod we’re looking forward to go from render to reality!
