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Volvo Concept Coupe may see limited production

Despite the impressive production debuts from Porsche and BMW at this year's Frankfurt Motor Show - the 918 Spyder and the i8, respectively - there was one car that captured the attention of the press and the public alike, enough so that we awarded it our overall top pick of the show: the Volvo Concept Coupe. Most concepts never make it to production, but the car's reception has been so positive that Volvo's board of directors is considering to produce it in limited quantities, Auto Bild reports. Italian coachbuilder Bertone could handle the limited production run.
Styled after the classic P1800, the Volvo concept was similar to the new Porsche and BMW in that it was equipped with a high-performance hybrid drivetrain. But Volvo took a different route from there, giving the sleek coupe a turbocharged and supercharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine paired with an electric motor at the rear axle. All in, the combo is good for 400 horsepower and 490 pound-feet of torque.
If the Concept Coupe makes it to production, it may not get the trick hybrid drivetrain mentioned above, Motor Athority reports, but a milder plug-in hybrid setup or even just a conventional fuel-burning engine. In any case, it would be a treat if Volvo produced a fully functional, street-legal Concept Coupe, though at that point we're thinking it would be due for a name change.

What's the deal with comedians and their cars?

'Round about the time in his life when it should happen for all of us, Jerry Seinfeld's ship came in with a force that almost split the dock. He'd been doing pretty well with his observational style ("There's a cereal now that's just cookies. Have you seen this? Cookies for breakfast. It's called Cookie Crisp. Cookies for breakfast! They oughta just call it 'To Hell With Everything!'"). But he showed no signs of setting the world on fire until he got cast in a show that was either about – depending on the level of comedy geek you ask – the average New Yorker, the very worst people in the world, or nothing. Suddenly Jerry Seinfeld was pretty much the center of the comedy universe. And while his comedy was at once both brilliantly innovative and rooted in the mundane, his next move was a predictable grab at something exotic – he went out and bought his dream car. A rather nice 911, actually. As almost everyone knows, it didn't stop there, and the man put together one of the most enviable collections of iconic Porsches we're likely to see. So what's the connection, if there is one, between cars and comedy? As far as Jerry Seinfeld (the man) is concerned, he's probably not the same guy as the Jerry on Seinfeld (the show) although it's hard to say for sure; his public persona is almost unnervingly well managed. But cars and comedy were the constants in his life then, and, well, just look at what the guy does now; Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is a cultural constant, and we're certainly seeing Seinfeld the man in that one, and cars are obviously still central to his life. And it's been that way with a lot of very, very good comedy guys. Cars seem to round out their lives, to become the yin to their comedy yang. Ernie Kovacs might not have invented visual gags or surreal humor, but he got them both to kill on television in the 1950s, so he's a comedy hero. He died behind the wheel of his beloved Corvair wagon, so he's absolutely some kind of car-guy hero as well. Bill Cosby, the hottest name in comedy for a good long while, had Ferraris, one of two fire-breathing supercharged big-block Cobras (pictured below), and a BMW 2002tii – none of which either contributed to or in any way make up for the profoundly sociopathic creature he turned out to be, but it's still a data point. The Smothers Brothers, who defied the networks and the norms by getting blatantly political before that sort of thing was cool, went sports car racing.

Leno drives Volvo P1800 from Roger Moore's The Saint

Outside of a few notable exceptions, Volvo usually isn't associated with making beautifully curvaceous vehicles. But in the 1960s and early '70s the company proved with the P1800 that its cars didn't only have to be safe but staid family transportation. Underneath that shapely styling were a lot of components from the brand's parts bin, but that didn't bother Roger Moore when he drove one of these in the TV series The Saint. Actually, the future James Bond actor didn't just get behind of one of these; he owned this exact 1967 P1800 S. It's this week's highlight on Jay Leno's Garage.
Moore was the car's original owner, but it also appeared in studio scenes of The Saint. Despite its famous provenance, when owner Bill Krzastek bought the P1800 in England, it was in pretty rough shape. The Volvo underwent a nine-month restoration to get it back into shape, which included some new body panels and wheels. Krzastek claims that much of the interior is original, though.
Krzastek comes off has a little bit nerdy, but you have to give him credit. He absolutely loves his Volvo and knows something about practically every detail of his car's history. Krzastek even refinanced his house to fund the purchase and restoration of the P1800. Although, with the right maintenance these old Swedes have been known to go millions of miles. Enjoy this look at one that was a star of the screen in the '60s.