Volvo 1800 ES verses C30. A 1/43rd scale comparison

Gentle reader,

I want to thank you for taking the time to read my lowly blog. When I started this a few years ago, I thought I was being silly, "Who is going to read about our collections?" 

Well, very many have as we are approaching 70,000 page views! I am truly humbled by all the attention and wonderful comments that you have made over the years.

Now, for this latest entry. I am again going back to a look at Volvos. While I love my 2005 V50 T5 wagon with it's powerful 2.5 liter turbocharged five-cylinder engine with six-speed manual transmission, I really admire the little C30 which is smaller and lighter than the V50, yet has the same driveline. It is just a gorgeous little car!

The C30 is the spiritual successor to what I consider one of the most beautiful cars ever made: the 1800 ES. It is a sleek two door wagonette version of the P1800, made famous as Simon Templer's car in the UK TV series The Saint which starred Roger Moore. Now, SIR Roger Moore.

I would dearly love to own a real 1800 ES and for that matter a real C30. But since finances and space preclude this, I must be satisfied with tiny (or as the Scot's say: "wee") one of each.

I have been experimenting with using my Panasonic Lumix cameras instead of my long serving Fujifilm digital camera. I first tried using an LED-lit ringlight. Google "ringlight" for more info on just what I'm referring to. However, at full-light, it was too bright and at lower levels, too dim.

So, back to my standard daylight balanced CFL and fill-flash. I used my few-years-old Lumix FZ40 which has 14 megapixels and employs a built-in superzoom lens supplied by LEICA which is the (35mm) equivalent of 25-600mm. I made some awesome photos of early arriving Spring flowers with it the other day.

As I stated in my last die-cast cars posting, "scale" seems to have different meanings in the various factories that churn out  these tiny jewels. That being said, supposedly, these are both 1/43rd scale. Which means they approximately in scale to each other.

The Volvo designers did a fairly nice job of updating the classic lines of the 1800 ES while using the familial shape of the (then) looks of their passenger car line. From the front, for instance, the C30, S40 and V50 are indistinguisable. Yet, the C30 is smaller than the other two.

Note the tailgate is completely glass on both. Look how they managed to make tiny lines on the glass of the 1800 ES rear window. Ho do they do that? The C30 has the climbing taillights like other Volvo wagons and SUVs which have been copied by other car makers.

Above and in the following photos, one can truly compare the two and form their own opinions as to how good a job Volvo did.

Just look at how sleek the 1800 ES is! I just love that shape.

Below, an image of the undercarriage shows that the 1800 ES is, of course, rear-wheel-drive. But also, the maker of the C30 put in more details. The C30 being what the vast majority of cars are today, front-wheel-drive. All-wheel-drive was an option on my V50, but they never did so on the C30. During the 1800 ES's time, only a handful of cars were front-wheel-drive. Their Swedish cousins, SAAB, being one of them.

While editing these images, I noticed that the C30's makers did not get the track quite right as the wheels/tires stick out too far on one side. Also, no attempt was made to have the tires on both sides oriented correctly as far as directionality of the tread pattern. But then, of course they are scale models, not real cars! That, plus my being a life-long car guy, I notice such things.

Anyway, I hope you have enjoyed this brief comparison of these scale representations of two very pretty Volvo cars.

Thanks for looking!

Scott