Name That Shifter, No. 99: 1972 Volvo 1800ES Sportwagon

On Monday we presented this week’s shifter and asked you to identify the make and model of the vehicle from whence it came. Nearly everyone who commented guessed that the shifter came from a 1960s-era muscle car, but this stick didn’t come from Detroit, it came from Sweden—a 1972 Volvo 1800ES Sportwagon, to be exact.

The 1800ES pictured here is from our January 1972 issue. It was mechanically identical to the P1800 sports car Volvo had peddled for a decade, but of course was set apart by its longer roof. Besides the nifty shooting brake body style, the 1800ES’s other unique feature was its all-glass rear hatch. The giant rear portal served as inspiration for the similarly shaped opening on the modern Volvo C30 hatchback. Despite its sports-car underpinnings, the 1800ES’s handsome looks were perhaps more impressive than its performance, at least in modern context. Sixty mph came up in 9.2 seconds—a 112-hp four-cylinder working through a four-speed manual can only move 2610 pounds of car so quickly.

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