Volvo P1800 Cyanide, getting into Jay Leno's garage.

The Volvo P1800 Cyan restomod, first unveiled in 2020, recently made an appearance at "Jay Leno's Garage," where Hans Boas, managing director of Cyan Racing, explained the story behind its creation.

The car started out as a 1964 Volvo P1800 and was handed over to the Swedish racing team Sian Racing, formerly known as Polestar, before Volvo changed its name to its current EV brand. The project actually began in 2017 to commemorate the recent world championships and the sale of the road car division to Volvo, Bose said.

The extensive modifications began with the body. Parts of the original steel unibody were retained, but reinforced to address the lack of structural rigidity of the stock P1800, Bose said in the video. The body appears to be almost stock, but almost everything has been changed from the original P1800, Bose explained. The body looks almost stock, but almost everything has been changed from the original P1800, Bose explained. A fuel cell was installed in the trunk.

Cian Racing also replaced the stock 1.8-liter turbo four with a modern 2.0-liter turbo four derived from a World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) race engine, producing 420 hp and 336 lb-ft of torque. The turbo is housed under the exhaust manifold in a remarkably clean engine bay. This is emblematic of the driving characteristics that Cyan Racing aimed for, Bose said, and the goal was to make the powertrain feel like it was naturally aspirated.

The relatively compact engine also has a 47/53 front-rear weight distribution and drives the rear wheels via a manual gearbox. An Australian Holinger five-speed manual was chosen specifically for its mechanical feel, Bose said.

Here, feeling took precedence over lap times. While engineers could have done more to make the P1800 faster, Bose says, the emphasis was on fun: the P1800 lacks traction control, antilock brakes, and power-assisted braking, but it does have electric power steering for convenience. . This helps with maneuvering in parking lots, Bose noted.

Sian Racing built this car as a one-off, but it is now headed for production. Sian Racing is taking orders, but customers must pay a minimum of $700,000. If you like this car, plan to rob a bank.