The resto-mod Volvo P1800 that no one saw coming

The rest-mod trend divides opinions. Some see the bastardisation of classics as heresy, others view it as celebrating the best of the past with the improvements of modern technology.

Whatever side of the fence you sit on, it's an industry that looks to be here to stay, with the success of companies like Singer, with their re-imagined 911s and Alfaholics and their carbon-bodied, 60s Alfa-Romeos. People are willing to pay top-dollar for these bespoke, hand-built machines.

Singer has proved the concept

Most of these modern day interpretations of by-gone heroes come from independent outfits made up of enthusiasts who build what they can't buy. With maybe the exception of Aston Martin and Jaguar, with their continuations series'.

So that makes the announcement today of the Cyan Racing P1800 all the more surprising. Cyan Racing, never heard of them, you might be thinking, but Cyan Racing is the motorsport arm of Chinese automotive giant, Geely.

Cyan Racing began life as an independent racing outfit out of Sweden called Flash Racing, who competed in the Swedish Touring Car championship. It was sold to Polestar in 2005 who ran, very successfully, Volvos in several touring car championships around the globe.

Cyan Racing has raced Volvos with success

Volvo was purchased by Geely in 2010 and Geely saw the potential in Polestar, and bought the independent outfit in 2015 to become the Volvo performance road car division.

Polestar has since been reworked as the EV arm of Volvo, but the racing division remains, now re-branded as Cyan Racing which it continues as today.

With all these brands bringing a mix of heritage and new beginnings under one-roof, Geely have green-lit the Cyan Racing P1800, which is a modern interpretation of the legendary Volvo coupe of the 1960s.

The exterior design and dimensions stay true to the 1960s classic, with only the larger, modern style, centre-lock alloy wheels and massive brakes behind them, giving away this is no 50+ year old machine.

Mechanically, the new P1800 is powered by a 2.0 turbo-charged four-cylinder, that Cyan used in their Volvo S60 touring car. The engine produces 414bhp and 336lbs/ft of torque. All that shove is sent to the rear wheels via a 5-speed manual gearbox (oh yes).

Where the Cyan P1800 is more oldschool than new, is it's lack of driver-aids, with stability control and ABS left out of the alluring mix.

The chassis has double-wishbone suspension with adjustable dampers at each corner. Light-weight materials have been used for the body panels and carbon-fibre used for chassis strengthening, meaning the P1800 tips the scales at a paltry 990kg, 150kg less than the swinging-sixties original.

The package is completed by an LSD and those lightweight wheels are wrapped in Pirelli P-Zero tyres.

Price, it's steep, with the strictly limited production run starting at €500,000. This resto-mod thing has never been a cheap endeavor.