Every year, the Rétromobile poster is an event in its own right: a collector's item before its time, as eagerly awaited by enthusiasts as the show itself. For the 2027 edition, marking Volvo's 100th anniversary, the choice fell on a Swedish icon that made automotive history: the Volvo P1800S coupé.
Published on Aug 5,2026 at 3:14 PM | Updated on Aug 11,2026 at 1:27 PM

Rétromobile 2027: a poster in the colours of the centenary

 

From 3 to 7 February 2027, Rétromobile will take over Paris Expo Porte de Versailles for a new edition dedicated to automotive memory. This year, the official poster pays tribute to Volvo, whose centenary the show celebrates through a dedicated exhibition at the heart of Pavilion 4. Against a graphic backdrop in Swedish colours (yellow, blue and grey), the red coupé stands out, racing along a stylised road that echoes the show's own motto: "The past always has a future."

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The star of the poster: the Volvo P1800S

The model chosen to embody the Swedish manufacturer's centenary is no coincidence. Unveiled at the Brussels Motor Show in 1960, the P1800S coupé is one of those cars that transcended its status as a mere automobile to become a genuine popular icon. Widely popularised by Roger Moore, who made it famous on screen even before playing James Bond, the coupé earned its place in legend thanks to another man: Irv Gordon.

A P1800 like no other

 

The owner of a 1966 P1800 S, Irv Gordon fell so deeply in love with his car that he drove 1,500 miles (2,414 km) non-stop in the 48 hours following its purchase. Averaging 200 kilometres a day on his daily commute, his red coupé had already clocked over 804,000 km after ten years. In 1998, he entered the Guinness Book of Records for the highest mileage driven by a single owner in a passenger car, with 1.69 million miles on the odometer. That was only a milestone: in 2002, Irv Gordon crossed the two million mile mark, still on the original engine, in Times Square, under the gaze of the international press.

He then set himself one final challenge: reaching three million miles before his 73rd birthday, a goal he achieved in September 2013, in Alaska, on the legendary Seward Highway. When Irv Gordon passed away in November 2018, his odometer read exactly 3,260,257 miles, more than 5.2 million kilometres driven on that very same car.

Now on display at the Swedish event space of the World of Volvo, in Gothenburg, Irv Gordon's red P1800S will be exhibited at Rétromobile, where it will represent, alongside around ten other iconic models, a century of Swedish innovation and reliability.

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