Volvo P1800 makes a cameo in spy drama

Among the relatively small number of collectible Volvos, one stands out above the rest: the swoopy P1800 coupe from the 1960s.

And now Volvo's classic -- built to compete with early '60s British, Italian and German sports cars -- is making a big-screen appearance in Steven Spielberg's Cold War drama Bridge of Spies.

In the movie, Tom Hanks plays a lawyer working to free captured U.S. U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers, who was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960. In one scene, Hanks is a passenger in a pearly white P1800 that zips through East Berlin in early 1962, driven by an East German lawyer played by Sebastian Koch.

For reasons necessary to the plot, Koch intentionally exceeds the speed limit so the police will stop the car and detain Hanks for not having the right papers. That is slightly out of character for the P1800 because, looks aside, it never was known as a speed burner. 

The P1800's Facebook fans are thrilled to see the car on screen, but several have pointed out the movie car is apparently a later model. The P1800 remained in production until 1973.