This Volvo Amazon has been my only car, but not a daily-driver since I routinely walked to work. In my ownership it has been serviced regularly and any minor problems have been nipped in the bud. An MOT tester told me that the rear brake drums were starting to get out of true, but fortunately I had a colleague in the machine-shop at work who put them on the lathe and made them round again.
One of the less-good parts of the car when I bought it was the front seats. They were sagging badly and the driver’s seat was only really supported with a rough-cut piece of plywood. I fitted new webbing under both seats and put new foam inside them. At the same time, I noticed a weld had failed in one of the seat-backs so I got that repaired too. Now the seats give good support and are really comfortable.
I’ve recently had a new exhaust fitted and haven’t done more than a few dozen miles since. The main section of the new exhaust had to be bespoke but the back box (which is the bit that usually rusts away) is from a more modern Volvo.
At one time my wife and I had ideas of taking our bicycles somewhere quieter so we could enjoy cycling on less-busy roads. I bought a tow-bar mounted cycle rack and sourced an original-style tow-bar. Unfortunately, my wife doesn’t enjoy cycling uphill (who does?) and then the cycle-rack was stolen. But the tow-bar and electrics are still fitted.
Other work I’ve had done includes the replacement of the handbrake cable, new brake-bleed nipples (since they were all different!) and a couple of new tyres. (The other tyres are still quite legal but are getting a bit long in the tooth now…) I’ve also fitted new rear springs since someone had previously fitted shorter springs to lower the back end. This made getting over speed-bumps a delicate operation! The rear shock absorbers were replaced at around the same time.
When I bought the car it had a Weber down-flow carburettor that I could never get to run right, so I bought a 2nd-hand manifold and fitted a single Stromberg carb instead. (The Weber and associated manifold will be included in the sale.) Now the car runs really well and I haven’t noticed any diminution in power. The engine is a B20B, so it’s 2 litres rather than the original 1800 Amazon. I found this out the hard way by trying to set the timing as for a B20A – it ran badly until I adjusted it to B20B timing. At about this time I also fitted electronic ignition and really haven’t missed changing and adjusting points. Having said that one of the many spares I’m including in the sale is an original distributor.
I’ve taken the car on holidays from home in Surrey to Cornwall, the Lake District, Northumberland and the Yorkshire Dales. I can honestly say that the only time it has let me down was my own fault for leaving the side-lights on overnight. Even then, we were at the top of a hill and it bump-started easily enough.
I’ll be really sorry to see this car go but poor health means that I can no longer drive. I’d rather the car went to someone who can enjoy it.
This Amazon 131 was bought through Brian Gue at Amazonia and Brian did a lot of the original restoration work on the car. It was apparently bought as an unfinished restoration but has since been turned into a fantastic car. The driver’s door and both wings were replaced, as was the bonnet. The dash was cracked so it was replaced with an (incorrect but still great-looking) 123GT dash with an original Volvo rev-counter. At the same time the steering wheel was replaced with a 2nd-hand 123GT wheel (although this is not in perfect condition, having a crack in the plastic horn button). While the dashboard was out a small area of rust was cut-out and replaced with metal.
The floor has been covered with a sound-proofing material similar to Dynamat, as have the underside of the roof and the sections either side of the rear seat. All the windows were replaced because they had been badly etched with the car’s registration number. At the same time all the rubber seals were renewed. The seals on the bonnet, boot and doors were replaced too. A NOS radio antenna was fitted in the centre of the roof but sadly some “charmer” snapped the antenna when I left the car parked in a public car-park. However, it still gets good FM reception and it would be an easy job to replace.
The car was fitted with an electric fuel pump but when this failed a few years ago I went back to the mechanical set-up and it has proved reliable. An overdrive unit was sourced for the car (in the US I think) and this makes motorway driving a pleasure. There is a reversing spot-light mounted on the boot-lid and although this does sometimes mean that the lid tries to gently close when open the light itself gives a great view when reversing after dark.
At that point the owner who had commissioned all this work took a job in Switzerland and drove the car there and back on a number of occasions. After a few trips overseas the owner upgraded to a genuine 123GT. I got in touch with him shortly after I bought the car and he was kind enough to share some of the major expenses he incurred in the restoration. The total is well in excess of £11, 000, and that was on top of the original purchase price.
The car was sold (probably in early 2014) and went through at least one owner and a dealer (Martin Howey Classics) before I bought it in September of that year. That makes me the 10th owner overall. Since then I’ve kept the car garaged and well-maintained.
