Junkyard Find: 1962 Volvo 122S
Everybody loves the Volvo Amazon, including me, and so it’s saddening to see an early example heading to The Crusher. The truth is that non-perfect Amazons (even two-doors) just aren’t worth much these days, so one with rust and/or major body damage usually gets crushed.
This California Amazon appears to be completely rust-free, but a hard hit in the right rear would cost more to fix than you’d spend for a pretty nice Amazon.
There’s a lot of tractor-ish mechanical gear beneath the Amazon, but Volvo did add some snazzy styling touches here and there.
The interior reminds me a bit of the Plymouth Valiant of the same era.
I couldn’t get the hood to open, but I was able to squeeze the camera in through the grille opening. Yep, the B18 (not to be confused with the Honda B18) is still there!
You’d expect the owner of a 51-year-old Volvo to be a member of the Experimental Aviation Association.
Hey, this could be the car from the 1962 Volvo ad!
I’ve always preferred the home-market Amazon ad, from the era during which Swedes drove on the left. They switched sides on Högertrafikomläggningen in 1967.
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
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I enjoyed the squealy rubber sounds when he stops on the dirt road. That video producer must've moved on to TV-Land.
Does the Amazon nomenclature apply only to the 122S? It seems like people would like the stylish P1800 more. Previously, when people said Amazon I had assumed they were referring to the P1800. Ignorance source: born after all of these cars stopped production.