#amazon

The Volvo 122S aka Amazon is not a very common sighting in American self-serve junkyards these days. In this series so far, we’ve seen just this ’62 sedan, and I’ve also written about this flood-damaged ’69 coupe and this ’66 wagon elsewhere. On a recent trip to the San Francisco Bay Area, I spotted this well-worn but still relatively complete ’66 coupe.

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.

I don’t normally do the “consumer awareness” stuff here on TTAC — we have plenty of very competent contributors for that — but I thought I would share a recent experience with all of you and perhaps save one or two of you a few bucks in doing so.

[Ray Charlton has been a long-time TTAC reader (amazon ray) and has fed me numerous tips. He has offered to share the story of his experiences with his automotive companion of thirty seven years. TTAC always encourages reader submissions, and we are particularly interested to make this type of reader’s story a regular weekly column. It’s a great way to get to know each other better, and share our automotive-related passions, careers, crazy stories or?? And you’ll (eventually) be $50.00 richer. Send them to me at curbsideclassics@gmail.com. About 800-1200 words, and if it needs editing, I’m on it. I also need suggestions for a title of this series. PN]

It was October of 1973, and my seventeenth birthday. My father’s idea of the perfect gift was to give me his daily driver: a 1968 Volvo 122 Amazon. He had bought it new and now it had 74,000 miles on it. Well, needless to say I was mighty happy to get the car. But I’m even happier to have it still today.