Rusting Rainforest. Volvo 121 - A Potted History.

[dugong]

Parts of this story have been left out for reasons of brevity or boredom, whichever arrives first.

In 2006 I was working for the Environment Agency and for some reason thought that buying a crispy Volvo Amazon 250 miles away in the South was a good idea. I had recently purchased a Citroen C4 HDi. About a month later it began to annoy me, and I dutifully scribed my displeasure across the Internet in a blossoming hail of expletives.

So yeah, this Volvo.



It looks reasonably promising from a distance, I admit. Bodily, it had more issues than the Elephant Man. The differently coloured door is a clue - it had the only window that would wind down. The driver's side jammed in the mechanism and smashed on the motorway trip back up North. Another pane fell through the bottom of the [rotten] NSR door when the regulator chain snapped.

 

Exploratory prods with a screwdriver necessitated the use of gaffer tape. You can see the affected areas on the photo, along with the barge fender specification 155 x 15 Barums at the front. The rear wheels were even better. Shod with Goodyear C800s, they'd been on the car since 1972 - and yes, it passed an MOT with them fitted.

 

The bits of cardboard you see stuffed into the door aperture were old beer mats torn up to wedge the window pane into the door to prevent it falling out. The regulator broke the day before this photograph was taken. I reckon Conrad might recognise the location, too.



Despite the fact that the car was a complete death trap, I put 4000 miles on it in the space of three months. For some reason it appeared on a band's album cover. I also had a hilarious incident on the Snake Pass when all the electrics failed and I ended up coasting into Broomhill using hand signals.



I drove it to IKEA on more than one occasion and it dumped oil out of the sump gasket and diff cover. The heater was stuck on full, and because the galloping rot wasn't confined to the doors it drew in fumes from the engine. Worn rings resulted in heavy breathing and a long trip would result in the cabin filling with smoke and \ or oil mist. Passengers would often emerge from the car resembling a racist caricature smeared in oil. Helpfully, the windows stayed down.

For a 121 it had a strange specification. The back end was virtually non existent, although time was to blame for its disappearance.

 

The car had sat for 10 years in a garden in Lancing, being MOT'd to the highest* standards every year and covering 4-5 miles on its trips back and forth to testing centre. Before that it had belonged to the chief chef at the Adelphi restaurant in Liverpool. Previously a London based Reuters correspondent had bought it new from Lex Concessionaries in the City and run it all over Europe.

 

He'd specified a single carburettor and no overdrive, and with money saved he'd had a metal Golde sunroof installed. In 1969 a twin speaker Blaupunkt UHF radio was fitted. It utilised the central speaker blank on the rear parcel shelf, a small pan pot splitting the mono signal between the two channels. This set up is extremely rare and I'd really like the rear speaker assembly back. Gordon took the shelf out when he took the car apart - and hasn't seen it since.

 

 

 

Occasionally I'd take it home, where it would fill the garage with smoke and flood the drive with oil.

I suspect the local branch of Halfords thought I was taking the various cans of 20/50 home every week and drinking it.

Somehow, I managed to get it through another MOT, and went to the Retro Rides Gathering in 2007.



Camera phone technology back then was roughly analogous to the condition of the car. I decided to drive it around the sprint section of the track, on 1972 tyres with no helmet or overalls. My tools, spares and tent slid around the cabin as we tackled the course. I took the hairpin like this:



Several members of the crowd filmed it. I set the slowest time of the day. Notice the car's excellent** cornering prowess. I don't think the marshals could have cared less. It was like being at the Le Mans Classic.

Note how at 0:09 the cameraman shouts 'FUCK !'.  I understeered so wide he thought I was going to stack it.

[dugong]

The condition of the car was getting worse. Something needed to be done.
I ended up scouring the VOC forum, and found Hunter Classics. I took KYO to the proprietor Gordon Hunter for an estimate.

We agreed a price and the dismantling begun.



Some slight*** reconstruction work was needed.

 

The rear end needed so much work I had to shelve other plans for the engine and floors, which I knew were patched like the VOSA quilt from hell. Gordon also reconstructed the rear arches on an English Wheel, fitted three new doors, a new bootlid (which never quite sat properly) and resprayed everything from the A pillar back. At that point I ran out of money. In the mean time I'd amassed some rare extras like an Ellemann-Jakobsen rocker cover.

 

I got it back shortly after the Retro Rides Gathering 2008. It made the RRG at Sparkford the following year.

 

Although I'd sorted some new tyres, wheels and brakes, it still flailed around like a hippo's spirit level.



On the way back I visited some friends in Bristol who lived a short distance from the Being Human house in Totterdown. It seemed rude not to take a few snaps. The BH car was a 1964 122S with the earlier nose and a horrible sunroof. It did the rounds on eBay a few times and sold for around £1800.

I carried on running the car until the floors got really bad and I began to lose the brakes, despite replacing the master cylinder and slaves. I missed out on RRG 2010 and 2011 and the Amazon sat in storage when I went back to University.



In the meantime I snagged another set of wheels for it - these being Wheel Vintique Shelby GT500 replicas.

I knew the floor pans were bad when I scraped the newspaper out of them. Dates were scarce but I suspected they'd been bodged in there long before I was even born:







Recently I had the pans replaced with some inheritance money I received. I've battered through the back story here at quite a pace. I'll bring you up to speed when I've sorted the rest of the current shots out.

 

[dugong]

The year was now 2013 and despite looking high and low, I couldn't find a restorer that fit the bill. Some were so disorganised it was hilarious, others had elevated sensibilities and would only work on air-cooled Volkswagens and a few simply didn't bother to respond. Eventually I tracked down a body shop in Crewe who had ties with the Volvo Enthusiasts' Club, the Judean Peoples' Front to the VOCs's Peoples' Front of Judea.

They'd recently completed a high-profile rebuild of a P1800 featured in The Saint, and came highly recommended.



I'd done very little to the Amazon other than store it, and occasionally fire it up. The tax and MOT had lapsed in 2010 and all I'd managed to do in the meantime was argue with half a dozen body shops across the North West and blow the radiator to pieces. Having tried to order a Be-Cool aluminium rad from an emerging Amazon Pro-Touring outfit in the US, and got nowhere, I accepted defeat an ordered a re-con unit from Brookhouse. I reckon a third of my budget must have gone on their Christmas party.

 

As feared, the front and rear floor pans were like teabags. I ordered the deluxe pressings from Brookhouse - the ones stamped out by a Dutch company using the original Volvo tooling.





Some slight**** work was needed. The sills were found to be pretty decent, with only surface rust that was treated.





New pans, fitted. Next came a whole host of mechanical work. The front discs, lines and flexis were utterly shagged so I sent for some new ones. A word of warning if you're doing up an Amazon - the rotors are stupidly expensive. This is because one company in Sweden re- manufactures them, and they tend to charge whatever they like. I also got some progressive springs and GAZ dampers from Amazon Cars and ClassicSwede - although the bottom bushes on the shocks are proving to be something of a pain in the arse.

Then for no discernible reason the mechanic disappeared while the body shop cracked on with the other repairs. Eventually he came back and finished the work, which included fitting some new stainless steel bumpers I decided to splurge on. I'd spent about half the budget by this point. Fortunately the place doing the final bits of trim and paint work like mad men. Ironically they specialise in air cooled camper vans and have a 'prix fixe' menu where the discerning dubber can choose a restoration with filler or with metal.

As part of the price they're doing the door shuts, so the interior had to come out [again].



They're also having the bonnet, doors and front panel blasted at a soda place nearby. The front section has never been apart before and I was a bit worried that the inner wings would have disappeared, given the non existent state of the boot area. Remember the wings, bonnet and front panel were untouched from when I bought the car - I couldn't afford to have them done in 2008.





For some reason the inner wings were heavily undersealed. Other than two small holes in the mounting rails where the wings bolt on, they were pretty sound. The A pillars are a little crispy at the bottom, but thee wings themselves are miraculously unbuggered, too. The bumper irons are also coming off to be blasted.



There's still quite a bit left to do. There's some knackered brightwork I need to source and I'm helping them fit the new mirrors I bought from VP Autoparts in Sollentuna.



I also need to fit this little sod to the cabin, along with various other interior bits. Oh, and the engine's coming out - did I mention that bit? Although the eventual game-plan is some kind of vile B20 mill, it wasn't that much money to have the B18 refreshed with new rings, gaskets and engine mounts. I might see if I can lob the twin HS6s and the twin down-pipe on too. If the engine's apart I can also see if the place would shove the Isky cam and lifters I got in a swap for some wedding photos on the sly [nowt rude].

After that the windscreen needs doing with the interior still out. It leaks like a sieve. Most Amazon 'screens do - that's probably why the front floor pans were so corroded. When all that's finished it'll be worth about three quarters of what I paid for the work.

Lucky it's not going anywhere, eh?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Wow I didn't know you getting that deep into it Wat, impressive stuff

 

Looks like a proper nice job on the floorpans

[Partridge]

Crikey. That's dedication. Makes me feel better about the rust on my car!

[dugong]

Wow I didn't know you getting that deep into it Wat, impressive stuff

 

Looks like a proper nice job on the floorpans

Yeah, the new pans were really well made. Thank f*ck I paid the place up front.

 

I really need to bob down and see you - I don't think the car's far from CHATEAU_BOLLEUX at all.

[rml2345]

Wow! Those old Amazons look really solidly constructed. That's some refurbishment going on there and I'll look forward to any updates.

It's going to look braw.

[Junkman]

Holy shit, I had no idea that thing was such an abyss. And I always thought my Rovah was bad.

Not bragging here, but I consider myself a luminary when it comes to HS6es.

I might be the only fuggin forrinna on this Island who wholeheartedly understood how they work.

I eat, sleep, and dream HS6es.

They are the epitome of English engineering at its best.

If you need assistance there, I'm more than happy to help.

[dugong]

Crikey. That's dedication. Makes me feel better about the rust on my car!

 

Tar.

 

There's loads of the story I've left out. To be honest the car sat idle from 2010-13 while I sorted Uni out. GRANDMA_DUGONG made a breathable cover for it over Christmas a couple of years back. Fitted it looks like a giant wheeled Worther's Original, minus the shitty taste, texture and paedophile allegations.

 

 

When I bought the car it had a handmade plate cut from a piece of scrap metal and lettered with a drunken approximation of New Charles Wright. It landed me in hot water on one occasion when VOSA pulled me on the A556. That was one of many things they didn't like about it - although they didn't say a word about the 1972 Goodyears at the rear.

 

Upon replacing the plate in 2008 the previous owner saw a picture of the car on the VOC asked for it back. It turns out her late father had made the plate to get it through a previous MOT. She sent me a really nice letter back with a couple of colour slides of the Amazon when it was new. That sort of thing is gold dust and I added it to the inch-thick binder of receipts and old bills I'd amassed. There's also a hilarious manilla folder which consists of various hand written receipts for 'welding labor'.

 

Er.....what else?

 

 

 

 

There was that 122S in Cwrtnewydd I pirated for spares - that's where the mega-rare carpet and grab handles came from. I took some badges and relays off too, the latter ending up on Paul H's estate.

 

There was also the chassis leg I cut from a dead 222 wagon in Birmingham with a petrol powered angle grinder. Yes, they let me use power tools That came about because someone had stuck a trolley jack up the NSF leg in the past and bent it to fark. The moribund Brum wagon had a really good NSF leg and so I went down, borrowed the gaffer's cutter and set to work. I never mentioned that one because it's clearly less interesting that a wobbly shot of a dong scrawled on a wall or a King Edward snap of a knackered Corsa [sUCH A SHAME SO RAER CORSA'S MUST BE SAVED].

 

I wanted to throw the previously-fitted hot rod peep mirrors into a skip. I was forced into buying them in 2008 when the MOT station near Gordon refused to test it with one fitted door mirror - despite 121s only ever leaving the dealer with a driver's side mirror. He complained to VOSA but they didn't apologise or amend the restrictions. Some 123GTs wore wing mirrors but I find them difficult to drive with, even though I bought a set from Paul H last year. I managed to shift the peep mirrors to a bloke on the blue forum for £12.50 and bagged some OEM repro door mirrors for 340 SEK at VP Autoparts (they gave me a 'your Swedish is terrible' sympathy discount).

 

The rear arches had gone off slightly despite me not driving it much in the rain, so the repair place let some new metal into the iffy section. They did this for nowt because I'd put quite a bit of work through them. The rear drop panels under the bumper had also cracked their seams, so they're being sorted out as well. Other than a bum load of new rubber seals, a Jenga's worth of shims for the boot lid, and a new seat cover, the car should be more or less sorted. The metal sunroof needs a new seal and I need to find a working quarter light glass from somewhere.

 

 

I've got a fair few parts left over that I'm going to sell over the next few weeks to help pay for the new floor matting, rear door seals, windscreen seals and sundry other bits and bobs I need to finish the interior off. I can sell the front bumper sections on - but the rear set will be binned. I remember seeing one of the overriders parting company down a country lane and watched it smash into a hedge. The captive nut had rusted all the way through, the movement of the car wrenching it free.

 

Hopefully the 123GT revcounter MM5 scored cheaply on eBay for me will work (I had a 123GT dashtop fitted) without too much mither and the 60's Nardi I had re splined will slip on without too much mither.

 

Am I going to have mither with the po-po if I fit American spec rear lenses? I was just going to paint the indicator bulb the correct colour so that it flashed orange regardless. Can't see anything in Constructions & Use that says the lens has to be orange provided the bulb flashes the correct shade on the relay. The front lenses are clear ones with a silvered orange bulb.

 

I'm sorry for the state of the older photos in these posts. Until 2011 I didn't own a camera of any kind - I relied on my phone.

 

God knows when I'm getting it back, like.

[Junkman]

Yar as raving bonkers about your Ovlov as I am about my P6. I appreciate that. I know exactly where you are coming from.

[dugong]

Yar as raving bonkers about your Ovlov as I am about my P6. I appreciate that. I know exactly where you are coming from.

 

 

Aye. I dunno why I never posted much up about it, given its history of gradual improvement. I think I was worried about it being buried under some blurry snaps of a dead Ford Transit or people just not being interested.

 

I have all the kit necessary to fit the HS6s - although from memory the throttle linkage is frigged. I bought them from Germany with the later plastic airbox that's supposedly more efficient and a bit quieter. I may sack the 'box off in favour of some twin K&N filters.

 

The last time it was dynoed, it had about 38 BHP at the wheels. B18As are supposed to have 75.

If I can push the budget a bit further I might see about fitting that Isky cam and tappet set. That should give me roughly 122S performance.

[Lord Sterling]

Wow! That's some dedication. I did wonder what was happening with this as there wasn't anymore news about it. I reckon one things for sure, you'll be getting the Volvo back almost as good as new.

[dugong]

Wow! That's some dedication. I did wonder what was happening with this as there wasn't anymore news about it. I reckon one things for sure, you'll be getting the Volvo back almost as good as new.

 

It'll never be a minter, Mo. Then again, I wouldn't want it that way. There are some scarily clean Amazons in the VOC.

I'd rather mine be straight and free from rust so I can drive it when the weather's good.

Other than liking a bit of a drink, Amazons are excellent long distance tourers. They're very basic and a bit unrefined, but that's never bothered me. The heater is ferocious and the seats are some of the best ever - provided you're not over six feet tall.

 

The last time I took it on a long trip I was averaging between 18 and 20 MPG - that was with paggered rings and a leaking carburettor. A decent B18A should pull 25 on a long run and with an overdrive [my car doesn't have one] around 28-30. There's several lunatics in the VEC who reckon they're getting 40 to the gallon from a pair of twin 45 Webers. I just nodded and played along. I personally think that's bollocks. I wouldn't mind knowing what purplebargeken gets from his 122S.

 

Not bragging here, but I consider myself a luminary when it comes to HS6es.

I might be the only fuggin forrinna on this Island who wholeheartedly understood how they work.

I eat, sleep, and dream HS6es.

They are the epitome of English engineering at its best.

If you need assistance there, I'm more than happy to help.

That would be handy. I'll have them checked out and we can go from there.

 

Rebuild kits aren't too expensive either. I've been reading up on SUs ever since I found a 50p copy of the AA Book Of The Car - a stunning reference guide, even now.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

There's several lunatics in the VEC who reckon they're getting 40 to the gallon from a pair of twin 45 Webers. I just nodded and played along. I personally think that's bollocks. 

 

It defo is 110% Horse shit, if you give a stuff about the fuel economy I would say the SU's are where its at

[Jim Bell]

What a great thread.

 

Welcome back Not-annabe.

[HillmanImp]

This was a gr9 read.

 

I used to get more than 40mpg out of the twin webbers on my imp as it would always do the last 2/3rds of it journey on the back of a towtruck.

 

There must be so many people on here that have threads like this waiting to be written (myself included).

[seth]

Great to see a big update on your car Dugong.  I had been wondering from time to time where it was at.  I hope when it hits the road it'll be wearing that rocker cover at last.  You've ended up with such a great selection of bits to go on it. 

 

Is the centre of that steering wheel splined or is it screwed to a boss of some sort?  If its on a boss and you need another one with the right splines modified to suit then I can probably help you out with that.

[dollywobbler]

Good stuff. Will be nice to see it on the road again. 

 

Speaking of which - what are you running at the moment Seth?

[phil_lihp]

This is a great read, it's always good to see neglected cars brought back to life.  It'll be a good one when it's finished.

[saucedoctor]

Marvellous stuff. 15/10

[cms206]

Welcome back Watagong. Top work on the Amazon, good to see it's still with us.

[Sigmund Fraud]

Once again, 100% content ! Thanks for sharing !

 

Looking forward to updates on this, it seems a well thought-out restoration of a car you clearly love !

[coalnotdole]

Brilliant thread, Reading this has brightened up a particularly dull and miserable morning!

 

Look forward any future updates.

 

Ta

[r.welfare]

Beautifully written, utterly captivating.  This is what this place should be all about.  Lovely, and more please - how about a retrospective on the 305 estate?

[Station]

This is great, never realised how a) knackered it was, how much work has since gone into it.

As a fellow 'classic Volvo driver', I appreciate how much effort has been made on the car.

[trigger]

Fantastic, I wasn't aware with how much work you was doing to it, It's going to look amazing when it's finished.

 

I will own a Amazon one day before they all totally dissolve away.

[dugong]

[vulgalour]

^ I wish I could draw like that.  Top content thus far, I'm sure it will continue to be as readable as the story continues.

[Rusty Pelican]

You have just become an autoshite God 

[dugong]

^ I wish I could draw like that.  Top content thus far, I'm sure it will continue to be as readable as the story continues.

 

It was traced off the photo at the very start of this post. Someone (embarrassingly, I can't remember who) did it for me when I posted on another forum, many years ago. I left that site and started using AS (as Wat) about eight months later. MOST POINTLESS BACKSTORY EVER.

 

I've gone back through the multitude of photos I have of the Amazon. I'm running into the low thousands here, most of them low quality snaps from my W810i. I only have a handful of shots taken on my Nikon, and I've spent a bit of my down-time rearranging them all.

 

 

This will have been taken in 2007 \ 8 or thereabouts, after I took it down to Leicester to get a quote on the welding. FATHA_DUGONG'S 5 Touring is alongside for comparison.

 

 

One of the first things I managed to buy for the Amazon was this Ellemann-Jakobsen rocker cover. Debate rages as to whether it's a real one. The aftermarket in Sweden was flooded with fakes when E-J were at their peak. Catharina Ellemann-Jakobsen reckons only 500 were ever made. I found mine [real or otherwise] on Tradera after spotting it in the background of an advert for some Bosch Knick 180s. I can't remember the exact sum I paid, but it was daft considering it has a welded repair on the underside and uneven mounting holes where someone's forced an over sized screw through it. When I have it blasted some small repairs will be needed.

 

E-J were the top of the heap in the Sixties when it came to tuning the Volvo B Series. There was a lot of competition - Ruddspeed and Nordic in the UK, Alconi in South Africa, IPD in the US and innumerable other smaller houses in Scandinavia like Comfort, Tomos Motor and KG Trimning.

 

 

This is at Capesthorne Hall in 2010. The show ground was small, the stalls were shit and the compere was irritating. I also remember losing the rear tail lights after a fuse blew, and missing out on the one vendor who sold new ones. A temporary bodge repair with tin foil lasted all of five minutes but the problem was eventually fixed - one of the very few electrical faults with the car, discounting the 123GT rev-counter that never worked properly. Edd Weeks came up in his Wartburg and none of us have seen him since.

 

 

Checking back through my directory, it looks like the Retro Show at Santa Pod could have been the last show I attended in it. The brakes were getting really bad and requiring a double pump every time you needed to slow for a junction. Pulsing through the pedal suggested warped rotors and the lines really were in a state. Although I'll probably get flayed for this, the discs themselves were second-hand off a car Gordon got in to break - a new set was just too financially crippling to contemplate.

 

It was a double bill that weekend, anyway - I'd wanted to take to the Amazon to the Ace Cafe for ages prior to it being restored the first time - I managed it that weekend after travelling down with MM5 (not often of this parish) and staying with Paul H.

 

 

This is Paul's Amazon. Technically it's a 222S, but that's not strictly accurate.The factory never made estates with B20 engines and the Amazon numbering system is cryptic at best.

 

It's been in his family for over 25 years, his father passing it on to him when he bought an 850. Paul uses it as his every day car, and while it may not look immaculate up top, underneath is a different story. A great deal of rectification work has been done over the years by Lance McCormack at the Romance of Rust. Were I London based, my Amazon would have ended up there. Mystifyingly, I've never taken a picture of both the cars together, and given that we've attended various Retro Rides Gatherings and BKVs in said Amazons, it's all the more strange.

 

 

For a benign classic, my Amazon has seen rather too much track time given its mechanical state. Why I chose to do the RWYB drags at Santa Pod is something I'll never fully determine.

 

 

Yes, the Simca in this shot is the one currently doing the rounds on Retro Rides with a Honda B18 fitted.

 

 

I was beaten on both runs by this rather dog-eared estate. I had a number of excuses at the time - that the engine was shagged, the estate had a shorter back axle ratio and my reaction time was dismal. Trying to get off the line quickly is something of a lost art in the Volvo. The engine could barely brake traction even on a streaming wet burn-out strip. A really hard clutch dump transferred the heave from the knackered mounts to aft of the rear axle, whose tramping made me very weary of trying for a second time.

 

 

Soon after the Retro Show, everything changed. The MOT and insurance ran out, and starting Uni again meant I had no time to get the holed floor and brake lines sorted. I bailed on RRG '10, and other distractions meant the Amazon slumbered for more time than was strictly necessary. My uncanny ability to get distracted by other heaps closer to home meant that the Amazon got unfairly sidelined.

 

Had I been able to focus on the job in hand, I could have funneled an amount of student loan into some temporary repairs and at least had it on the road for another year or two before more work was needed.

 

I digress. I'm an idiot.