You’re probably thinking, “she’s done it again -gone way off topic yammering on and on about a tool store when she was supposed to be talking about a car” -okay, you’re right, I did do that, but there’s a point to it. It’s an interesting contrast I’m working with in today’s post, you see. Funny, how I should discover a fantastically reliable and well-built old machine that has held up for decades parked in the lot of the place where I buy tools and machines that I consider largely disposable.
Volvo is a Swedish Car manufacturer -well, it was, anyway. In 1999, Volvo was part of Ford, and in 2010, Ford sold Volvo to Geely -a Chinese company. So, Volvos are Swedish by way of the US and China. Today’s Volvo is a bonafide Swedish Volvo because it predates Geely and Ford by a few decades. An interesting little fact for you here: Volvo is Latin for “I roll”, which seems apt for a car name.
This is a Volvo 122S, which is not a particularly cool name for a car -I really don’t care for car names that consist of numerical designations with a letter or two thrown in. Volvo didn't, either, but in this case, the car was named the 122S because, outside of Sweden, the name that Volvo originally picked for their car was already owned by a motorcycle company. The 122S was known in Sweden as the Amazon -actually, as the Amason, because spelling it with a Z would have gotten them in some trouble. Still, it was too similar to Amazon to be sold outside of Sweden under that name, and apparently, coming up with a new actual name for the car would have been too much work, thus, 122S.
You’ve probably seen old Volvos cruising around all over the place, and there’s a reason for that. Volvos were well-made cars. They were designed not so much for driving excitement, but for safety and durability. These things had to survive harsh Scandinavian winters, where the elements of nature become detrimental to the elements that compose the vehicle that has to drive through all that. Not only is there added risk of corrosion from constant snow and slush smooshing and sloshing up onto the car from the roadways and more so even from salt and chemical melting agents used to do away with some of that snow and ice, there’s also the risk of sliding around and losing control after one has lost traction on icy roadways. To deal with this, Volvo went the distance in rust-proofing their vehicles. After all, the last thing they wanted to see was one of their cars looking like a pile of rust driving around for all to see while they’re trying to sell potential buyers on the notion of purchasing a new version of that car.
The fact that you can still see so many Volvos that are well over a decade or two or three old tells you that these vehicles were built to last. They were also built to make their occupants last. Volvo has a history of incorporating safety features into their vehicles long before any federal guidelines mandate it. It may not be the cheapest way to build a car, but of course, Volvo isn't Harbor Freight, is it? It’s a strategy that makes sense if you think about it -of course Volvo would want its customers to live to buy another vehicle from them after they wreck the one they've got.
The 122S was available in the US market from 1959-1970, though it was available as the Amason in Sweden 3 years prior to that. It’s hard for me to say what year this one is, as all 122Ss pretty much look alike. I’m sure there’s some Volvo aficionado who could look at the fender badge and tell you what year its placement designates, but I’m not a Volvo expert, just a Volvo admirer. I can tell you that in 1966, well before Volvo or any car maker had to do so, Volvo was incorporating 3-point safety restraints (seat belts) and reinforced roof pillars as well as front disc brakes into their vehicles. In contrast, my ’69 MGB-GT, a car three years newer, still featured only lap belts. Though the two cars did have something in common -they both are powered by 1800cc I4 engines. The 122S had about 85 HP and just over 100 lb-ft of torque, so it wasn't a powerhouse, though it was fairly lightweight at 2,600 lbs.
That 2,600 is an interesting number, too, because in 1966, you could buy a 122S for roughly that same amount of dollars. Volvos selling at a dollar per pound -not a bad deal…. Of course, that was 1966 money, and for that same amount back then, you could have any number of cars. In the mid 60’s you could buy an MGB or a Pontiac Firebird for just about that same amount, an Austin Mini Cooper for about $1,600 -which would leave you with a grand left in your pocket, a VW Beetle for about $1,800, an Austin Healey Sprite for just over $2,000, a Ford Fairlane for about $2,200, a hardtop Mustang for right around $2,400, a Triumph Spitfire for about $2,300, a Plymouth Fury (star of yesterday’s post) for about $2,500, or, if you had work to do, a Ford Bronco SUV for $2,500, or a Ford F100 pickup truck for right around $1,800. So, why buy the Volvo? It’s not like you’re going to look really cool when you pull up at the stop light next to any of these other cars that can be had for the same or less money -possibly with the exception of the truck, and it’s not like the Volvo is going to beat any of them in an out and out drag race away from that stop light, so why the Volvo? Safety, reliability, and durability. The only really bad thing I've found about the 122S is that the transmission is lousy in terms of shifting from gear to gear at appropriate times, but once that hurdle is overcome -it’s just a crappy 3 speed, so 122S owners might as well replace the silly thing anyway if they want to enjoy their Volvo- the car is golden. I mean, look at this thing -at the newest, this car is 43 years old now -look how well it has held up -and in Minnesota, the land of ice, snow, slush, and road salt, no less! I can only wish my MG had undergone the kind of rust proofing this Volvo came with from the factory. If Harbor Freight sold cars, you probably wouldn't find a Volvo like this among their inventory.
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