Meg's new '64 Amazon wagon! Woot lots of pics

[The Aspirator]

We picked it up 3 weeks ago and haven't really touched it yet, but we're very excited to finally own one! Been talking about it for months, then one day Sean (crazy0000) linked me to a classified ad for this car for $700. I thought "cool, that would be a fun project. Just for kicks I'll show it to Meg". She fell in love right away! "That's the perfect car for me! We have to get it, you should e-mail the guy right now".

6 hours later Sean and I were driving the 30 mintues to go see the car with cash in hand. When we got there and looked closer at it, it had more rust than I was hoping to find, which is unfortunate, but I just couldn't get over the lines of this car! And it's got such a funny perspective, in some pictures it looks huge, but in others it looks tiny. Like the first one above, Meg is 5'5" and the car looks big, but check out some of the other pics below it and it looks tiny. Then when anyone sits inside and you see them through the window, they look HUGE inside the car. It really is a small little machine, I love it, it just looks like a huge BelAire.

Anyways, back to the story. I ended up getting it for $500! The owner bought the car about 3 months ago and never got around to getting it running, he said the owner before him drove the car daily up to about 6 months ago! It cranks just fine, but doesn't start, he said. So Sean and I started digging, checking for fuel, spark, etc, trying to get it to kick. I've never worked on a carb'ed car before, so this was all new to me. We opened up the fuel filter on the mechanical pump, it was pretty dry, so no fuel getting to the engine. The dash gauge says half tank, but who knows if it's accurate or how old that gas is. Eventually we got enough fuel flow through that pump to fill up the clear filter (which looks really cool), but then the plugs were still dry. Actually they were a bit oily and stinky, which threw us off for a bit thinking that they were wet. So we went out and bought some new plugs. Still no start, the plugs were dry. Then we dug into the carbs and checked to see if they were passing fuel, nope! The transfer tube between the two bowls was clogged, and the needles were stuck against their seats. After cleaning all that we gave it a shot and it finally sputtered!! Next try it started and idled on it's own like a dream, couldn't believe it.

It sure makes quite a stink without a cat and such a rough tune, but it's awesome. I was hoping that I'd be able to drive it home that night, it was around 6-7pm at the time, starting to get dark. So we go about testing all the accessories, and turns out the headlight wiring is all messed up with half of it missing . Brand new bulbs, but some missing wiring. Ohh well, I'll have a blast re-wiring this whole car, it's so simple!!! Then we tested the brakes and the pedal went to the floor, added some more fluid and eventually got pressure, then we heard a little pop, then psssssst, then no pressure. *sigh* one of the rear brake lines burst and leaked a bunch, and since they're only single circuit brakes none of them worked now. Not driving it home, I guess.

Regardless, that wasn't going to stop me from booting it down the street just for fun! I mean we spent hours trying to get it running, gotta enjoy it. I got onto the street (residential neighborhood) and scooted it in reverse for 100ft or so, popped it into 1st gear and used the e-brake and clutch to get going forward again , then drove it back to the house. The car drives great!

So now we had to decide how to get it home. Went to Uhaul to see if we could rent a tow dolly, $40, but the only one they had was down for repairs. Dang. Luckily the owner has CAA (like AAA in the states) with free 200 mile towing! Yay, so that worked great.

Home sweet home:





Aside from the rust everywhere, the car is in pretty good shape. The interior is seriously the BEST part of the whole car, which is really nice. The dash is great, the headliner is PERFECT, seats are nice except they're ripping at the seams, all the glass is great too. The engine works wonderfully, so we'll just leave that alone for now. Fix up the exhaust, add a cat, etc.

So the plan is to first get this car running and driveable, then register/insure it and actually start using it as another daily driver. I'm really looking forward to having a wagon! It won't take too much to get it daily driveable, service all the brakes (yuck, drums all around), at least one new tire, then just check the car over and make sure everything else is safe. At that point it should be totally driveable.

Short-ish term plan is to start tackling the rust issues, piece by piece, hole by hole, replacing things with new metal. I'm glad I bought that cutting/welding torch! It's really gonna come in handy for this car. Some of the frame rails under the car are rotted out, so I'll replace them with some huge rectangle tubing of the same size. Floor pans are okay, but i'll replace what needs to be. Teh engine bay has some nasty rust up on the sides, visible in the following pics. The drivers fender has a huge hole in it, and the headlight surrounds are nasty. The rear windows leak, so new seals there, and fix the little bit of rust.

After that I will probably upgrade the brakes to discs all around, and hopefully add power assist, I noticed that the newer amazons came with that, or I'll just adapt something. Not sure if I'll buck up and do wilwoods all around like Dale has done, we'll see. I need this thing to stop reliably, smoothly and easily in a panic situation, since Meg will be doing alot of the driving. She's a lightweight, so power brakes will really help. We'll fix up the suspension and make it handle decently without spending too much effort on it, replace the bushings, make it ride nice. Add a CD player and some speakers, possibly upgrade the seats to something from the junkyard, something light and comfortable with headrests.

1 year plan is to paint it, a few shades darker than a bright silver, we want it dark enough that the chrome still stands out. It's gonna be gorgeous when we're done with it! I'll probably stip it all down, get it sandblasted, fix ALL the rust for GOOD, then paint it properly and seal it really well. I really want to keep this car for years, maybe forever, so it needs to be done right the first time around. Upgrade the wheels to something cool, Meg saw minilites last weekend for the first time and liked 'em, but I think we'll try to find something in the 16-17" range, nothing to ricey or blingey, still with a bit of a classic look to them. Everything I touch will get powdercoated, mostly white and red because they're canadian colors and cause I bought 4 kilos of each powder (which will last me forever).

For the engine, it works well now so we'll just leave it alone aside from cleaning it all up. As for long term plans, we're seriously thinking about making it into an electric vehicle...

More pics!!!

John

[shellshock]

Very nice! that color is the SEX!! You better keep it. Looks nothing but killer with the gold volvo lettering on front

[Biesey]

Nice find! the rust doesn't look too bad compared to a lot of the other 122/1800's i seen in the area.

[dl242gt]

Wow, I like. You got a hell of a project but those wagons are so very nice to drive and own. That looks like quite an early one. 62-64 is my guess at what year. The front disk brake setup just bolts on but with the rear it'll be some fabrication to get disks on there. You may be happy with just front disks. They work very well. Amazons have good brakes stock especially with the front disk setup.

Wish you well with the project.

[qwkswede]

Whew. that looks like it needs some serious disassembly and rust repair. But for the price, that sounds like a great find! Beauty, I'm always poking through local ads looking for a 122 sedan.

[Mesoam]

awesome! i would say 17'in torque thrusts would look perfect on that thing!

[JohnMc]

Ouch, that's some nasty rust. Just personal opinion, but I would have passed on that and found one with a more substantial body on it.

On the plus side, 120's were the first 'way overbuilt' Volvo's, and unlike the PV they can structurally survive massive rusting. I've seen cars with worse rust still happily driving around. Important parts like rear axles start falling off PV's when they rust.

I love the 120 wagons. We had one for a while when I was a kid. Love the tailgate on the rear.

[TerribleOne]

Congrats Meg!! Welcome to the club!

The 122 club that is..

[RockVegas]

NICE!!!

Originally Posted by TerribleOne

Congrats Meg!! Welcome to the club!

The 122 club that is..

I thought you had yours up for sale a while back.

[The Aspirator]

Yeah it's a '64 Dave, I looked up the vin on this VERY VERY informative website:
http://www.volvoamazonpictures.se/
The seller listed it as a '65, but that's wrong.
Great to know that the front discs bolt right on. For the rear Dale tells me I either need an 1800 rear axle or a 240 one, and that it's tougher on the earlier models than it is on the ~67+ models. Need to fabricate new brackets and all kinds of things, but I'm not too intimidated by that project.

JohnMC, yup it is pretty rusty. They salt the roads like crazy up here so I'm actually amazed that the car lasted this long and is still in as good condition as it is. The "plan" was to find a rust free california car and get it shipped out here, but that was like $1k just for shipping, plus the cost of a rust free car. So $500 bones for a local car? I couldn't pass it up! Funniest thing is I wasn't even looking for one, IT FOUND ME.

It was originally "golden yellow 84", but some time ago someone painted it red, which has faded pretty badly over the years. At least it faded evenly.

[adrianpike]

sweeeeeet!

house looks awesome, too!

[JohnMc]

They salt roads here too. The salt is probably subsidized secretly by the automobile manufacturers.

My 63 122 sedan had discs on it from the factory, I guess the wagons were slightly delayed? Should be an easy swap, easier than putting them on a PV anyhow. Get 1800E front discs, however, if you want the bolt pattern to match an 1800E/240 rear axle.

I don't think an 1800E axle is a bolt on in 67+ wagons either, they had a different suspension than the sedans/coupes. Where the spring sits on the axle on them, the wagon has it on the arm, with the axle hanging upwards from the arm. Makes it a little more compact so they can have a lower floor back there without the taller over-axle hump. Maybe a 140/240 axle wouldn't be as hard to put in, because they use a similar suspension?

[122s]

weird.. it must have been '65 where they did the front brakes to disc..

my '65 came with them at least..


great find! $500, got it running, and once you do a tuneup, fix the leaks, check the gas tank for rust, most likely is, go get it boiled out, and coated.. and your good to go for a while..

[JohnMc]

Single circuit brakes are scary, that being said I still haven't put a dual circuit system on my PV yet.

[Geoff240Ti]

I love the color scheme (interior especially and exterior!). I'd say you did well for a running car with all the good parts!

That chassis rust scares the crap out of me though, I mean not for driving.. but for repairing.

How much do you want to invest in rust repair and re-paint? Mind you, you're a much better welder then I, but you could work the streets at night instead of getting showered with rust behind a grinder, and make enjoh money to buy a better shell.

I'd drive that thing as is and get all the enjoyment possible, while searching craigslist all over north america for a good body. Source a rust free shell (california) and ship it. Probably could be done for $2000 if looking hard. I do see 122 wagons pop up, but they are always a distance away.

I REALLY hate rust though, I can't stand coming in from a night of rust work being covered in the red dust. It might be different for you however. Either way, you'll end up with something so cool (it already is!)

[igor]

Nice project! Great to see more of these popping up around here.

[fige]

hehehe. $500? Join the club

awesome wagon

[Freq]

^Picture is win

[240T man]

Originally Posted by JohnMc

Single circuit brakes are scary, that being said I still haven't put a dual circuit system on my PV yet.

+1, my Caprice has a single circuit braking system. That was scary last week, some turdface cut me off and I had to lock 'em up...at the next light, pedal went to the floor. It had a little left in it, and between that and the E-brake I was able to stop uneventfully...but SCARY. I traced it down to the rear brake hose.



Nice find(s) John...

[500dollar744ti]

Originally Posted by 760T man

+1, my Caprice has a single circuit braking system. That was scary last week, some turdface cut me off and I had to lock 'em up...at the next light, pedal went to the floor. It had a little left in it, and between that and the E-brake I was able to stop uneventfully...but SCARY. I narrowed it down to the rear brake hose.

Nice find(s) John...

wtf year caprice? everything was mandated to dual circuit master cylinders in the 70's!?!

if the pedal went to the floor and was still applying brake force it's not a single line master cyl.

[240T man]

Originally Posted by 500dollar744ti

wtf year caprice? everything was mandated to dual circuit master cylinders in the 70's!?!

if the pedal went to the floor and was still applying brake force it's not a single line master cyl.

its a 95...and when I say it had a "little" left in it, I mean it had hardly anything. I would've rear-ended the car in front of me quite firmly if it weren't for the E-brake...

I suppose it is dual-circuit then, though. It was ****ing scary either way...

edit: yeah, it's dual circuit, looked at my old engine bay pic...just shows how much attention I've paid to this car beyond basic maint. thus far.

[amargill19?]

dude the interior is lookin' sweeet.

that looks like a realllly fun project, aside from the rust (for me anyways) and I do really kind of like the red on it, it's like a mini fire truck... but those things are cool no matter what colour.

electric enjin? I was totally thinking something along the lines of MS and built up pushrod powah

good luck!

[GrandmaSideways]

Wow John, that's RAD!
You should just strip it and powdercoat it ALL. Body and EVERYTHING. hahahaha

Anyways, you're absolutely giddy, haha. Have fun with it!


And agreed, those clear filters are pretty sweet!

[Canuck]

Don't worry about the rust - check out the work on Dale's 122 for the right way to do it. The front "frame" sections look pretty shot and those inner fenders are done. All can be replaced (I've posted the process for it on the Calgary Volvo Club and BrickBoard. The fabrication necessary to do the 240 rear conversion into a pre-67 is covered by me on the CVC as well. Not for the faint of heart - but worth it.

Great score - have fun.
Craig

[245gti]

The front frame lateral sections are available new still and not that expensive. Olof at vintage import parts sells them and ships from within Canada...