Here’s a genuine Curbside Classic: almost fifty years old, and still earning its keep. runningonfumes caught this Volvo 122 wagon, which looks to be from about 1965-1967 or so, being used as a window washer’s work truck.
We haven’t done a 122 CC at this site yet; another must do, long with the 444/544. But Ingvar’s superb piece on the Volvo Duett, perhaps the ultimate Volvo wagon, is here. Check it out, if you haven’t.
My sister and I both learned to drive in our family 122 wagon … but slightly older, a 1964 which had a different grill and badging, non-slotted wheels, less fancy looking (but far more durable) seats, and most importantly, still had 4 wheel drum brakes. Delivered to us new (with whitewalls) in England, sold for exactly the same price in California 22 years later. Replaced a 544, replaced by a 245. When it came time to buy my first car, I looked at 544’s and a 3 cylinder Saab 96, but bought a ’65 122S 2 door. I suspect Ingvar is the resident 122 expert, but I still remember a lot of trivia, and still have my Unisyn carb synchronizer!
Thanks, but I’m actually not that knowledgable in Volvos. I suspect your average Brickhead knows far more. People dealing with a specific brand only are the ones to ask. All I have is ackumulated knowledge from growing up around them. Volvo had a 30% market share alone in Sweden, a Volvo wagon has always been the best selling model for like fifty years straight. I suspect they are what Panthers, B-Bodies, Cutlasses, and Valiants are for the americans. Cockroaches everywhere…
good memories…. my first major road trip was with one of these.
Looks like a WV Type 3 wagon.
I have a soft spot for wagons of any vintage, but it just doesn’t get much better than a nearly 50 year old wagon that is still hard at work. I love it. Hope the owner keeps it on the road just like it is for as long as they can.
I’ve pasted more than a couple of these together at my body shop.
I’d be welding these things up for people having the body rebuilt for the 3rd or 4th time.
They just didn’t want to surrender these because they would just keep on running forever.
What really strikes me about these pictures is not the car, but the Camryesque-beige Generica development surrounding it. It looks exactly the same no matter what part of the country one is in (with a few local variations). Sadly, my local town of Redmond WA is in full-swing Generica transformation right now (mixed-use with ground-floor retail, future section-8 apartments above).
Oh, were we talking about the car? Sorry! I really like the bumper step on the RR – hope it’s safe, as the LR one appears to have already rusted off.
Those bumper steps – and the rear reflector pods – had a tendency to loosen up (and get dinged) even when the cars were just a few years old.
Thats a collectors item here rare as hardly any old Volvo wagons exist.
The parents to one of my childhood friends had an Amazon wagon when I grew up. We attended pre-school together, and I stayed with them before and after pre-school, as my parents were working. His mother was was home with a baby brother that year, so they sort of took me on.
His father was really in to cars, and had several projects going on. Three sons, three black cars. An early -51 Volkswagen, an early -50’s Volvo PV444, and an early -50’s Citroen B11 Sport. I don’t know what happened to the cars and if they’ll ever be finished, but they were still laying in the backyard the last time I was there some ten years ago. The climate in the north of Sweden is actually very good for keeping cars, with long winters and dry conditions. I don’t think they have deteriorated at all for the thirty years he has kept them. Two of them is inside a garage, though.
Anyway, that Amazon wagon was regularely used first as the family household first car, then to second and third car beater status. But it always performed its duties. When my friend got a license, it became his first car. I guess he returned it to his parents when he bought something else, and I’d guess they still have it around. You just don’t get rid of something that takes a beating that well and never complains…
This was in 1980, so the Amazon was even then close to fifteen years old, even though it was the family first car.
And thanks for linking to that piece, Paul! Always makes me glad to see my work being talked about…
The car is probably a ’66, because in the first photo, I can just make out the Volvo “iron symbol” logo on the grille next to the left headlight, below the ‘V-O-L-V-O’ script.
The iron symbol logos were added starting in ’66.
I can also make out a newer, more modern Volvo next to the 122 – it’s an S60 T5. It’s distinguishable from lesser S60s because of the wheel design. And I would just like to see that S60 try to match the durability and longevity of that 122.
I’m not sure about the first year for the “iron symbol”, but the one-piece stamped aluminum grill halves, the slotted wheels, perforated vinyl seats and (on wagons) front disks all came in the 1965 model year refresh, at least in the US.
Great find! Makes me lonesome for my Brick… Brick-sick?
Bought one of these brand new at the factory in Sweden 46 years ago. Same exact color as the subject. Only difference: it had fender mounted wing mirrors. Apparently the mirrors were a local requirement, in anticipation of switching over to driving on the right. For a number of years the Swedes built all of their new cars with left-hand drive before actually making the switch. Under these circumstances you needed all the visibility you could get!
I sold this fine automobile in a place called Eugene, Oregon. (A little known, but weird place out West where it rains nine months of the year).
But what color is the subject? Parts look dark gray (as was ours) and parts look dark green. Our ’64 European delivery version also had the dual fender-mounted mirrors … they were a mixed blessing. The required a wrench to loosen to adjust them, and then re-tighten. On the other hand, since you had to get out of the car to reach the mirrors, stuck way out there on the fenders, it just didn’t get done often. My US delivery ’65 had just a single, door-mounted mirror.
Volvo didn’t have that many color combination, and certainly not in green. The color code is simply called Dark Green, and the upper part of the hatch is in some sort of blue shade. The car hasn’t been polished, and the color has oxidized, quite severly on the hood. But the rest of the car has got this almost silk like quality in the paint job, it looks quite nice. I’d say the shade of color is more like Bottle Green, the color of green beer bottles. Really nice shade.
Yes, mine was dark green. . . . . all over. The area above the tailgate on the subject is clearly from another car, probably a junk yard find.
The owner and window washer was a nice guy. I asked if I could photo his car and he said sure. He’s a Volvo-head and would have talked for a lot longer about his wagon and Volvos in general if I had had the time to listen. Had to get to work. I like the old Volvos of all body types. Due to its Nordic heritage perhaps, Seattle seems to be a hotbed of vintage Volvos. I see old 122s all over the place.
I know this one… see it almost daily in Seattle. In a Volvo-heavy, Scandinavian-heavy town, especially in a neighborhood (Ballard) with a legendary classic Volvo garage (X-Ray)… 544s, 1800s, and 12xs are not exactly uncommon, but something about THAT one used as a daily work vehicle is special.
Five years in the northwest and I’m still finding myself amazed at the quality of 60s, 70, and 80s cars here that would have been piles of dust back east…
The owner told me about X-Ray in Ballard. I lived in Ballard years ago and always laughed when Almost Live would do that Ballard drivers skit. If I remember, it featured John Keister driving (slowly and clumsily) an old Falcon or Dart around old Ballard.
These remind me of a cross between a VW Karmann Ghia and a Type 3.