I vividly remember first seeing pictures of the new Volvo 144: Wow! What a total change from the long familiar 122. And a mighty good one at that, as the 122’s styling was already a bit old fashioned by the time it had first arrived in 1956, and was looking decidedly out of fashion by the mid-sixties. Of course that applied even more to the venerable 544, but then it had already become something of a timeless car like the VW Beetle.
Unlike the American-influenced styling of the 122, the 144 was a perfect representative of modern Scandinavian design: clean and uncluttered lines, practical boxy proportions, superb visibility, and all the other hallmarks that would come to define this evergreen that would be built for three decades, in the form of the 240 series.
Given its extraordinary longevity, it’s interesting to note that the 144 was hardly all that new under its body, resulting in very familiar Volvo sensations. And unfortunately, at least one or two qualities actually weren’t as good as they had been in the much-loved 122.
The 144’s new body came in for lots of praise, for obvious reasons. It was up to the minute stylistically, functionally superior, had a huge trunk, high quality of materials and assembly, and very comfortable front seats. Ergonomically, it was all good too, except for the quick release central attachment being harder to use than on the 122 and the foolishly-high mounting of the inside rear view mirror, resulting in poor functionality. I assume that was fixed in later years, as it seems a surprisingly silly thing for Volvo to have done.
The 144S inherited the 122’s 1.8 L pushrod four, itself a development of Volvo’s original 1.4 L (and 1.6 L) four from their first postwar PV444. It had developed a reputation as being very sturdy and long-lived, but a bit rough around the edges. The 144’s 999,999 mile odometer was a novelty at the time that has long become standard. Back then it reflected Volvo’s focus on durability, and was an effective marketing tool.
The 144S had the 115 hp version of the 1.8, as also used in the 1800S, but performance was no better than the 90 p 1962 122S R&T had tested back then. Nevertheless, performance was deemed good, in keeping with the other aspect of the brand’s image. Its 12.3 second run from 0-60 equaled the significantly lighter Triumph GT6’s.
Handling was also up to its reputational par, with basic understeer giving way to mild oversteer when called for by use of the throttle and the right gear. “There’s no doubt it can be cornered quickly”. But there was one tradeoff: the steering was deemed heavier, despite there being no apparent reason for it.
That’s not to say the Volvo’s simple suspension design was going to magically elevate it into a class of cars like the BMW, which was setting the standards at the time with its fully independent suspension. The 144 had no material improvement over the 122 in that regard. And of course its engine was rather notoriously unrefined.
Which all means that although the 144S had a number of improvements as a result of its new body, otherwise it was still very much a traditional Volvo, for better or for worse.
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Interesting review. I’m a little surprised at the lack of front headrests. Not required at the time, I know, but it seems like an easy safety-related addition where a company like Volvo could lead the way.
The lack of head restraints is interesting, particularly given Volvo’s very early (1959) leadership on 3-point seat belts. The amber rear turn signals are also notable; the US/Canada-spec Volvo 140-series cars got red ones until 1968 or ’69. I wonder what other equipment anomalies the test car might have had; based on these two, and the magazine date, I guess it might have been a very early unit built before the specs were finalised.
Bought a 1970 142 (two door) with a four speed off the showroom floor. At about 100,000 had to replace the clutch due to a leaking rear engine seal. Not much else. Running strong when someone crossed into my lane on Lawrence Ave. in Chicago leaving my car dead and myself only slightly injured. Replaced the clutch myself, never fixed the seal. Added STP to help thicken the oil. Paid $1000 more than my dad did for a new Hornet that same summer. Well worth the extra $, even though the Hornet served well.
I had one of these for a while. A 1968 model in Pacific Blue that I was given for free – with 150K on it – by a guy at work. He’d driven it since it was new, but had recently upgraded to a brand new 3rd gen Jetta. This was about 1992. I was over at his house one day, and noticed the old Volvo and next thing I knew I had been talked into taking it off of his hands (I think that his landlord was demanding that the unregistered car be removed asap).
The 144S was the car on which I learned how to adjust valves and a carburetor. It also had some basic cooling system issues (radiator, hoses, water pump) that I fumbled my way through. It wasn’t my daily driver, so I tinkered with it as I had time.
Once dependably running, and registered, it was a pretty uninspiring car. The main thing I recall was that it was bog slow. It did have the manual transmission, and I loved the giant spindly gear shift…it was like driving a school bus in that regard. And mind you, my daily driver at this time was a 1984 diesel Rabbit. So I knew a thing or two about slow.
I became acquainted with the IPD catalog and dreamed about acquiring a variety of go-fast parts and suspension upgrades.
But eventually, the 144 became my first experience with “If you’re not really going to drive it, do you really want it?”. So after about a year I decided to move it along. Living at the time in a hippie and student-rich environment, there was no shortage of folks around who wanted funky old cars as basic transportation. I posted a simple ad for it on a bulletin board (like, a real bulletin board made of cork at the University. With a thumbtack. Because…1993) and it was gone in a couple of days. I decided that it would be good carma to give it away for free, since I’d been given it for free.
And I think that worked out well since just today I spent a lovely Fall day waxing and futzing with a much much nicer, 8 year newer (than the 144 I had), 245 that ultimately came my way (not free, but not too far off from that). It turns out that the 245 is a somewhat more sophisticated and refined machine than the 144. It’s what the R&T review was saying about the 144 compared to the 122 and the Amazon/544. Each iteration was a bit – just a bit, never anything drastic – more refined and improved from the previous model. I think having tried the 144, I was ready to ride the refinement process to the 240 series. At which point, I have all the refinement (for a Volvo at least) that I need.
The price of the 144S comes out to about $26,000 in today’s money. That is a screaming deal for a car of this quality.
The rear wheels look just slightly too far forward.
Agreed, Jonathan; the effect is slightly more evident in the elevational drawing (or section) than in the side-view photo. But not nearly as bad as in, for instance, certain vintage (and not-so-vintage) Rovers . . . ?
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I do remember the 100 series buzzing around uptown NOLA in the 70’s. Mostly Tulane professors or college students from the north east. Most of the locals had yet to discover Volvo. Detroit Iron with powerful A/C units was the norm for the daily I-10 commute.
The 200 series had a better showing once air conditioning was fully integrated into the dashboard and the BEBB’s (Back End Baby Boomers) started their career path.