That's interesting.

As far as I know, Saintjohn's is the only one that did not start life as a 145 or 164, but rolled off a Volvo production line as a fully formed 165! I'd be interested to know exactly how they built it... i.e. was it a cut-and-shut of new, used shells from 164 and 145, or was it 'from scratch' with the individual body panels just welded up from nothing to create a 165? That sort of detail is probably lost in the mists of time!

But I suppose Saintjohn would see clues now, with it all stripped, if it was a cut-and-shut.

John

in answer to the query, volvo assembled cars in au from around 71 to 88. this led to different problems to the cars in other countries eg australian cars tend to rust at the forward edges of the spare wheel wells where the swedish cars didn´t and the swedish cars rust in front of the fixed side window on the sedans while in au it almost never happens. so, the short answer: the car would have been assembled from scratch as a 165 without being a cut and shut. there still seems to be no word on the purported south african 165 although i wonder if it´s possible to send a letter to them and ask as volvo australia has the record and was more than happy to give out info.

also, jj: how is the 67? last time i saw it it was just dusty with one minor dent from where the trailer touched it on one of the rear doors. is it still in one piece? i seem to recal that guy in geelong having a 67 if any of the unique bits are missing. do you still have the complete set of 69s? how is the 1800? hell, what is your collection these days?

also, iceland is not too bad. do always kinda miss au though. still driving the 93 850 i bought in 08 but i bought a 95 850 wagon a few months ago and will replace the sedan with it. dreaming of something a bit better though but both budgetary constraints and that there just aren´t too many cars here mean i have to put up with what i can get. thinking of something like a c202 as there are quite a few here although i´d be happy with just an 850t5 but they are really rare :(

165
 

JJ will have the chance to find out how the car was built very soon. The original Engineer for Volvo Australia will be a guest speaker at our night meeting. We have two 165 in the club, mine was built for Volvo Australia but out of two cars damaged in transit. It is a 1974 165 and has 165 badges but is classified as a 164 Station Wagon. Knowing John, this will be a great restoration and we all look forward to seeing the completed car.

PM sent about parts.

My PM didn't go through. Do you have any 164 fogs? Just thought I'd ask. I know they are quite rare. PM me if you can. I don't want to side track the thread anymore.

volvo 165 answers
 

Hi all. To answer the above questions.Talking to the engineer who was envolved at that time [ John Ousey] the 165 was commisioned by the then MD of Volvo Clayton who wanted a 165 built out of the new kits that were being brought into Australia for the 145s and 164s. John Ousey was not so keen to do it as it would mean destroying 2 car kits which he would have to answer for to Volvo but the go ahead was given and it was done on the assembly line with all the others on the day so it was all made as if it was another car all spot welded correctly etc. I will rewrite an article i found in a book called Volvo Down Under which says Quote even here, the number of unassembled car kits was limited by the authorities. This led to a novel plan in which VAPL hoped to export Volvos in return for government permission to import more parts for local assembly. The ingenious scheme was developed in the 1970s in which the worlds only Volvo 165 was made in Melbourne. This prototype -- which is now in Sydney__ was built by combining a 145 body with 164 mechanicals and was demonstrated to government officials who was to accept it as an export vehicle in return for additional imports.The plan was to ship the 165 to the USA were a sizable market was thought to exist__ but the idea was turned down. So a little bit more history
Hi James my fleet is getting bigger l now have a manual t5r yellow 2x1800es 1800s,silver262 ,145 express van ,245 express van, 120 station wagon ,144 1967 sedan and a dunga 244 for every day regards John

fog lights
 

Hi Lesky i have fog lights in various condtion a resonable set would be $150.00 AUS plus frieght regards John

Please PM me so we can exchange information. I will take a set of fogs. This is great!

Also, your restoration is looking superb! Between your 165 and John's 164RS, the forum has two of the finest Volvos on the planet.

Lesky - did your PM fail because you don't have enough posts (30) yet? If so, I can get your post count increased for you so you can send PMs.

cheers

James