I've decided to sell my 1967 Volvo Amazon Estate, it has the later B20 engine with overdrive, a lightened crank, fuelie head with Volvo race part valves (possibly sodium filled), steel timing gears, performance cam and followers, down draught Weber on a Pierce inlet manifold, IPD front anti-roll bar and a performance exhaust system and bilsteins shocks all round. The car was originally Dark Green with a tan interior, but we know it was painted white before coming to the UK all those years ago. The car is a LHD and originally from California.
I've owned the car for about 3 years now and bought it from Lance at Romance of Rust (
www.romanceofrust.co.uk) about 3 years ago. He owned the car for 17 years…it was his work horse. It was previously owned by Lt.Commander Robert Sloane (N.A.T.O.) stationed at Ruislip, the vehicle was purchased by him in California and last registered in Maryland. He brought the car with him when he was*posted to the UK.
My initial idea was to fix any rust issues and problem areas rather than doing another full on restoration…I didn't want another car off the road for a few years, so it was to be a rolling restoration. So since owning the car I've replaced the bonnet as the old one was rusty, replaced a wing, replace the two rear doors as the both had rust issues, repaired the bottoms of the front doors, repaired the small amounts of rust under one of the rear side windows, replaced one rear wheel arch…all this repair was this was then painted white. I also had the rust cut out the wheel well and surrounding area and then repaired. I fixed the leaking windscreen, but still had water coming in…it turned out to I had to replace a heater seal which fixed the problem. Over Christmas I had the last of the rust fixed, the rear passenger floor, so the carpets can finally go in without the worry of them getting wet.
Brian Gue at Amazonia fixed most of the rust issues, Lance did some more for the MOT last year, plus a few electrical problems at the time…plus Rob at Amazon Cars has given it a service and replaced the old solenoid and Alternator…I've never had a problem starting the car.
I bought a new/secondhand interior to replace the worn out blue one. I've replaced the front door cards with new ones, a new carpet through out….I've taken the original roof rack off and had it blasted and powder coated in silver, with new wooden slats made…I just need to seal the wood and reassemble the whole thing. I've and added fog lamps and door mirrors, and a 123GT steering wheel to replace the much smaller one as the leather surround was perished. I also recently fitted better front speakers as the old ones had seen better days. Before I bought the car Lance replaced the rear lower tailgate with a good rust free secondhand one.
Rob at Amazon Cars recently hooked it up as I felt it wasn't quick enough…how wrong was I? I must be used to driving hire cars! These are the reading when he took it out for a spin and a quick test: '1967 Volvo Amazon Estate, 0-60*/ 5.8sec, 0-100*/ 13.7 sec, 0-100-0*/ 21.1 sec'.
I'm not desperate to sell it as I love driving it, the car is currently stored with a friend in his yard down in New Romney, the MOT runs out in June and I'm more than happy to get a new one organised as I know it will go straight though without a problem. It's currently on a SORN as I can't get insurance for it…the reason for this is that as I now live and work in Switzerland I can't get UK insurance for it…so I can simply import it in to Switzerland and drive it over here or sell it in the UK and find something similar here.
I have nothing to hide with the car and your more than welcome to read a small blog I've been keeping on the car since I bought it, it shows 'warts and all', but as you read the old posts you'll see that if any problem come up with car I've fixed them, as I mentioned earlier…it's a running restoration:
http://www.autopendium.com/vehicles/...station-wagon-
As for the fact it's a LHD car, I've never had a problem driving it around the UK, neither did Lance and as I mentioned he owned it for 17 years...once you get used to not getting into the passenger side by mistake (I've done it a few times)...then there is no real difference in a RHD car and a LHD car.
The great thing with the car is that because it's been a Californian car for most of it's life before coming to the UK the rust issues are not as bad as they could have been, it's a very honest car.
What would I do next to the car if I were to keep it:
- tackle the engine bay as it's looking a bit tatty (it's all solid with no rust), it's just that it's black and not white like the rest of the car...to do it properly I was going to whip the engine out and freshen it up at the same time, then give the engine bay a lick of paint before dropping the engine back in.
- give it a proper paint job, with all the repair work I mentioned and painting those areas it's all the correct colour but as the older white has faded they are slightly different whites.
- but and fit some front kick panels for the foot wells
- source some good secondhand or new front bumper ends as mine have seen better days...the rear ends would need doing at some stage but they are not rusty.
- fix the fact that the windscreen wipers don't return to the starting point (on either speed).
- buy a new rubber cover for the gear stick.
- repair the tiny rust hole in the roof and the ones in the rear floors (probably the only rust left on the car)
Photo gallery here:
http://gallery.me.com/barwick#100431
The photos are from when I bought the car to photos (blue interior) to photos taken in Switzerland last year and then ones taken the other over Easter when I last washed the car.
You can also see the car in a couple of videos I have on youtube;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnxlACqb98Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckXA-kYA_9w
As to a price..I'm looking around £3800 - £4000, which is a lot less than I have invested in the car, but I have to be realistic
I don't think I've missed anything. Please feel free to ask any questions, if you want to see the car then email me and I'll give you the details of who to contact to see it.
Cheers
Peter
p.s. I've just added it to ebay as well.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=330559327652