Amazon: New (to me) 1963 Volvo 122

[Moomoo]

Originally Posted by Familyman 90

Let me know if you ever let the 240 go. I have a nice garage to keep it in, I'm local, and have cash waiting.

Reading between the lines bud, you won’t have to wait long.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Burdekin

From the ad it looks like you got a very good deal for your Amazon. They've got some value now which makes them worth spending a wee bit on if needed. Very good Amazons are fetching high teens and good GTs up to £25k.

Seriously? I hadn't particularly looked at Amazon prices before I bought the motor car - there were none for sale on eBay at the time.

It is no secret (because it was David's asking price) that I paid £3,750 for GAM. I thought David was an absolutely trustworthy seller so we didn't haggle over the price, although he did throw in two very good rear doors and several boots full of spares.

I didn't buy GAM to make money - it is an 18 month project but I suspect I'll own it much longer than that. It is nice to know it was fairly good value though.

Alan

[Othen]

I'm working my was through jobs on GAM - although I'm still discovering more work whilst I complete the jobs I already know about (that is life with a 59 year old motor car).

The job that was concerning me the most was the hole in the ORF chassis rail, the finger size aperture became this size when I cut it out to shiny metal:



... I think I got this one just in time - another year or so and the vertical walls would have needed replacing - and a complete repair section from Brookhouse Volvo required. I'd ordered some chunky 1.5mm sheet a few days ago, and this morn cleaned everything up for welding and cut out a repair panel:



The panel was perhaps 9"x2" and pretty much a rectangular, although I did add some reinforcing tabs at the lowest point where the rail bends upwards to give a bit more strength. Half an hour of ugly MIG welding later has all the metal glued together, after a clean up with the grinder looking fairly presentable. I gave it a coat of very gloopy Hamerite silver and it will be good enough for another decade or more:



When I'd finished this job I noticed there was no mud-flap on the drivers side - because the strut that mounts it and runs from that chassis rail to the OSF wing had long since fallen off. So, now I have another job: fabricate and fix a strut to hold a mud-flap; I thought I might use some aluminium section and pop rivet it both ends. The near side one is in place (so I can use it as a pattern) but has seen much better days, so I'll fabricate two and replace them at the same time. I have a couple of spare mud flaps that came with the RB.

Other jobs. The paintwork is generally very good, but in a few places it has lifted wither due to a bit of rust underneath or poor adhesion of the paint. Again I think I've got to these jobs just in time to avoid major surgery. The 3 areas were the NSR quarter, OSF scuttle and OSR wheel arch.

At the NSR quarter - just behind the rear door - the paint had bubbled up, almost like an eggshell. I scrubbed it down to see what was underneath and that is solid metal and original primer, it looks like the paint just didn't adhere well (I think it was repainted about a dozen years ago. For the time being I've given it a coat of grey primer, that bit will just need re-painting.

The OSF scuttle looked similar, but when I scrubbed it down did have a little rust underneath, fortunately well away from the windscreen. I'm quite happy with the repair:



The OSR wheel arch will need a small repair panel from Brookhouse Volvo in the fullness of time, but for the time being I've cut out a finger sized area, treated, filled and primed. I'm happy with it but will probably revisit it in the next couple of years:



I'm happy to use GAM with a few grey primer patches, but a can of Volvo number 46 red arrived the other day, so I'll re-decorate all three areas - mainly to see how far from the original shade GAM's paint has become.

This afternoon's job is to collect the spare wheel, which has had a new tyre fitted by those nice chaps at F1 Auto.

More to follow (and more... and more over the next 18 months) :-)

Alan

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by Othen

Seriously? I hadn't particularly look at Amazon prices before I bought the motor car - there were none for sale on eBay at the time.

It is no secret (because it was David's asking price) that I paid £3,750 for GAM. I thought David was an absolutely trustworthy seller so we didn't haggle over the price, although he did throw in two very good rear doors and several boots full of spares.

I didn't buy GAM to make money - it is an 18 month project but I suspect I'll own it much longer than that. It is nice to know it was fairly good value though.

Alan

That is another very good reason to buy and sell motor cars through the forum / club, Alan. We are all enthusiasts united by a common interest. As such, I have found over many years that there is usually a significantly higher degree of mutual trust and respect between members than is normally to be found on the open market. It works both ways. Long may that be so; occasionally it is not, and that is always regrettable.

Regards, John.

[Moomoo]

I don’t like to nag Alan but don’t forget to squirt some creepy , waxy stuff inside the box section. It’s not going to go bad from the outside .🧐

[Othen]

Originally Posted by Moomoo

I don’t like to nag Alan but don’t forget to squirt some creepy , waxy stuff inside the box section. It’s not going to go bad from the outside .🧐

... and that is why I drilled that little hole in the bottom Andrew :-)

[Moomoo]

Originally Posted by Othen

... and that is why I drilled that little hole in the bottom Andrew :-)

I had that thought, I should have known better. 1000 pardons effendi!

[Othen]

I had to go to F1 Auto to collect GAM's spare wheel (new tyre fitted) - it is about 4 miles distant. The RB was the first car on the drive and normally I'd have just taken that, but as I'd just taken GAM off the ramps I thought I'd give it a run. Having moved the RB out of the way a slightly too realistic 1960's driving experience ensued.

First - starting: my modern cars start instantly of course, the RB starts on the first turn of the key - GAM took 3 or 4 attempts but we got there in the end. Plus and points service needed I think.

Next - stopping: the brakes had not been particularly good when I drove home from Bedford last week, but this time the brake pedal got lower and lower as I drove, and by the time I reached F1 it was on the floor. I checked the master cylinder, which was all but empty and got a cupful of DOT4 from the ever helpful James (manager at F1). On the way home the brakes were quite effective after a pump, so I suspected a leaky wheel cylinder. A quick look under the car on the drive confirms it is the NSR. That is a job for another day. I'll pull the drum off for a look (probably tomorrow) and see what spares are available to fix. It shouldn't be all that difficult a job.

GAM is the car that keeps giving... more jobs to do :-)

Alan

PS. A success was the BT receiver/amplifier - that works very well indeed from my iPhone.

[john.wigley]

Very 1960s Alan, when you were also unlikely to have dual circuit brakes either! We may chunter about the complexity of cars today but it's a compromise; in matters of safety, it is arguably better to have it than not.

But 1960s attitudes were different, too. I once had complete brake failure on a 1961 Mini Van when a flexi burst. The RAC patrol who responded did no more than clamp on my Mole Wrench (Vice Grip), top up the brake fluid and leave for his next breakdown with the words "Drive home carefully" (It was only about 4 or 5 miles away).

Regards, John.

[Othen]

Originally Posted by john.wigley

Very 1960s Alan, when you were also unlikely to have dual circuit brakes either! We may chunter about the complexity of cars today but it's a compromise; in matters of safety, it is arguably better to have it than not.

But 1960s attitudes were different, too. I once had complete brake failure on a 1961 Mini Van when a flexi burst. The RAC patrol who responded did no more than clamp on my Mole Wrench (Vice Grip), top up the brake fluid and leave for his next breakdown with the words "Drive home carefully" (It was only about 4 or 5 miles away).

Regards, John.

I agree John,

I suppose many drivers of the modern age, given my circumstances this afternoon, would have just called the RAC and the motor car would have been recovered by truck to a garage. I don't think any RAC/AA/Green flag patrolman would have allowed a vehicle with an obviously leaking brake circuit to proceed.

I was happy enough to drive home 4 miles, confident it was it was safe enough. I remember when I was a boy it was not all that unusual for men to drive cars and vans with leaking brakes for months or even years before having them fixed - just pump them a bit and top us with fluid weekly.

... the 1960s driving experience.

Alan