Amazon: How many Amazons are left?

[druid]

It seems that these days amazons are not worth restoring because the difference between restoration cost and the value of restored cars makes it un-economic. So i wonder "how many are still around?". Does anybody know how many cars are left in the UK?


Personaly, its not about the money, its the love of the car. If i had the cash i would have a bare shell rebuild and recondition everything. Still, she's on the road and looking nice so i have nothing to grumble about.

[Gordon Hunter]

I've often thought about asking the same question for the P1800.
To get an accurate figure from club registers would be impossible due to the fact that there are so many owners who don't join the clubs.

I concluded that the best way was to make a 'guestimate' by finding out how many cars were delivered from the factory to the UK and then working out a reasonable percentage of loss from figures made up of general statistics from various sources.
This is as far as I got. Maths. Hmm.
If anyone has any ideas or stats on this topic, I'd love to hear from them.

Gordon

[Audrey Old]

Some time ago one of our worthy listers found and exploited a DVLA link which, under the latest Freedom of Information rules supplied the numbers of Volvo 240s/260s listed as surviving.
It sub-divided down to model types, which for 240s/260s has been quite a lot over the years, then those active and those SORN'd. This helpful member added that no doubt the same info could be had for other cars (not only Volvos) but I can't seem to find the original mail - sorry.
Does anybody else have the address?

[DuncanS]

Interesting question.

I guess there can't be many 1800ES cars left in the UK. Just over 8000 built.

Gordon, do you have any idea how many right hand drive were built and how many of these were imported into the UK?

DuncanS

[TomTom]

I know one thing, that every time I think I'm driving around in quite an uncommon car, I turn round a corner and see another Amazon parked up, usually in better condition than mine (grrr!).

Tom

[Gordon Hunter]

Originally Posted by DuncanS

Gordon, do you have any idea how many right hand drive were built and how many of these were imported into the UK?

DuncanS

Not off hand, I'd have to have a dig for the facts. Perhaps Mike Gilbert might know?

[cywprof]

Originally Posted by druid

It seems that these days amazons are not worth restoring because the difference between restoration cost and the value of restored cars makes it un-economic. So i wonder "how many are still around?". Does anybody know how many cars are left in the UK?


Personaly, its not about the money, its the love of the car. If i had the cash i would have a bare shell rebuild and recondition everything. Still, she's on the road and looking nice so i have nothing to grumble about.

Agree, restoration has nothing to do with the perceived value. How many times do we see in car ads for sale,"... invested 10,000 in restoration, asking 5,000" ? The fun is in the challenge & the pride of ownership.
regards,
Bill

[druid]

Ok, the question seems to be..........can a representative of the club formaly request the information from D.V.L.A. and get an uptodate picture for us?.
Also the members of the club could be polled to see which models the info is required for or just do it as "all" classic volvo's PV P1800 Amazon etc?

any thoughts or input please?

[hairyapple]

In just the small area of S.E. Connecticut that I lurk in there are 8 amazons, 1 544, 1 1800 and 1 1800ES that I know of and that includes my own 2 amazons. We have harsh winters, salt is applied to every surface at the first sign of a flake (snow, that is) so these are survivors, rebuilds or come from away to live here. That said, it's very telling that there is a thriving parts industry for these cars still exists and that one can get just about anything required to keep them running, not to mention the aftermarket for performance parts. People don't invest huge sums of capitol where there is no market exists for what they sell. AMAZONS RULE they will probably outlast the dinosaurs whose remains they live on.

[jakobandhismakarov]

I think there's a fair few left in the UK. The B16 ones will be thinner on the ground because the scarcity of mechanical parts. I don't know how many of the Belgian ones came to the UK (according to Messrs Gunther and Wolf they had a severe tendencyt rust) early in the production life of the Amazon.

Weirdly enough I thought I had the only Amazon in the area (S Manchester) when I brought it back up North, but since buying mine I know Mike Arnold had one in Sale (never seen it or him around, and I'm up and down Harboro Road almost every day), there's one (2 door) that pootles around Hale and there's a minter than mint 222S estate that's in regular use.