Volvo 120 Series - 121/122S/123GT

If you’ve been following my articles right from the beginning you would have realised that I’m more into British and German cars. So obviously a Volvo write-up will be somewhat odd. Well, the truth is I was never and am still not a fan of Swedish cars which include Volvos and Saabs being the more prominent names. But there is one Swedish name that excites me which is none other than Koenigsegg who are a manufacturer of Super Cars. Well, let’s leave the Super Cars alone and concentrate on what is known to be an iconic series of Volvos after the P1800 series, which is none other than the 120 Series.

The Volvo 120 series consisted of the Volvo 121, the 122S and the rare 123GT. Better known as the Volvo Amazon in some parts of the world, the cars came in 3 different body types which include the two-door coupes, the four-door sedan and the station wagons. Close to 700,000 units were manufactured during it’s production period form 1956 – 1970 and there were three different engine variations available namely the B16 which was a 1.6 litre, the B18 a 1.8 litre and the B20 a 2 litre. Although most of the models had the manual transmission there were a few later models (1964 onwards) that came with the automatic transmission.

The Volvo 120 Series of cars were certainly beautifully designed cars compared to the later models Volvo came out with such as the 240, and the 940. In Malaysia, the 120 Series is probably one of the most collected classic in the country after the ever famous Volkswagen Beetle and the Mini. Of course not all are in the best of condition nevertheless parts are easily available be it new or used though I find them a little pricey. A decent Volvo 122S will cost in the region of RM 10,000-20,000 depending on the condition and the coupe models such as the 123GT naturally command a slightly higher value due to it’s rarity. 

The pictures attached are some of the well kept 120 Series models available in Malaysia covering all the models which include the sedan, coupe and the wagon. I've also attached a rather interesting video of a 1967 Volvo 122S coupe.

 

Volvo P1800

Being the youngest child in my family and who was born in the 80s, I was certainly exposed to a lot of classic music, TV serials and even movies right from the 50s to the 80s. There will be some of you who would remember one of the most iconic TV serials of the 60s, The Saint which starred none other than Roger Moore (now Sir Roger Moore) as Simon Templar. And there was another attraction to the serial and it was a Volvo P1800 which had the plate 'ST 1'. The Volvo P1800 was a car built right from the early 60s to early 70s and close to 50,000 units were built which included coupes and sports estates or commonly known as wagons.

The Volvo Museum in Sweden

The P1800 was built with the ‘sports car’ direction in the mind of the designers and Volvo. They came in a number of variations such as the P1800, 1800S, 1800E and 1800ES. The general bodylines were the same but minor cosmetic differences such as bumpers and chrome linings made the difference. There were also two engine variants which were the B18 and the B20 of which the B18 was a 1.8 litre engine and the B20 a 2.0 litre engine. But of course eventhough they have different models they are all commonly known as P1800 to the common man which in this case includes me.

There are two P1800s that I come across very often. Below are shots of one of those, a pristine Volvo P1800 owned by a friend who is also a Volvo restorer and collector. This definitely has to be one of the fine examples of this model here in Malaysia. This car has also recently been given a full round of bodywork as well as a new coat of paint. And the other is a rare left-hand drive (US spec) variant which is known to be the only one of it’s kind in this part of the world. This car was also used for my wedding so of course it deserves special mention here.

 The rare left-hand drive

One in beautiful condition would fetch close to RM100,000 but that of course means it’s close to mint if not mint. This is a car which has definitely appreciated in it’s value over the recent years so chance are if you get one at a good bargain, you wouldn’t loose money on it. I’ve attached two videos below. One a description of the car and the other a testament of this car’s capability, running 3 million miles on the same motor. Yes, I said it correctly, 3 million miles. :)

The left-hand drive US Spec

The 3 million mile car