Discussion
Wonderful car I restored NGL 890 when I was 16/17 and had it for 5 years or so It was a 221 estate the second one sold in the uk .
Timing gears are fibre and can make a petrol sound like a diesel and they do rather rust but mine was a bad one for that take a good prod at the inner wings and rear quarters and front wings are now mega expensive compared to when I did mine !
Timing gears are fibre and can make a petrol sound like a diesel and they do rather rust but mine was a bad one for that take a good prod at the inner wings and rear quarters and front wings are now mega expensive compared to when I did mine !
Excellent cars!
I prefer either a 2 door or an estate but it's all down to personal preference. The 4 door cars did have galvanized sills where the 2 doors were only part done (those crazy Swedes, eh?) so this is something to bear in mind. Good luck in finding a decent estate… the prices for them are stupidly high at the moment IMO.
I'm biased but I think they are the perfect classic: reliable, good looking, pretty nippy, handle well and as a massive bonus they tend to resist rust fairly well… certainly compared to contemporary British cars.
If you want to buy one, your best is to read as many buyers guides as possible, and get yourself over to the Volvo Owners Club site - you'll get some excellent advice.
Buyer guides:
http://www.volvotips.com/index.php/amazon/buying-t...
http://www.volvoenthusiastsclub.co.uk/buyersguides...
Basic advice is to check the front and rear screen seals (they have to be done with non-setting mastic and it's a specialist job in this day and age). Leaking seals are about the only thing that will kill an Amazon. Wings are expensive (had my done last year… gulp!) and door bottoms like to rust (decent coupe doors are rarer than the proverbial rocking horse manure). Stuff like outriggers occasionally give problems, but are cheap and easy to put right. Rear arches can rust, but again, they are not that difficult of expensive to put right.
Whatever engine and transmission you might find… don't worry. Engines are tough and don't give too many problems. Gearboxes and diffs are regarded as being virtually indestructible.
As pointed out, some parts are a bit eye wateringly expensive, but the upside is you don't have to buy many of them. Front discs for example: shade under 400 quid for the pair. But there are people out there who've got 400,000 miles out of a set of discs and they are still going strong.
As you might be able to tell, I'm a bit of an Amazon fan…
I prefer either a 2 door or an estate but it's all down to personal preference. The 4 door cars did have galvanized sills where the 2 doors were only part done (those crazy Swedes, eh?) so this is something to bear in mind. Good luck in finding a decent estate… the prices for them are stupidly high at the moment IMO.
I'm biased but I think they are the perfect classic: reliable, good looking, pretty nippy, handle well and as a massive bonus they tend to resist rust fairly well… certainly compared to contemporary British cars.
If you want to buy one, your best is to read as many buyers guides as possible, and get yourself over to the Volvo Owners Club site - you'll get some excellent advice.
Buyer guides:
http://www.volvotips.com/index.php/amazon/buying-t...
http://www.volvoenthusiastsclub.co.uk/buyersguides...
Basic advice is to check the front and rear screen seals (they have to be done with non-setting mastic and it's a specialist job in this day and age). Leaking seals are about the only thing that will kill an Amazon. Wings are expensive (had my done last year… gulp!) and door bottoms like to rust (decent coupe doors are rarer than the proverbial rocking horse manure). Stuff like outriggers occasionally give problems, but are cheap and easy to put right. Rear arches can rust, but again, they are not that difficult of expensive to put right.
Whatever engine and transmission you might find… don't worry. Engines are tough and don't give too many problems. Gearboxes and diffs are regarded as being virtually indestructible.
As pointed out, some parts are a bit eye wateringly expensive, but the upside is you don't have to buy many of them. Front discs for example: shade under 400 quid for the pair. But there are people out there who've got 400,000 miles out of a set of discs and they are still going strong.
As you might be able to tell, I'm a bit of an Amazon fan…
EXKAY120 said:
Faust, go on, find me a nice estate, i dare you,seeing as your the Volvo expart man around these parts or a 2 door saloon, but must say an estate would be good.
Thanks for the info by the way.
There is a nice estate on ebay at the moment... sold at auction for 6 grand last weekend, and a dealer is now asking £8995.Thanks for the info by the way.
Don't think it has overdrive fitted though - and that'll cost about a grand to get fitted if you can't do it yourself: you'd need an M41 box, shorter propshaft, possibly alter the diff and then there's the wiring and switch to install... (if you want to do motorway driving, OD is essential IMO. My 2 litre Amazon sits at 2800 ish at 70 with OD engaged).
Single carb model as well - most people would convert to twin SUs and change the cam for a D spec unit (the type twin carb cars were originally fitted with) to give a bit more power (up from 85 bhp ish to 115 bhp ish).
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