Volvo Amazon 123 GT - An Astonishing Tale Of Missed Opportunity

I’m almost scared to say it, but here goes. This allures to me more than any supercar. Just a humble family car, tuned to perform well in competition, does more for me than any special no limits dreamcar that never even raced. And I think that a road legal car doesn’t need over, oh, 300hp? to be fun. As Jay Leno said, he doesn’t like cars that go zip-zip-zip and you’re at 200mph. He likes cars that provide the journey towards the goal. I agree wholeheartedly.

I had a friend who was finishing his medical degree at UNSW. It was British Racing Green, with everything highly polished and tuned to perfection. He allowed me to drive it down the north coast of NSW from Newcastle to Sydney. It handled superbly and I have never forgotten that afternoon drive to this day and I am 75 now. These are very hard to find now and I probably would not be able to drive it as I have Metastasized Prostate Cancer with bone lesions - makes it hard to sit in a car properly. The memory of that day is fabulous.

"Cheaper than psychiatry!" – WTF!!! I'm rolling on the floor with laughter…

In the 60s, with longtudinal engines and gearboxes, 4th gear was direct, with the input and output shaft locked together, rather than driving via the layshaft. That made it quieter when cruising. Modern transverse engines and gearboxes always take the drive out of the "other" shaft, like a motorbike. So you can have as many ratios as you care to fit.

They were so popular here in Canada that an assembly plant was built in Halifax Nova Scotia. Tough as they were, road salt killed many before their time. They did hold up better than most contemporary cars. Brilliant little sports sedan, particularly in this GT spec.

My uncle in Salzburg had one as well as a P1800 back in the sixties. I was very impressed as a kid visiting from Guernsey (with our 35 mph speed limit) that these Volvos easily did and kept 180 km/h on the autobahn!

The Volvo Amazon and the Saab 96 occupy the same area in my mind. Volvo is still a brilliant manufacturer whilst Saab has gone to the wall. Its hip to be square!

Brings back memories, my father bought his first new car in 1968 and it was a white Amazon. I was born in in1970 and if we made a long trip and drove back home in the evening I always fell asleep because of the whining sound of the gearbox, especially if he brakes with the engine and downshifts.

Fun Fact: Theo van de Rijt, the driver of the DAF TurboTwin that crashed in Dakar in '88 and good friend of the family, has completely redone an Amazon to bear metal. Its a gorgeous beige example! Thanks Jack for another great video. Greetings from the Netherlands

A friend of my father had a brand spakning new Amazon 123 GT, they took a vacation with the car to UK one summer and felt that they had the coolest and quickest car around. In London they ended up next to a little open sports car at a traffic light, and reved at it a bit, When the light turned green they were left in the dust by a embarising wide margin. Not feeling so cool anymore thay later realised that the little car was a AC Cobra...

I grew up with Volvos, 140s and 240s, but later on 7-series and a 960. Watching this made my heart feel all warm and fuzzy. I do love me an Amazon. Such a good looking, and incredibly robust, car. ..and then a 123GT… Yum! This got me way more than most expensive super cars.

I drove my ‘66 1800 for 17 years, have no idea how many miles or kilometers it had because it was equipped with Smiths instruments which if fortunate were good for about 10,000 miles; finally gave up with repairs. Smiths, a good example why there are no British car manufacturers today. Volvo repaired my car for the first three years and I repaired the car for the next 14 years. Still, it remains my favorite car of all those I have owned.

Sven "we built a great car olaf , what bits shall we keep for the new model" Olaf "The seat belts"

Had a 1969 2 door 121 B20 in the mid 70s. Drove it all over the UK doing lighting for concerts. Got stopped for speeding returning home from a Pink Floyd gig in Southampton. Cops were driving a Volvo and spent 20 minutes looking over the car admiringly, but still got a ticket. Diana Ross hired a Broadway director, and when he saw my car, asked if he could travel with me. I would drop him off at the Savoy in the early hours after shows.

I used to have a B20 about 24 years ago. Also a red 2 door. One of the nicest cars I ever had. It was one of the last production month (May 1970) and precisely as old as I was (May 1970). Good memories! I sold it in the state of “needs restauration or for parts”. From the registration records I know it must have been restored quite recently, because it is now insured. Love to see it back one day. Great car, drove beautifully and sporty.

Now, Jack... The PV544 was actually the first car with 3-point belts standard, in 1959. But seatbelts had been around since 1949, available as an option on Nash cars in the USA. Ford USA offered belts as a $9 option in 1956, as part ot its "Lifeguard" safety campaign that was well-intentioned but a total bomb with the buying public. The seats were done by Volvo in-house, not by Recaro, and were the same as those on early 140-series cars. That ZF steering box might have benefitted from adjusting and some fresh lubricant...try THAT with your "modern" rack-and-pinion! And, yes, you can move the seats back, as there are additional holes in the rails for taller drivers - remember, Swedes are bigger than many people (think Eric Carlsson). These 123 GTs were quite good cars, with a stiffer structure than most cars of the day. They did quite well in both rallying and in amateur saloon car racing, even in the States. On paper, the car could not compete with the Alfa Guilia Super...but in the real world it held its own much better than you might have expected. And, it didn't rust away before your very eyes (that said by an Alfisti who's owned several Guilia Supers, in various states of corrosion from none to ghastly). I'm more enthusiastic about Webers than you are, and the best set-up for one of these Volvos was a single 45 DCOE with 38mm choke tubes, on a longer-tubed manifold than the standard. This added about 10 bhp and was very easy to tune; it gave you notably better mid-to-top range power. I love the exhaust note!

I have a soft spot for Swedish cars. Thanks Jack!

Brings back fond memories of my 123GT. Haven’t seen one on the road for many decades

I remember the 120 & 122S back in the day but had no idea of the 123 existence until today.

I must say that Volvo did make great cars in the 60's but also all the way up to the early 90's at the end of the 240 range. I own a 1986 Volvo 245 (Swedish tank) that is now turning over 390,000 miles still not burning a drop of oil. These cars were always overbuilt.