Volvo’s ‘Amazon’ 120-series cars may look like chunky saloons but their solid build quality and typically neat Scandinavian over-engineering mean they can be turned into strong performers, as legions of historic rallying victories have proved.

Starting right at the beginning, specialists Amazon Cars and Tony Barrett both suggest upgrading the headlights. Tony points out that pre-1967 cars benefit from swapping from dynamo to alternator and fitting halogen bulbs, while Amazon Cars frequently fits xenon conversions to customer cars complete with a Cibie H4 lamp unit which offers a better beam pattern. On the subject of visibility, Emma Henchoz at Amazon Cars also reckons an intermittent wiper conversion is a simple but crucial upgrade too.

Once you can see where you’re going, more power is on the menu and if you’re running a single-carb engine then both South Service and Amazon Cars advise that an upgrade to twin carbs will bring big gains. Tony points out that you’ll need to change the camshaft though: the single-carb cars used the ‘A’ cam which is too tame to make the most of the twin carbs, so a move to the ‘D’ camshaft is required.

PRODUCED: 1956-70
ENGINES: 1582cc, 1778cc and 1998cc SOHC 4-cyl
PRICES: £500 (tatty) to £4000 (123GT)
UPSIDE: Solid Scandinavian engineering
DOWNSIDE: 1.6 cars can be a bit pedestrian
WHY YOU WANT ONE: It’s not a Ford, Vauxhall, MG, Austin…
CLUBS: Volvo Enthusiasts’ Club: http://volvoenthusiastsclub.co.uk, Volvo Owners’ Club: www.volvoclub.org.uk
SPECIALISTS:

• Tony Barrett, London, 020 8525 7283
• Amazon Cars, Suffolk, 01379 388 400
• Brookhouse Volvo, Ipswich, 01473 218806

PARTS PRICES: (various sources above)

• Electronic ignition: £155
• Brake disc: £68
• Bilstein dampers: £92 (each)
• Simons sports exhaust: £170

Read the full article in the Spring 2011 issue of Classic Car Mart, plus check out our road test of a 1968 Volvo 122S Amazon right here.