Volvo Amazon Estate

I have been using this low mileage car for nearly a year - and I really enjoy it. I don ’t know why, but I have spoken to so many who wished they had never sold their Amazons, that I was careful to consider whether this one should be a ‘keeper’.

For years I have to admit I have harboured the stereotypical Volvo Brick hating thoughts and may be the later cars do lack the 50s inspired styling of the Amazon, but they really are well built.

I drove this car down from Edinburgh last April - 550 miles with only stops for bacon rolls and coffee - and now use it daily, mainly due to its usefulness. Last weekend we completed another round trip of 700 miles!

It’s a lovely low mileage example (but it wont be if I don’t watch the mileage) which is going to benefit from sympathetic restoration this year with the emphasis on ensuring that the standard of workmanship supports Volvo ’s original philosophy. But with the addition of an Eaton MP45 supercharger on a newly rebuilt B20 engine it will have the ‘necessary’ to keep up with the swiftest of modern traffic whilst retaining that formidable bomb proof push rod engine that is so much a part of an Amazon ’s character.

D Type Jaguar L&R Replica

Have owned this car for 10 years now but it really got interesting when I happened upon an aluminium bonnet for a D Type at Beaulieu a few years ago. At £500, and having never been fitted to a car, it was a must have. Of course things are never quite so straightforward and to finish it off and ‘fit it’ to my car involved another nought on the bargain bonnet’s price! Still - I also got the rear tailfin and boot lid in aluminium - and work is progressing on fabricating the complete interior structure in aluminium and dispensing with the fibreglass altogether.

It was a great fun car but it’s going to be in a different class when its finished later this summer.

I have just finished rebuilding the engine - a 3.8 litre XK unit - more as an inspection rather than recondition and am looking forward to getting it back on the road.




	Volvo Amazon Estate I have been using this low mileage car for nearly a year - and I really enjoy it. I don ’t know why, but I have spoken to so many who wished they had never sold their Amazons, that I was careful to consider whether this one should be a ‘keeper’. For years I have to admit I have harboured the stereotypical Volvo Brick hating thoughts and may be the later cars do lack the 50s inspired styling of the Amazon, but they really are well built. I drove this car down from Edinburgh last April - 550 miles with only stops for bacon rolls and coffee - and now use it daily, mainly due to its usefulness. Last weekend we completed another round trip of 700 miles! It’s a lovely low mileage example (but it wont be if I don’t watch the mileage) which is going to benefit from sympathetic restoration this year with the emphasis on ensuring that the standard of workmanship supports Volvo ’s original philosophy. But with the addition of an Eaton MP45 supercharger on a newly rebuilt B20 engine it will have the ‘necessary’ to keep up with the swiftest of modern traffic whilst retaining that formidable bomb proof push rod engine that is so much a part of an Amazon ’s character. D Type Jaguar L&R Replica Have owned this car for 10 years now but it really got interesting when I happened upon an aluminium bonnet for a D Type at Beaulieu a few years ago. At £500, and having never been fitted to a car, it was a must have. Of course things are never quite so straightforward and to finish it off and ‘fit it’ to my car involved another nought on the bargain bonnet’s price! Still - I also got the rear tailfin and boot lid in aluminium - and work is progressing on fabricating the complete interior structure in aluminium and dispensing with the fibreglass altogether. It was a great fun car but it’s going to be in a different class when its finished later this summer. I have just finished rebuilding the engine - a 3.8 litre XK unit - more as an inspection rather than recondition and am looking forward to getting it back on the road.