Nigel Prodrive
Dirt surfer
Back in the mid-1950s, the original engineering brief for the Volvo 120 series was "a car built to take 4 people and their luggage anywhere in the world there are roads." Big markets for Volvo at the time were in Scandinavia (where there are still lots of dirt roads), Africa (ditto) and South America.
The car we Yanks knew as the 122S (122 Sport) was known in most of the world as the Amazon, a name that evokes images of sturdy lil Vovos clawing their way around on terrible muddy dusty dirt roads. Which is what the cars are actually quite good at--thanks to ample cround clearance, lots of suspension travel and simple sturdy mechanicals. The bored-out 2 liter in the car now puts out about 125 hp, and the low-geared 4spd trans w/overdrive puts the power down purty good.
Perfect for a vintage rally machine! Amazons had a credible rally career, winning the Acropolis and Swedish rallies among others. One Petter Solberg got his start in an Amazon, even!
Here's a pic from Rallye Monte Carlo in 1962: (don't try this at home, kids) Note the super skinny studded tires!
The car we Yanks knew as the 122S (122 Sport) was known in most of the world as the Amazon, a name that evokes images of sturdy lil Vovos clawing their way around on terrible muddy dusty dirt roads. Which is what the cars are actually quite good at--thanks to ample cround clearance, lots of suspension travel and simple sturdy mechanicals. The bored-out 2 liter in the car now puts out about 125 hp, and the low-geared 4spd trans w/overdrive puts the power down purty good.
Perfect for a vintage rally machine! Amazons had a credible rally career, winning the Acropolis and Swedish rallies among others. One Petter Solberg got his start in an Amazon, even!
Here's a pic from Rallye Monte Carlo in 1962: (don't try this at home, kids) Note the super skinny studded tires!
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