Retrodrive - No. 2 - The vintage car magazin from Retrokiosk

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Number two

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Volvo Amazon On a nice summer Friday in 1956, Volvo showed a completely new car – the Amason. Yes, it was called exactly that, with an „s“. But hardly had there been even time to pronounce that name until a controversy about the name started. The car, however, was to become the great seller for Volvo for more than ten years time.

It was on the 3rd of August that the new fourdoor Volvo Amazon/120 was shown to enthusiastic Volvo dealer at a conference in Skövde. The car on display bore chassis number 2, featured

right-hand drive and two-tone paintwork, and differed from the upcoming production version on a number details, both on the otside and on the inside.

The car had been designed by the young Jan Wilsgaard with inspiration from Italian, British and US car design at the time.The result was Volvo‘s first pontoon body and a design which still looks good today and which contained several design elements that can still be seen on Volvo cars of today.

The engine plans had contained several different alternatives, like a small V8 and a straight six but eventually resulted in a 60 bhp 1.6 litre inline four. This B16 engine was merely a bored out version of the B4B engine of the PV444. Power to the rear wheels was transmitted through a threespeed gearbox but already during that first showing in Skövde there were some grumble about the lack of a fourth gear. Still, the new Volvo was a very handsome car and it promised a lot for the future.

The name Amason had been chosen because of its original meaning. If Volvo‘s iron mark logo associated to things masculine, the word amason did the opposite. According to Greek mythology, the amazons were female warriors who fought with bow and arrow. The legend has it that they had their right breast removed in order to be able to better use their deadly weapons (Greek a mazos = breastless). These powerful women fought on the Trojan side against the Greeks during the Trojan war. Besides cars and mopeds, the amazons have also lent their name to, for instance, the Amazon river.

Amason became the internationally spelled Amazon before the car came on the market but the people at Volvo who had come up with that name had unfortunately little reason to cheer: The German motorbike manufacturer Kreidler had just launched a moped called the Amazone, had registered the name and claimed the sole right to it. The final deal between the companies meant that Volvo was allowed to use the name Amazon

on the Nordic markets but not elesewhere. The Amazone moped, however, disappeared from the market already in 1959. If Volvo had really persisted, and practised some patience, they would surely have gained the right to the name eventually, with the result that the car could have been called Amazon in every country.

Today, when you „google“ the word „amazon“ you get 965,000,000 hits! Most of them do definitely not relate to the moped with the same name, but neither do they refer to the Volvo Amazon.

The name is widely used in completely other contexts today. A funny detail here is that Volvo kept the international spelling of the name with a „z“ although the Amazon was only sold in the Nordic countries under that name.

Volvo 122 was the name of the new model outside the Nordic countries, but the designations 12 and 1200 were also used for some markets. The internal designation had been P1200. Consequently, the car line was officially called the 120 with the possibiliy to change the last digit for other future model variations and the first customer delivieries took place in February/March 1957. Gone were the large chrome Volvo letters on the rear bumper and the rectangular indicator lamps on the front wings. Instead, the new car had standard-fitted safety belt fixings in the front seat, indicators that went „around the corner“ on the front wings and new Amazon badges.

The new car which was only built in a four-door saloon version fir the first few years, became an instant hit and soon passed the elder PV444/544 in the sales statistics. The second version to be

Model: Volvo P 1200 / P 120 AMAZON, Sedan Variants: P 1200 V, P 1200 H, P 121, P 122 S Produced: 234,208 Body: 4-door saloon Engine: 4-cylinder, in-line, overhead valves, 1,583 cc, 79.37 x 80 mm, 60 bhp at 4,500 rpm or 85 bhp at 5,500 rpm. 1961: 1,778 cc , 84.14 x 80 mm, 75 bhp at 4,500 rpm or 90 bhp at 5,000 rpm, increased in 1965 to 95 bhp.

Transmission: 3- or 4-speed manual with or without overdrive, with floor-mounted gear lever (some cars delivered with gearshift mounted on the steering column). 3-speed automatic with gear lever on steering column.

Brakes: Hydraulic drums on all wheels. 1961: disc brakes on front wheels for S versions. 1964: disc brakes on front wheels for all versions.

Dimensions: Overall length 445 cm, wheelbase 2,600 mm.

launched, in 1958 was the 122S (S for Sports).

More power and a much wanted four-speed gearbox made the car very attractive in the public eye.

The year after, in 1959, the Volvo Amazon and the PV544 became the first cars in the world to feature standard-fitted three-point safety belts in the front seats.

The orginal sales price was SEK 12,600 ex works in Gothenburg, and the works at the time was Volvo‘s old Lundby plant but the Amazon also becae the first Volvo to be produced in the Torslanda plant which opened in 1964. The Amazon also was the first Volvo to be built in the Belgian Ghent plant which started operations in 1965 and assembly also took place in Halifax, Canada, for the Candian market. These Amazons were marketed under the name of Volvo Canadian.

In 1961, a two-door version was introduced, called the 121 and in 1962 more doors were added; an estate version, the 220 was launched at the Stockholm Motor Show. The name Amazon had officially been dropped already in 1961 and the cars were to be referred to by the different numerical designations in all markets. In spite of this, however, Amazons were still marketed and sold

by Volvo in Sweden until the very end in 1970.

The technical contents kept pace with the model development. Engines grew in size and power, from 1.6 litres to 1.8 litres and eventually to 2 litres (B20 engine). Power went up from the original 60 bhp to 115 bhp for the sporty 123 GT version. Three speeds quickly became four, in-

667,791 Amazons were built between 1956 and 1970, making it Volvo’s most manufactured model at that moment.

cluding an optional overdrive on top gear. The drums were later on replaced with disc brakes, even power-assisted towards the end. The dynamo gave place to an alternator, an early form of exhaust emission control was fitted just like safety belts on all places front and rear before production life ended. The 123 GT was the most powerful of all the different 120-models offered.

It featured, among other things, a rev counter, a sporty three-spoke steering-wheel and auxiliary lamps as standard. The least inspiring of the 120s was the Favorit – a simpler and cheaper version of the standard 120 which, in spite of its name, never became a favourite.

On the whole, however, the 120 series cars were great sellers at the time. Compare the 440,000 PV444/544s produced in 21 years with the 667,323 120s built during its 14 year of existence. And more than half of these were exported.

The very last Amazon (!) to be built rolled off the finishing line in the Torslanda plant on July 3 1970.

There production life ended for a long-lived series of tough and reliable cars which strongly contributed to establishing the Volvo reputation as the manufacturer of safe quality cars at an attractive price. By then, the multi-talented car had given safe and reliable service to thousands of families all over the world, to numerous police forces plus winning the Acropolis rally, among many other things. Thousands of Amazons around the world still bear witness of a true survivor, being they well looked after collectors cars or mellowed „million-milers“ in daily use. PR

In 1959, the Volvo Amazon and the PV544 became the first cars in the world to feature standard-fitted threepoint safety belts in the front seats.

The front was characterised by the two oval air intakes.

The rear wings were extended and ended with a hint of a fin, a very popular design feature at the time.

The new car was the company’s second postwar model, following on from the PV444.

February 1962 marked the introduction of the estate edition of the Amazon. The difference between this car and the Duett van was substantial. The Amazon estate was an elegant car with an American-inspired boot door that was split horizontally.

Volvo/DAF 66

In 1972, Volvo purchased one-third of DAF Car BV in the Netherlands and thus established itself in the small-car segment where it had not previously been represented. In the mid-1970s, additional holdings in DAF Car BV were purchased and the company was re-organised to create Volvo Car BV.

The first car from Volvo Car BV to bear the Volvo name was the Volvo 66. This was a development of the previous DAF 66 model.

The Volvo 66 was available in two versions, a 2door saloon and a 3-door estate. These cars had rear-wheel drive and an automatic gearbox in the form of continuously variable transmission, CVT.

The 66 had rear-wheel drive and an automatic gearbox in the form of continuously variable transmission, CVT.

The Volvo 66 was available in two versions, a 2-door saloon and a 3-door estate.

Model: Volvo 66 Produced: 106,137 Body: 2-door saloon or 3-door estate Engine: 4-cylinder, in-line OHV, 1,109 cc, 47 bhp, or 1,289 cc, 57 bhp.

Transmission: Automatic, continuously variable CVT. Brakes: Hydraulic, disc brakes at the front and drums at the rear.

Dimensions: Overall length 390 cm, wheelbase 225 cm.

Mercedes -benz o303 The bus of the Mercedes-Benz O 302 model series, with its clear-cut lines, proved to be a big hit for a full decade, even clearly topping the big successes of its predecessor, the O 321 H. So what could be more sensible in developing a successor than to perpetuate this success? It was not only the name, O 303, that pointed to the strong affinity between the two bus generations at the launch in 1974. The looks of the O 303 also clearly built upon the predecessor.

The front end adopted the clear-cut design of the predecessor. The border around the star and the again rectangular headlamps were even a bit more straightforward (as time went on the border was dropped and replaced in 1982 by an embossed plastic part); a swage line pressed into the sheet metal took the place of the shiny decorative band running across the front end and framed the turn signal lamps. The windshield rose almost perpendicularly, its lower front edge again forming a line with the window of the door.

During the first years a narrow vertical strip still

divided the windshield.

The front end together with the driver’s area was again set off a bit at the top; the bumper was no longer attached to the body but formed a single unit with the front apron. And the curved, double glazed side windows (now without a chrome frame; depending on the paint color the window guides often were painted a discreetly contrasting dark color) extended into the roof area on all variants. The center or rear door again had an additional window at the top.

Whereas the plump rear end of the O 302 with the quarter windows before it was reminiscent of the design idiom of the 1950s, the rear end of the O 303 rose up almost straight as a ramrod. A functional and cubical shape characterized the O 303 – with the exception of the roof edge, curved to afford passengers a good view. If we compare it with the cars of those years, it was more Stroke Eight and W 123 than S-Class – a precondition for a long lifecycle.

Just like the trucks of this period the new O 303 bus made use of a modular system. The O 303 can be regarded as the prototype of this rational construction method. With six wheelbases and even seven lengths the bus covered all conceivable size variants from 8.7 to 12.0 meters – there were never more, and there probably never will be more. From nine to 15 seat rows, there was everything that bus companies in Germany and abroad might be able to use. However, the O 303 concentrated on interurban, combination and touring service – urban buses long since were the domain of the O 305 standard bus. For rural service there was the O 307 derived from it. It satisfied the modest demands on looks and comfort.

The Mercedes-Benz O 303, in contrast, was just the right bus for the private coach operator: interurban service during the week, excursions on weekends were the work cut out for the O 303 in its simpler variants for combination service. For pure touring service the upscale editions with high floors and correspondingly large luggage compartments in their bellies, like the O 303 RHH, later RHS, were responsible. And with the short variants O 303/9 and O 303/10, for the first time Mercedes-Benz offered a handsome club bus for small groups taking exclusive tours.

But precisely private coach operators missed another important variant during the O 303’s first years: the sales range lacked a longhaul high decker for long-distance travel to tourist destinations. These coaches – recognizable by a central entrance whose door does not extend beyond the window sills because the body is so tall – were available from all renowned touring coach manufacturers in the 1970s. They had much stowage space, and for travel to faraway places they, of course, also had compact galleys and toilets. Mercedes-Benz didn’t supply high deckers until 1979, when the two longest variants of the O 303, the 14 RHD and 15 RHD were launched.

They measured 3.4 meters tall, whereas the other variants – like the predecessor, the O 302 – rose to a height of just over three meters.

A close affinity of the engines to those of the trucks from Mercedes-Benz was one feature of the modular system of the new O 303. Here the O 303 profited at its premiere from the “ New Generation (NG)” that had been presented just a year earlier. Whereas the O 302 was driven by relatively weak in-line six-cylinder engines with power in rather short measure, large-displacement V-engines now saw use in both buses and trucks. In the first few years these were naturally aspirated engines, without exception; MercedesBenz didn’t rely on turbodiesel engines until the

the second half of the long life of the O 303.

Installed in the rear end of the compact variants of the O 303 with lengths up to 10.6 meters were compact V6 engines with a displacement of 9.6 liters; 12.6 liter V8 powerplants and even the 16 liter V10 usually powered the two longer editions.

Concurrent with the launch of the RHD highdecker and the introduction of the undivided windshield, a new engine generation arrived on the scene in 1979. The V6 now got 159 kW (216 hp) out of a displacement of eleven liters; a V8 with 14.6 liters displacement and 206 kW (280 hp) now powered the medium-sized and larger variants. A turbocharged V6 with 184 kW (250 hp) and a turbocharged V8 (243 kW/330 PS) finally arrived in the mid-1980s. In the outgoing 1980s engine power was increased again; the strongest variant then developed 260 kW (354 hp).

While the V8 was both beefy and smooth and enjoyed great popularity, the V6 never really reached the hearts of bus companies and drivers: the rough running characteristics just didn’t seem to go together with comfort-enhanced coaches. Further development of the six-cylinder in the course of the eighties – the connecting rod journals were moved to obtain more even firing intervals – then corrected this impression.

The powertrain employed five- and six-speed transmissions or an optional automatic transmission. From 1987 on Mercedes-Benz also offered the semiautomatic electronic/pneumatic gearshift system EPS (=electronic power shift). This early stage of today’s automated gearshift systems still had a clutch pedal, but on the right side of the driver’s seat a joystick replaced the conventional gearshift lever with its long shift travel. Now a tap was all that was needed to shift.

As with the engines, Mercedes also took a conservative approach to the suspension of the O 303: air suspension was an obvious choice for

the O 303, but the bus – “same as ever” – had a rigid front axle, with drum brakes on all wheels.

As before, the design of the bus was based on a self-supporting frame-floor system. On the other hand, in 1985 Mercedes-Benz created quite a stir when it became the first bus manufacturer to have an anti-lock braking system. Retarders additionally were available as special equipment.

Compared with the unsophisticated driver’s position of the O 302, the O 303 had a veritable cockpit. The large surface of the instrument panel was curved, but the instrument setup –a large speedometer and instrument cluster and a smaller rev counter in between – was rather conventional.

The Mercedes-Benz O 303 reached the end of its days with a manageable but very versatile range of coaches. The variants KHP-A and KHP-L, with six lengths, covered the interurban lines and combination service sector. The RHS could be had in two short variants as a club bus; the two lengthier variants served as raised-floor touring coaches. The RHD high decker was available in two lengths. And there were editions of the O 303 alternatively with rear or center door for the passengers and different seats.

The O 303 as a reliable and conservative vehicle was perfectly welcome to coach operators: with lavishly equipped special models with paint jobs somewhere in between elegant and smart, the Mercedes-Benz O 303 was kept alive and fresh over a lifetime that must be some kind of a record. In 1992, after 18 long years, it finally went into well-deserved retirement. Actually, for this derivative of the O 302 this was enough for two bus lives. Even more than a dozen years later one still comes across very well preserved O 303 coaches on roads and in bus parking areas. And while at the end of its long career the signs of ageing definitely were perceptible, as an oldie approaching classic status it now cuts a very sympathetic figure. PR

Quellen: Seiten 1-5 (Volvo Amazon): Volvo Car Group; Seiten 6-7 (Volvo/DAF 66): Volvo Car Group; Seiten 8-10 (Mercedes Benz O303); Daimler; Titelbild und Rückseite: Volvo Car Group.

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