It was during the autumn
of 1991, when staying with my brother in my folks' caravan in North Wales, that my
association with rusty old Swedish cars began. Little did I know back then that it would
lead to a string of old jalopies from both of Sweden's main manufacturers, namely Volvo
and SAAB. Anyway, back to YKA 750J, the midnight blue 4dr 121
Volvo Amazon that started me off on all things Volvo (photographed above with a mates Ford E493A Prefect in late '93).
One sunny day, I needed to go and buy a loaf of bread
from the little Post Office just up the road from the caravan site in the Conway valley.
Ambling up in a relaxed frame of mind, I noticed yet again the shapely rear not of the
local postmistress, but of YKA's rounded form, parked down a driveway adjoining the P.O.
She didn't look like she'd seen action in a long time, so it was with some curiousity that
I engaged the postmaster in conversation about 'the old car'. Even at the tender age of 20
I could sniff a deal on the cards. It turned out that it belonged to his brother I think
it was, who had moved to London and left the old girl behind. At some point she'd been
liberated by some spotty teenagers and taken for a thrash around the local twisty lanes,
prior to being put through a hedge and dropping down into the field behind. After this
affront to her dignity, the owner parked her up a good while earlier, and left her to the
elements.
So anyway the postmaster said he'd have a chat with his brother and find out if
the car was available for sale. The next day, using the excuse that we needed some milk, I
called by again to see if there was any news. The postmaster had spoken to his brother
but, drawing a deep breath, ".. it would be expensive..". Thinking that once
again I'd come up against the old "..you know its an old car so must be worth a lot
of money.." routine, my excitement suddenly wavered. "Yes.." he continued,
"..he says he won't take less than £50 for it.". My trip to the cash machine
would have made it into the Guiness (hmm..) Book of Records had a handy judge with
stopwatch been around to record my epic trip, hauling the wheel of my tailhappy red Spitfire with due haste.
£50 down and the old girl was mine,
complete with bashed-in wing following her excursion through hedge and field. Numerous
return visits were made from my home town of Cheadle (Cheshire) to visit YKA at her
resting place, fiddling and fettling her to the point where at least she would fire up and
run, despite the protestations of the blowing exhaust below. So then it came to the issue
of moving her. Local acquaintance Stan, who handily owned a farm and matching early Land
Rover, came to the rescue, dragging the recalcitrant old Volvo Amazon from her long term
resting place. I seem to remember the brakes were binding quite a lot, the drag on the old
Landy causing untold strain to Solihull's finest chassis (so much so that shortly after it
needed quite a lot of repair too!).
Storage was still an issue, as there wasn't yet room
at home to park up this fine monument to Swedish engineering. Luckily local old vehicle
enthusiast Estin offered to let me store YKA at his farm for a while, whilst I sort out
things back home. So it was that Stan,
at the helm of his trusty Land Rover S2, dragged old YKA up the road the mile or so to Estin's place,
it's new temporary home. After a few weeks of being there, she was starting to look quite
respectable, the faded dull old paint responding well to the time honoured application of
T-Cut and elbow grease. One further interim storage move later (this time to the caravan
site, as Estin needed the room again), the old girl was fit to be taken home. Next on the
agenda was to source the parts I'd need to get old YKA back on the road.
By early 1993 she was looking a lot more like it,
complete with a replacement set of rotfree doors bought during a clearout at a local Volvo
specialists for £35 the 4!!! Them's the days. Also replaced with a good secondhand
replacement was the front panel (thanks Steve!) and both inner front wings, the common rot
point on all Amazons (and probably 140 series after that). As the front original wings
were both bent and rotten, I cheated (in the interests of saving serious ££) by picking
up some GRP replacements from somewhere or other.
It was around this time that the
boys-in-blue noticed me 'test driving' said machine in our quiet cul-de-sac road. There
were many giveaways to the fact that not all was quite as it should be ... perhaps giving
the game away were the red front wings, grey primer doors, grey front panel, blue
everything else, no trim, no bumpers, no lights and marginal silencing. That, and the fact
that the only way I could open the drivers door was by winding down the rear door window,
leaning out, and opening my drivers door with the outside handle. Curiously they said
nothing, probably through disbelief more than any naturally charitable disposition.
Sooooo
it was late 1993 and YKA finally hit the road again in good solid presentable condition,
which was the aim throughout, thus giving both the Spitfire and also my old A40 Farina a well earned rest.
Many thousands of miles were
piled onto old YKA 750J in all weathers, and, even when a small end rattled enough to make your
teeth ache, she kept on running. Eventually (late 1995ish) she was sold on, to make way
for something else or other, to a couple who lived in Manchester I think, and nothing more
was heard of YKA ... although in 2000 I'm sure I spotted her over the far side of
the public car park at the local Tatton Park classic car rally. However I'd really like to
know where she is now, so if you know, please let me know!
Since then a few more Amazons have come and gone, which are all featured on the my cars section of the site.
I've also written a buyers guide for the 120 Volvo range, so if you are interested in buying one, why not have a read here: Volvo 120 Buying Advice. In 2005, the green 122S I sold in '99 briefly rejoined the fleet - click here for more.
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