The Amazon

.. aka The Volvo 120 series. The photo shows a four door 122S. I took my first driving lessons in one of these.

Everything about these cars looked and felt tough. The external panels could not be pressed in under thumb pressure like many other makes. The dash was all steel and minimalist. The doors shut with a thud sound, not a ping. They were high sided too.

The front seats were made from a material that held the passengers in place, and the front seats had adjustable lumbar support. They were probably the best seats of any fitted to what was a mid-sized family car. The trunk was cavernous, but the lid used to catch stuff if cases etc were piled to high.

The gear shift was a long lever coming from way up front, and there was plenty of movement, but it was mated to a good gearbox. Performance was quite sporty, courtesy of a well designed 1.8L four pot unit fitted with twin carburettors. They made good towing cars as well, despite the smallish engine.

The Volvo 122S was so good, my father kept it for four years, two years longer than anything before or since. He panicked at four years, but he need not have done so. These cars are so reliable and tough enough that over half of all production are still running around somewhere.

It is the kind of vehicle which makes you confident that you will always complete every journey and in one piece.

Volvo continue to make the toughest cars on the planet, and I would have liked to include a crash test but I couldn’t find one so I will tell you about and incident.

I was backing out of the driveway, and started my turn to position myself on the roadside. Unfortunately, I turned inches too early, and the front bumper caught a two foot high brick pillar, demolishing it and part of the wall to which it was attached. Inside the car, I felt and heard nothing. It wasn’t until I looked out of the side window that I saw the mess. I got out of the car, expecting to see the nearside front corner of the car showing the worse of wear, and all I could find was a scratch on the front turn signal lens. If only the wall had fared so well..

A nice little video here..