ctagg
Part of things
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After nearly 19 years of ownership, my 2-door Amazon is now undergoing a full bare-metal restoration with some mild customizing along the way. The Amazon was my first car, and is still my daily-driver -- or was, until the resto started -- and has been a brilliant car. Here's a pic just before it came off the road.  . As you can see it had got pretty tatty. Over the years, there have been all sorts of repairs (inner wings, of course, and other bits of welding) and a bit of uprating (sports suspension, twin SUs, D-cam, servo on the breaks), but generally it has been very solid and both hugely enjoyable and very reliable. Year by year, however, it got a little tattier and a little rustier (being parked on the streets in London didn't help), and now it's time for a full restoration. It's being done by Romance of Rust in Ealing, and is probably a week away from going to the paint-shop. Here' a pic just as we started getting down to bar metal:  . Thought there was rust, some of it structural, the biggest problem has been dodgy patches badly welded over rust or even other patches.  Still, that's all sorted now, and we're all good. As far as the customizing goes, most of it is pretty subtle. We're frenching in the headlights and rear lights, using the original chrome fittings for the shape (see here); relocating the rear number plate to the bumper to give a clean boot line, have got rid of the nasty stuck on front indicators and rear reflectors, and loads of tiny improvements to the trim lines.  The whole thing is being painted in a midnight blue pearl. Here's a pic of one of the wheels, which we did as a test:  . I'm keeping a complete record of the restoration here at Autopendium. Do check it out. Hopefully it should be finished in about 6-8 weeks. Probably not in time for the show (which I'll probably go to in my current daily-driver, a 1985 Chevy Dayvan). |
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loon
Posted a lot
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wow thats going to as cool as  I'm quite impressed with the detail you are going to and the colour will really show off the lines of the amazon |
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what the fcuk have you done lately
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ctagg
Part of things
Posts: 42
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Well, after the years of great driving it's given me, seemed like it deserved it. Will post updates when the body's painted
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Seth
South East
MorrisOxford TriumphMirald HillmanMinx BorgwardIsabellaCombi
Posts: 15,514
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Glad you found your way here ctagg  I don't think anyone would mind a small plug for Autopendium on the general board  |
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Follow your dreams or you might as well be a vegetable. |
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antz
Part of things
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go on the volvo!!! |
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ctagg
Part of things
Posts: 42
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Glad you found your way here ctagg I don't think anyone would mind a small plug for Autopendium on the general board Thanks. Have done that now. Already seems to be working. Great bunch of guys here. |
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Welcome. Loving the colour and Volvo's rule |
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 it doesn't matter if it's a Morris Marina or a Toyota Celica - it's what you do with it that counts |
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looking forward to seeing the rest of her! nice car, pretty sure 121 though, not 131 (131 was the wagon i think, 122 is twin carb, 121 is single carb)
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Remade In Australia
thereimaginarium.com.au
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ctagg
Part of things
Posts: 42
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looking forward to seeing the rest of her! nice car, pretty sure 121 though, not 131 (131 was the wagon I think, 122 is twin carb, 121 is single carb) The wagon was a 221, or rather 220 series. The final digit refers to engine type, which also usually relates to the number of carbs (mine originally had a B18A with a single Stromberg, hence the 1 at the end), the second digit refers to the number of doors (4 doors if it's a 2, 2 doors if it's a 3), and the first digit refers to saloon (1) or estate (2). So 131 means a B18A-engined single carb'd 2-door saloon. Of course this falls down slightly when you get specials like the 122SR, a race-ready special done for German dealers. Plus, often the 131s were referred to as 121, in all sorts of places. Confusing. |
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That's quite a transformation! I look forward to the next updates & hope we'll see your car at the Ace Cafe when it's done! ;D ;D looking forward to seeing the rest of her! nice car, pretty sure 121 though, not 131 (131 was the wagon I think, 122 is twin carb, 121 is single carb) The wagon was a 221, or rather 220 series. The final digit refers to engine type, which also usually relates to the number of carbs (mine originally had a B18A with a single Stromberg, hence the 1 at the end), the second digit refers to the number of doors (4 doors if it's a 2, 2 doors if it's a 3), and the first digit refers to saloon (1) or estate (2). So 131 means a B18A-engined single carb'd 2-door saloon. Of course this falls down slightly when you get specials like the 122SR, a race-ready special done for German dealers. Plus, often the 131s were referred to as 121, in all sorts of places. Confusing. Agreed! However 221, 131 etc are factory / chassis codes. Only on some of the very, very early examples (the ones with the long script badges on the front wings) were estates actually badged as 221 or 222 etc. Otherwise, they carried the same engine related badges as the saloons (eg 121). AFAIK, 130s were also badges by engine rather than bodystyle. |
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Last Edit: Jul 9, 2007 8:34:49 GMT by Paul H
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ctagg
Part of things
Posts: 42
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That's quite a transformation! I look forward to the next updates & hope we'll see your car at the Ace Cafe when it's done! ;D ;D The wagon was a 221, or rather 220 series. The final digit refers to engine type, which also usually relates to the number of carbs (mine originally had a B18A with a single Stromberg, hence the 1 at the end), the second digit refers to the number of doors (4 doors if it's a 2, 2 doors if it's a 3), and the first digit refers to saloon (1) or estate (2). So 131 means a B18A-engined single carb'd 2-door saloon. Of course this falls down slightly when you get specials like the 122SR, a race-ready special done for German dealers. Plus, often the 131s were referred to as 121, in all sorts of places. Confusing. Agreed! However 221, 131 etc are factory / chassis codes. Only on some of the very, very early examples (the ones with the long script badges on the front wings) were estates actually badged as 221 or 222 etc. Otherwise, they carried the same engine related badges as the saloons (eg 121). AFAIK, 130s were also badges by engine rather than bodystyle. You're right. Once you start dealing with what they badged the cars, that's something again, and even Dieter Gunther's Amazon book refers to the 2-door as a 121 in some of the captions (it also has a pics of both the estate and the 2-door with 121 badges). By the way, the Ace is going to be one of my first stops when the cars back on the road. Does Retro Rides do a night there? |
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That's an excellent book - must steal my father's copy! As for the badging, it's so confusing that it's easier to leave it off, but if I ever get hold of an Amazon script then I'd fit that on the tailgate We don't have a night at the Ace (yet) but Seth, myself & a few others join in with the Classic Cars night, which is every 2nd Tues of the month - the next one is tomorrow night See you there? |
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ctagg
Part of things
Posts: 42
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That's an excellent book - must steal my father's copy! As for the badging, it's so confusing that it's easier to leave it off, but if I ever get hold of an Amazon script then I'd fit that on the tailgate We don't have a night at the Ace (yet) but Seth, myself & a few others join in with the Classic Cars night, which is every 2nd Tues of the month - the next one is tomorrow night See you there? Sounds good, if my 85 Chevy Dayvan counts as a classic. What time? |
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ctagg
Part of things
Posts: 42
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Never mind, just seen the other thread re time |
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You can always park it on the road outside if they won't let it in I probably won't get there in time to park in their carpark as it fills up pretty rapidly at this time of year. |
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hehe, good to know all this with model numbers, atleast i got mien right (122S), will have to stick to callign them 'zons  |
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Remade In Australia
thereimaginarium.com.au
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loon
Posted a lot
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but if I ever get hold of an Amazon script then I'd fit that on the tailgate hi Ph whilst at Amazon cars he showed me a box of them  i might get 2 for the wagon all depends on £££££ |
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what the fcuk have you done lately
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Seth
South East
MorrisOxford TriumphMirald HillmanMinx BorgwardIsabellaCombi
Posts: 15,514
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Paul you have the skills. Do one on the computer, use it as a pattern for laser cutting. Chrome. Job done |
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Follow your dreams or you might as well be a vegetable.
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ctagg
Part of things
Posts: 42
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but if I ever get hold of an Amazon script then I'd fit that on the tailgate hi Ph whilst at Amazon cars he showed me a box of them I might get 2 for the wagon all depends on £££££ Never had any on my 2-door, and now -- horror! -- have removed the V-O-L-V-O from the bonnet (Will now have mighty clean lines, particularly with slight reshaping of the 'nose' -- pics to come tomorrow hopefully) |
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loon
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,092
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hi Ph whilst at Amazon cars he showed me a box of them I might get 2 for the wagon all depends on £££££ Never had any on my 2-door, and now -- horror! -- have removed the V-O-L-V-O from the bonnet (Will now have mighty clean lines, particularly with slight reshaping of the 'nose' -- pics to come tomorrow hopefully) like this? ;D  |
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what the fcuk have you done lately
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I don't think anyone would mind a small plug for Autopendium on the general board 
