There's a 122 2 door out in Cali on eBay right now. Looks pretty solid. Looks better than most of the <$1000 cars I've dragged home and coaxed back to life. For what rust repair costs these days, it'd be worth it to pay the shipping on one of these little babies.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1966-volvo-122s-2-door-project-car-/320964298575?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item4abaf6874f#ht_500wt_1112
Changed the engine mounts (which were so badly dry rotted the rubber had separated from the metal, allowing the engine to rock back and forth) last night. The mounts are like 12 bucks each. Used my handy Harbor Freight aluminum jack and a piece of wood to lift the engine slightly under the oil pan, unbolted the old mounts, and slipped the new ones in. Took less than a half hour. The trans mount should be done soon, too. It takes about a half an hour to do, as you have to actually jack up the car and then jack up the transmission slightly, and remove the cross brace (four 9/16" bolts). Still, this has got to be about the easiest car to work on in the history of the world.
Another solid cool old 4 door, lots of potential, looks mostly complete:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=261087691012&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:MOTORS:1123
We had a bunch of them at Watkins Glen last year for the VRG vintage event with coincided with the 50th anniversary of the P1800. You can see some of them in the photos below. Jere Stahl (the guy who owns Stahl Headers) brought his yellow Volvo P1800.
Also, you can see me racing a 122S in ~this video~ (mostly in the first minute or so).
I loves me some vintage Volvo racing.
Did some more deferred maintenance on my new blue '67. Set the valve lash (she was ticking like a sewing machine), overhauled the distributor, cleaned the plugs, set the dwell and timing, and, last night, replaced the hoses.
The upper radiator hose was so dry rotted that it broke off in my hand with only the slightest tug to remove it from the engine. And I'd been driving around with these hoses! Talk about a grenade with the pin pulled....
Great find! I was going to build an Amazon for Targa Newfoundland at first, but I went with 240 route for a few reasons. Mostly it was for ease of parts on the 240, but also because I didn't want to ruin a 122. This is definitely my next toy...whether it's one that needs work or one that is already restored.
One of the best looking cars ever, imho. Not sure what it is, it's just very pleasing to look at.
While my 1800ES recently found a new home, I happened across yet another forlorn 122 four door. The seller had to get rid of it, and told me "I had a lot of calls on it, but as soon as they found out it was a four door, they lost interest." He sold it to me for what it would have brought across the scales.
Me? I love me some compact family sedans!
Slight body damage on the driver's front fender. And the usual "patina" of a mostly-original car from 1964. But the unibody and floors are great.
Gotta love the bordello-red interior! This was claimed to be an original, 60,000 mile car. It ran and drove right onto the trailer, though with an open exhaust manifold it sounded rather mean.
Shouldn't take much to make her road-worthy. It's amazing to me that people would consider scrapping a car with so much life left.
That would be a tough one to pass up, but I'm amazed that you're adding cars as your massive move is just finally coming close to being done. :-)
It is amazing how many really nice cars end up scrapped.
He's a freaking Volvo Magnet. Very lucky. Probably should go to Atlantic city or Vegas. 
Where was the car at?
aeronca65t wrote:
Can I have one of each please? 
I have this urge to buy a 122 and smooth it, Drop it, and make it pretty
Good lord i want one now... Or an 1800... Great opritunity to bastardize it with something else :D
Sine_Qua_Non wrote: He's a freaking Volvo Magnet. Very lucky. Probably should go to Atlantic city or Vegas.
It was less than an hour from me, near DC. I swear, once you get into old Volvos, they start popping out of the woodwork!
I have this weird urge to turn one into a Volvo-chero. Put some nice teak flooring in the bed, do it up nice.
In reply to volvoclearinghouse:
That would be an interesting concept to see.
volvoclearinghouse wrote:Sine_Qua_Non wrote: He's a freaking Volvo Magnet. Very lucky. Probably should go to Atlantic city or Vegas.It was less than an hour from me, near DC. I swear, once you get into old Volvos, they start popping out of the woodwork! I have this weird urge to turn one into a Volvo-chero. Put some nice teak flooring in the bed, do it up nice.
not just old volvos. I have an 850... my Father now has an XC90, and his girlfriend has an older 740 wagon... they seem to clump together in odd ways
I have a nasty old parts 122 4 door I wouldn't mind hacking up. The floors are rotted out and the interior is gone already. I was thinking of doing like a flying buttress rear end treatment, sort of like a Honda Ridgeline. Or this old Jag:
I like that! Don't be giving me ideas! Been thinking of truckifying a Subaru wagon, but the Volvo would be more fun.
122s are all over the place here. They're too tough to die, but not precious enough for people to fix up, so they sit in side yeards alongside Corvairs, Falcons, old Datsuns and other vehicles that fit into that netherland of "sort of special" but not worth dumping $20k into a proper restoration.
So, it's been a few years...OK, more than a few. I still have this car. It now looks like this:
I've been a poor caretaker for it. After some rallycross fun back in November 2013 and using it for a daily driver all through the winter of 2014, it got parked sometime soon thereafter and...well...yeah.
The rust monster has, sadly, been hard at work on it. The front fenders used to at least look presentable; now there's cancer growing out of them. And the floors, well....the less said about those, the better.
Something may have temporarily used the engine bay as a home.
And apparenly I just left a bunch of E36 M3 in the trunk. There's some 6+ year old gym sneakers, and a bunch of other junk that's been composting.
Well. It's not going to get any better if I continue to let it sit...
Why did you park it?
Do you still have the 122 racecar? I know she was tired, but I liked that one.
CyberEric said:Why did you park it?
My daughter was born in 2014, and while I wouldn't rehash the Classic Hit about how kids and family got in the way of my racing (mostly, because I was still LeMons racing after that, so that excuse is garbage) life did get busier, and it got parked....not really out of anything other than simply neglect. One day of not driving it turned into weeks, then a year....
The other side of that is, it was rusty _then_, and had some driveability issues I never quite felt like dealing with, as it was my daily driver for a couple of years. But now that I can look at it as a hobby car, rather than transportation, I feel more inclined to tinkr with it. if that makes any sense.
buzzboy said:Do you still have the 122 racecar? I know she was tired, but I liked that one.
The LeMons car? It got scrapped when we left SC. It was rusty, crashed, and wouldn't pass the current tech without completely gutting it and starting over. And it had no title. I did save the hood with those tremendous Zoomies, and the driver's door with that spectacular Charlie the Tuna mural. And all the go-fast(ish) goodies.
The Wartburg and Crosley threads got me thinking, and then this one popped up made me think more. Did a quick Google, and in the immortal words of Bob The Builder: "Yes We Can!"
SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) said:
That would look KILLER in patina blue with an orange plexi scoop on the hood.
Volvoclearinghouse, you have to. You have other neat stuff, and now you need to gasser the old daily.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :
As a fan of both gassers and volvo 122's I agree.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :
Oh man. I've already got a hot rod 1800ES project going. Lemme just see what I can do with getting the daily back online first, and finishing up the 1800ES and some little projects I've got going on with the Plymford. _Then_ we'll see about a Hot Rod Amazon. 
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