Anybody on the board with Volvo 122/14x experience? Looking

[coppertop]

...'02s are much more dynamic and fun to drive and feel much more modern despite being nearly as old a design.

quote]

aren't aware of it, but the first 122's appeared in Europe in the late 50's, so the 122 predates the '02 series by about 10 years. The late 60's models were fairly highly evolved (disc brakes, overdrive, etc), but were still essentially a mid-50's design. Simple & basic - not a bad thing in some ways.

I agree about 10 years older, yet despite the evolution still felt older than the Neu Klasse designs of the 1960's. Very dynamic jump from the the 50's to the 60's...just sayin'

[2761377]

at a pair of Volvo wagons (a 67 122, and a 69 144 - both CA black plate cars), and curious about folk's experience with Volvos of this era (reliability, durability, parts cost & availablility, driving dynamics, etc).

three stories of my families experience with these volvo models-

- 1972 my grandma was t-boned on the drivers side of her '69 142. totaled the car but she walked away.

- 1979 my sister's first car was a 1966 122s wagon. she drove it like a chick for three years then bought a jetta. fast forward to november 2008; i'm driving down the west side of lake elsinore, 100 miles away from where the car was sold in 1982 and i see it. way more battered then when last seen but still driving. ca lic 527 svx.

-1985 driving my '72 145 up sherwin grade and it heats up. i keep going to the top, steam billowing, and the block visibly glowing red. wait thirty minutes, re-fill the radiator and continue with the trip. btw, that was the last car i ever ran out of gas in. my girlfriend, now wife, helped me push it 1/2 mile to the nearest gas stsation in her high heels!

i really think these models could actually beat a vanagon in the 1/4 mile.

robert w.