1964 Volvo 122s Ruddspeed

This is a four-door 122S saloon dating from September 1964. It spent much of the last 20 years in Ireland before returning to British soil in 2015. Since then, it’s been looked after and slowly improved by its current owner, Phil, a professional car trimmer.

He set about a program of works that firstly dealt with rusty front floors (now replaced with proper swaged floor panels and new outriggers on each side) and then moved on to re-imagining the interior. He selected Saab 900 seats for their comfort, support and specific height, and grafted them on to Volvo seat bases, so the changes are reversible.

The rear seats are more of a custom job, also originating from the Saab 900 but cut and shaped to fit the narrower Amazon. Concealed between them is a sub-woofer, part of a fairly stealthy install of high-end audio equipment that Phil designed, and an auto-electrician pal wired up.

Phil completed the job by trimming some wine-red Wilton carpet to cover the floors, and by re-trimming the door cards. Then there’s the work under the bonnet.

Over the last six years, Phil has either refurbished or replaced almost every ancillary – new radiator, alternator (in place of a dynamo), starter, carburettors and so on. Brakes have been seen to as well, with new wheel cylinders at the back.

That leaves the paint, which is a mixture of very good and much less good panels, as described below. A nice ten-footer? Yes, but don’t go planning any concours entries. As it is now, it’s a somewhat patinated car with an individual, modernised interior and excellent mechanical health. Indeed, although it’s MoT exempt, Phil just put it in for a test and it sailed through, so it comes with 12-months’ ticket. It wears the desirable private plate it had before it left for Ireland (Phil managed to get the DVLA to re-issue it) and which is therefore part of the car’s history, though it’s also thought by Phil to be transferable.

Finally, there’s the Ruddspeed angle. It has the engine plate, the tubular manifold and a remote gearchange for a shorter, faster throw. But Phil’s never needed to dismantle the engine so we can’t be sure of any head porting, different valve springs or fast-road camshaft – the history file is large but only goes back 20-odd years, not 57, so we can’t state for certain how the car was ordered when new.

Nowadays it drives well, pulls hard enough to overtake modern rubbish and is ready for immediate use. So let’s have a proper look around.

Parts of it are lovely, parts of it are less lovely. The bonnet, roof and boot all look great with plenty of paint depth and a good shine. The chrome is pretty fair too, with the odd bit of age-related pitting but not enough to stop it polishing up to a fine gleam.

Elsewhere, particularly on the doors, the paint is showing various flaws that suggest a bit of a DIY effort in the past: orange peel, the odd sag or run, some odd micro-blistering or roughness and here and there, some bubbling up from underneath.

The bits to be aware of are a couple of rusty corners to door bottoms, chips to the sill top in the nearside rear passenger doorway and a scab on the base of both windscreen pillars. Some of these need catching before they get worse but none is serious.

There are colour mis-matches between some adjacent panels but none of it really stands out, especially when seeing the car for what it is – a useable, sporting saloon wearing its age with pride.

The Minilite alloy wheels and the slightly lowered Ruddspeed stance both add to the car’s sense of purpose, as though it’s keen to dash off and join the Rally of the Tests as soon as your back is turned. It’s riding on fresh Michelin 195 / 65 R15s and it carries spotlamps on the front bumper. The twin-pipe exhaust is another Ruddspeed characteristic.

On that topic, there are two Ruddspeed round enamel badges on the rear edge of the front wings, adjacent to the ‘Volvo 122S’ badges. These feature the Ruddspeed arrow over a cross-hatched backing and are a rare sight on any Rudd-converted car. All the badges were on the car when Phil bought it – he’s added nothing.

Here’s where this car really differs from the others you’ll see.  And it 'starts' with the push button he fitted!

Phil’s changes aren’t going to be to everyone’s tastes, but they’re not meant to be – it’s something he did using his own vast professional experience to put his personal mark on the car and to make it more comfortable and more useable.

Ever driven an Amazon with standard front seats round a fast right-hander? You tend to slide off onto your passenger. There’s also the lack of any headrest which becomes both tiring on long trips and worrying in case of a mishap. These leather Saab 900 chairs, in a very suitable combination of charcoal and wine red, solve both those issues. New inertia-reel front seatbelts and buckle stalks have been specially made with new fixings installed in the B-pillars.

The seats adjust forward and back, but only a little. If you’re around six feet or a couple of inches in either direction, you’ll be perfectly at home. The three-spoke wheel is a tactile delight and looks the part too.

The Cerwin Vega audio system is really rather impressive. The original Radiomobile radio remains intact and can be wired up by the next owner, but we suggest they have a listen to the new system first. It comprises a sub-woofer hidden between the rear seats behind the hide-trimmed curtain you can see. Then there are the 6-inch drivers in the rear parcel shelf and front shelves, plus two little tweeters finishing the job on the top corners of the dash. It’s all driven by a pair of digital amplifiers and a Kenwood head unit under the passenger side of the dash.

Opening the boot reveals an excellent, rust-free floor, a smart spare wheel and boxes of spares and consumables.

It goes very well, starting promptly and making a rorty intake noise through those twin SUs. Twin-carb Amazons should feel eager and willing, with decent torque everywhere but an ability to rev as well, which this one has. The remote gearchange is novel to anyone used to the normal wand-like Volvo lever of the era, but it’s a nice change. The overdrive drops in and out just as it should and all the gauges and dials work, including that stylish speedo, with the orange worm of the indicator ribbon advancing across from the left.

If you stop and peer underneath, it’s all very reassuring. The car had one significant repair when (as mentioned above) Phil elected to have the front floors replaced soon after he bought the car. Although it was only holed on one side, he wanted to keep it all symmetrical and ensure nothing similar developed on the other side. Hence we have smart, dry floors protected with Silent Coat underseal.

There is a 123 Electronic distributor.

Elsewhere, it’s much the same, with no crusty bits to concern anyone and nothing more than a bit of traditional grime from oil mist near some of the moving parts. There’s what looks like a new copper or Cunifer fuel line from the new fuel tank (no rubber-related ethanol worries, then) and the exhaust is also recent and undamaged.

We also spotted a new clutch hose, new engine mounts and track rod ends. The lip of the nearside sill, near the back, has had a crunch from a careless trolley jack or two-post lift at some time, but that’s the only negative we could find to mention down here.

This car is only showing four owners before Phil, which for a vehicle not far off its 60th birthday is pretty good. There are scattered MoTs going as far back as 2002 but we don’t have any 20th century paperwork. On the oldest MoT it showed 36,777 miles. When Phil bought it in 2015, that had only risen to 39,600. It’s now showing a bit more than 43,000, so it’s safe to say it’s had more love than use in recent times. But is the mileage genuine?

No way to know. It may have been round the clock, but Phil feels quite strongly that it hasn’t, while admitting we can’t prove this on paper. What we can prove is his expenditure on refurbishing or replacing tired components over the last six years, the total now around £6000 or more, including the bill for refurbishing the SU HS6 carbs from an acknowledged expert, Glen Watson.

We also have the latest MoT, not a legal requirement for a car this age but nice to have, and of course the V5C in Phil’s name. There are old Irish tax discs and a lovely Autosport article on a Ruddspeed Volvo.

It’s an unusual car, or rather it’s a familiar and much-loved classic with some unusual features. Not sure about that interior? We reckon it would be one of those modifications you’d decide to change back to standard, and then once you’d driven it, that decision would waver. It’s too nice, too comfortable and too civilised to return it to low-backed, slippery old vinyl chairs.

When you add in the Ruddspeed features it makes for an enjoyable car to drive hard. It seems to add up to one thing – go rallying. This car already has most of the features you’d add to turn an Amazon into a serious road rally competitor: fast engine, alternator, sports suspension, Minilites, spotlamps, modern front seats you won’t fall out of. Add a tripmeter, a stopwatch and a sump guard and you’re in business.

We think this car will sell for between £11,000 and £21,000. A career in classic rallying would make the rather variable paint quality less important, but if you prefer the show field to the special tests, a partial re-paint would render it one of the best Amazons around.

Viewing is always encouraged. This particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; we are open weekdays between 9am-5pm, to arrange an appointment please use the Contact Seller button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.