Faithful readers of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car‘s “In Our Garage” column are well-acquainted with the dark blue 1967 Volvo 122 S wagon belonging to Managing Editor Nancy Bianco; it’s a car that Nancy purchased with her former husband in the mid-1980s, was used as a daily driver until their first son was born, and then sat in the garage for 20 years. It’s spent the last five years at Hemmings columnist Jim Howe’s Last Chance Repair garage in nearby Shaftsbury, Vermont, being repaired on-and-off, to once again make it roadworthy.
Here are some of this car’s IOG entries, for those who may not know its story: April 2007; August 2010; July 2011; November 2013; August 2015.
It was worth the wait, because Nancy was able to drive her wagon home last month, the first time she’d driven it in roughly 25 years.
This happy event called to mind a neat brochure from the files, one that pre-dates Nancy’s 122 S by two years, but nevertheless represents a snapshot of Volvo’s primary line of family cars, a half-century ago. In it, we even found a model looking much like her own.
The 122 S -or Amazon, as Volvo called it in the car’s native Sweden- was always considered a solid and safe car whose sturdy bones and well-sorted 95hp B18 engine and four-speed gearbox made it a natural performer. Dig that famous “pudding stirrer” manual shift lever -a feature Nancy’s wagon shares- in action!
In 1965, Volvo was promoting its cars for their durability, economy and comfort… and of course, safety. It’s fun to look back at how plain-spoken and honest this period piece of ephemeral advertising was.
Click on the images below to enlarge.
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