‘66 122 for sale!

Its Craigslist time! I’ve come to the hasty conclusion that I need to sell a car. Its time to pass on the ‘66. Though I’ve only had it for about 2 months, I’ve got my eye on a rusty ‘57… more to come on that. So the 66. This black plate car was definitely loved for awhile. The previous owner went through and replaced all the door seals, door panels, sound deadened the inside, put in a new headliner, installed a stereo, car alarm, push button ignition (to ward off the common broken key syndrome), a 3rd brake light and some other things I’m sure. From the upgrades I can deduce that he was an avid fan of Swedish Embassy (an internet volvo guru who makes cool parts and has great advice on keeping these cars running).

From what I can tell the owner before him re-sprayed the car red from its original white, and added a b20 with dual SU’s. I went around the body with a magnet some time back and didn’t find any problem bondo areas. Theres a bit of rust through in the trunk that rears its head on the outer bottom right panel of the car. Someone at some point used marine resin to fill in the holes… I can only assume the guy worked at a boat yard, and not for very long. Under the car there is evidence of the same fiberglass/resin treatment to the left passenger foot well. The floors are really solid and I’m assuming it is just filled w/ resin, but from the looks of it, it wasn’t all that bad and the fix is holding up just fine.

Luigi and I put it up on a lift and were actually pretty blown away by the condition of the undercarriage. Very very solid. Could use some bushings at all the usual places at some point in time but its not a ‘must do’ item, for me anyways. I ordered a wheel bearing kit as well, as the front left wheel had some clunking issues over bumps… I’m hoping to put that in before I sell the car, but someone else can do it if they want to work on it.

I drove it down to Cliffs Volvo in Alameda this morning, and had him give it a once over so that nothing would be a surprise in the event someone pointed something out that I hadn’t noticed. He said the engine sounded tight, a minor exhaust leak was present, and other than that he was pretty stoked on the car and thought the asking price was on target. Rear drums need adjusting and after that, I’d say this car is good to go.

What else can I disclose. The transmission was a long ordeal. Within a week of me getting the car the transmission self destructed. The PO had told me he changed the oil in the transmission. That should have been a warning I guess… you shouldn’t really have to change the oil in there. My guess is that it started acting funny and he figured that would be a solution. So, the transmission went out and I sourced another one from a ‘75. Went through all sorts of hassle finding the right output flange, learning how to change a U-joint (which, honestly I’d like to do over again…fyi… it works, but I’d like to just do it over again w/ the knowledge I gained by working with it). The new transmission goes into all gears and doesn’t make any excessive noise… a vast improvement to what was in there. I’m told I should have changed the clutch while I was down there, but honestly, it was working fine, and doing the transmission was simple enough that the idea of getting back in there wasn’t intimidating. Plus, once you’re back there you might as well do the main seal etc etc etc etc etc… I’ve got another project for that sort of mentality. This car is a driver and I wanted to keep it that way. Financially, and realistically.

Over the weekend it was driven to Davis and then across the hills down into Napa with zero problems. A very enjoyable ride with a healthy dog in the back and a pretty lady next to me. On that trip I realized I wanted more of a project. This car is so well sorted, and incredibly stock… I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do to it. It really is a pretty car. But I have a ‘67 122 that needs a lot more work and is pretty close to being street-able…  I think having two driving 122s is not in my future. One is enough, if I’m going to have 2 old cars, I think I’d like one to be different.  Anyways, I hope this answers the questions of inquirers… if not give me a call at 510/316/4572, my name is Dan. That should be a pretty complete description. I’m not really interested in trades… for the record. I’ll also toss in a handful of oil filters. The good MANN ones.

Asking $2500

More pictures can be found here:  FLICKR LINK

My hit list for the car  was as follows:

1. put a bigger exhaust in there and source a dual port manifold. stock exhaust is pretty small
2. rebuild the SU’s. Car needs more choking than I’d like, and it diesels a bit… figured that would solve a lot.
3. then i was going to move onto the bushings eventually
4. have an interior guy finish the headliner… needs to be tightened up
5. I have an extra trunk lid which i was going to refinish and replace the existing one with… existing lid is a little dinged up. (u can have the extra lid if you buy the car)

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