1967 Volvo 123GT ~ Mur’s 35 Year Amazon Ownership Story

The Volvo Amazon might be most famous for being the first US-market car to be offered with standard three-point seat belts, but dig a little deeper into Volvo lore and you’ll turn up the 123GT model.

This old Volvo Amazon has been in the background of a few videos that DD Speed Shop has filmed at Dan’s old man’s place.

The car seemed to spark a lot of interest, so Dan does a Hoonigan-style build break down.

Everything You Didn’t Need To Know About A 1967 Volvo 123GT

Mur is a bit of a vintage Volvo expert as you’ll quickly discover…

Volvo Amazon History

The Volvo Amazon was introduced in the year 1957 and was produced until 1970. The model is officially known as the Volvo 120 series. The Volvo Amazon was designed by Volvo chief designer Jan Wilsgaard. The Amazon became the second model in 1957 next to the Volvo PV 544 fastback model.

Volvo hoped to increase international sales with the Amazon; that worked out positively. These very strong, reliable cars were fairly popular those days. The Amazon was an ideal family sedan and a very tough opponent in races and rallies due to its legendary robustness and reliability.

The “crown jewel” of the Amazon series is the 123GT which was introduced in the year 1967. Volvo fitted a P1800 S engine in Amazon two-door coachwork and voilà the 123GT was born! The GT was available with two engine cylinder capacities; 1778 cc. and 1990 cc. four-cylinder engines with their respective power output of 96 and 100 bhp.

The 123GT was equipped with a four-speed manual gearbox combined with an overdrive (Laycock de Normanville), a sports steering wheel, fog lamps, and a tachometer on top of the dashboard.

Nowadays these cars are very much sought after for classic rally participation.