The beautiful Volvo Amazon was made its global debut in 1956 – 60 years ago. Named after the female warriors in Greek mythology, the Amazon is still one of the most iconic models in Volvo’s history.
1. In total, there are 24,282 Volvo Amazons registered in Sweden and around eight per cent of the approximately 297,000 Amazons sold in Sweden are still around.
2. The man responsible for the designs was 26-year-old Jan Wilsgaard, who went on to become Volvo’s head of design for many years, designing the 140, 240 and 700 series, as well as parts of the 800 series.
3. The Volvo in collaboration with the Swedish police developed equipment like disc brakes, brake assist and radial tyres that later became part of ordinary production cars.
4. Colin Powell, the USA’s former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – a big car fan – has owned several classic Volvos, including a 1966 Amazon estate.
5. Advertising champion Amil Gargano of New York took on the Volvo account in 1962. He concluded that Volvos could withstand practically anything, and this became the brand’s USP. An advertising film shows an Amazon being driven hard on gravel roads. The advert’s payoff is just as clear as it is impossible today: “And you can drive it like you hate it. Cheaper than psychiatry”.
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- Volvo 121 (Amazon)
6. There were plans to put a V8 motor in an Amazon – an evolved version of a truck engine. Five prototypes were said to have been built, but in the end Volvo’s management realised that a V8 was not suitable for the Amazon considering that it didn’t even have a V6 in the range.
7. The Amazons built in Volvo’s assembly plant in Halifax, Canada, were marketed under the name Volvo Canadian.
8. When Volvo’s range of models expanded thanks to the Amazon, Volvo regained its position as Sweden’s best-selling brand of car in 1958. This is a position it had retained every year since then.
9.In “All The President’s Men”, the movie about the Watergate affair that forced the resignation of President Richard Nixon, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, played by Robert Redford, drives a white Amazon.
10. In 1959, Volvo’s patented three-point seatbelt became a standard feature in the Amazon – a world first. The most significant safety feature yet is estimated to have saved at least one million lives over the course of its 57-year lifetime.
