There have been a number of these 122s written up on Barn Finds, including the project Jesse sold a year ago. When I saw this nice looking original Volvo on craigslist in Marietta, Georgia, it caught my eye. It’s also listed on eBay where the bidding is at about $3,500. I understand $5,500 may be a little high, but it looks like it might be a nice original car. It’s said to run and drive very well and to be rust free. Everything works, including the lights, gauges and even the horn.The owner included some very detailed pictures in his ad and it looks great in the pictures, but the owner says the paint has some scratches, dents and dings. He does not say how long it was stored, but it appears to have been treated well and cleaned up nice.
The interior looks really nice and original.
The dash is not cracked. Except for the aftermarket radio, it looks like a flashback to the 1960s.
This B18 engine looks mostly original to me. Did they run the battery cable up and over the engine like that and would it have had an alternator?
There are a few dents in the back bumper but it still looks pretty straight and shiny. Wouldn’t this make a great, inexpensive driver? There doesn’t seem to be anything that needs doing on this and it’s hard to imagine making any changes. Looking at similar Volvos on eBay and Craigslist, sellers are asking $4000 to $5000 for cars that aren’t this nice and original, and really nice ones selling for $15,000 to $18,000, so perhaps $5500 is not such a bad asking price. Here’s one that sold recently for $5,600. Which one looks better to you? I look forward to seeing what you Volvo folks think about this car.
This listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available.
Current bid:US $3,550.00
Reserve not met
[ 9 bids ]
~ love to know what the true closing price was. @ US $3,550.00 I’ll take a half dozen.
He was asking $5500 on Craigslist so he must have gotten close to that,
A large cable like that with no apparent fuses or breakers spells trouble at least.
This was a bargain at full asking. A coupe in black with red interior, original paint, blah, blah.
I had a Volvo 544 and then 4 or 5 of these 122s over the years. They were one of the most rugged cars I ever owned, on par with a ’60s era Ferrari 330GTC that I owned back when you could still afford them, and which was a very well built car.
The early Volvos had some of the strongest body sheet metal of any car, and the rest of it was similarly well made. A bonus was that it was one of the easiest cars to work on that I ever owned. For what you get for $3.5-$5K in a used car today I think this one is a decent buy if the drivetrain and systems are OK.
My best 122S looked exactly like this car from the outside, and the vinyl seats looked just like leather and fooled quite a few people. Part of that was that they were so comfortable, and the vinyl was nice and thick like leather—very good quality stuff.
The drivetrain was incredibly strong, and you couldn’t kill it. The 4-speed transmission had synchro on 1st, which very few cars had back then. It wasn’t the slickest shifting box, but when you used it you knew it was strong and wouldn’t fail you, and none of them ever did.
Then when I could afford a sportier car I got a car that went and handled better, then another car that went and handled even better, and so on. But our family hasn’t been without a Volvo as a family car for more than a couple of years since that first 544, but always bought used—too expensive new.
Looked very solid and a good price if under 5K.
Had a girlfriend who had one of these. Not as nice as this one but still a hoot to drive. Always liked the shifter, how it fell to hand and worked so mechanically, but not truck like.