After much lurking, and much awe at other peoples work, I thought I might actually contribute with a thread on my Amazons.
I bought the estate around seven years ago and used it as my daily for a couple of years until it was vandalised. I laid it up for a while and even toyed with selling it, but since the last owner spent a lot of money on the bodywork it is super solid and really only needs paint. So, I started to strip and restore it with the idea of using it at my wedding.
I got as far as a bare rolling shell when ebay lured me to York, where I bought the white 4 door 121, also stripped to a bare shell. Again, all welding completed and with a pile of new panels and new bumpers it was a bargain, so home it came. Work transferred to this car instead, but it has started to turn out so well that I decided not to rush it for the wedding - my Dad's P4 did the honours. The original colour was an insipid blueish white, so a colour change to Volvo red was required to go with the mint original black interior.
Back from honeymoon and 3 days later I found the 2 door on ebay. Listed at £5k less than 5 miles from my house, it was clearly an overpriced project car so I punted off a polite email and waited... Within 15 minutes the phone rang, I viewed within the hour and had it home the following night. 23,000 genuine miles, 2 owners with history, all welding done (not a lot at that) and with a pile of spares, I had it running within 15 minutes after 17 years laid up. And I didn't pay £5k - an email costs nothing if you think something is overpriced!
So, three Amazons in the workshop and none fit for the road. Brilliant.
I have started to get the 2 door roadworthy, my reasoning being it really only needs a respray and recommisioned rather than a full restoration, and I am seriously missing having a classic on the road. I'm involved with my local motor club and we run the Doonhamer Classic rally (youtube it!), so I also plan a little light competition for this car. I broke a rotten 122s and from it I have a set of uprated springs, bilsteins and a full simonz exhaust with tubular manifold to fit to the original twin carb B18, and a spare overdrive box to make things a bit more useable. Ideally a pair of recaros trimmed to suit will be fitted but an mot is currently more important, and March is the target.
The 4 door has been sidetracked for a short spell, but I will build this as a standard 122s spec car (in a 121 shell) and hope to be back on it around easter this year, and mot'd before the end of the year (ha!).
The poor old estate has been shunted to the back of the queue! It isn't eating any grass where it is, so I will get to it when I get to it.
The workshop is also home to my Dad's Rover P4 and MX5, my mate's Chevette, and the rest of my own projects. One is a 1960 Morris Oxford series V, and the other is a 1942 Airspeed Oxford mark V (google it!), both of which are rather more long term.
So there you go - pics will appear below if I can get the hang of it and I will update as regularly as I can - but I don't have the same work rate as John and Steve so go easy on me!
I bought the estate around seven years ago and used it as my daily for a couple of years until it was vandalised. I laid it up for a while and even toyed with selling it, but since the last owner spent a lot of money on the bodywork it is super solid and really only needs paint. So, I started to strip and restore it with the idea of using it at my wedding.
I got as far as a bare rolling shell when ebay lured me to York, where I bought the white 4 door 121, also stripped to a bare shell. Again, all welding completed and with a pile of new panels and new bumpers it was a bargain, so home it came. Work transferred to this car instead, but it has started to turn out so well that I decided not to rush it for the wedding - my Dad's P4 did the honours. The original colour was an insipid blueish white, so a colour change to Volvo red was required to go with the mint original black interior.
Back from honeymoon and 3 days later I found the 2 door on ebay. Listed at £5k less than 5 miles from my house, it was clearly an overpriced project car so I punted off a polite email and waited... Within 15 minutes the phone rang, I viewed within the hour and had it home the following night. 23,000 genuine miles, 2 owners with history, all welding done (not a lot at that) and with a pile of spares, I had it running within 15 minutes after 17 years laid up. And I didn't pay £5k - an email costs nothing if you think something is overpriced!
So, three Amazons in the workshop and none fit for the road. Brilliant.
I have started to get the 2 door roadworthy, my reasoning being it really only needs a respray and recommisioned rather than a full restoration, and I am seriously missing having a classic on the road. I'm involved with my local motor club and we run the Doonhamer Classic rally (youtube it!), so I also plan a little light competition for this car. I broke a rotten 122s and from it I have a set of uprated springs, bilsteins and a full simonz exhaust with tubular manifold to fit to the original twin carb B18, and a spare overdrive box to make things a bit more useable. Ideally a pair of recaros trimmed to suit will be fitted but an mot is currently more important, and March is the target.
The 4 door has been sidetracked for a short spell, but I will build this as a standard 122s spec car (in a 121 shell) and hope to be back on it around easter this year, and mot'd before the end of the year (ha!).
The poor old estate has been shunted to the back of the queue! It isn't eating any grass where it is, so I will get to it when I get to it.
The workshop is also home to my Dad's Rover P4 and MX5, my mate's Chevette, and the rest of my own projects. One is a 1960 Morris Oxford series V, and the other is a 1942 Airspeed Oxford mark V (google it!), both of which are rather more long term.
So there you go - pics will appear below if I can get the hang of it and I will update as regularly as I can - but I don't have the same work rate as John and Steve so go easy on me!
