The model designations of Volvo’s Amazon range are among the world’s great impenetrable mysteries. First on sale as a four-door saloon in 1957 and running until 1970, it only used the ‘Amazon’ label in Nordic countries after motorbike maker Kriedler objected to Volvo’s original name ‘Amason’. Elsewhere, Volvo would use the 120 model designation, kicking off the three-digit naming convention it used until the late ’90s, but with the designations 12 and 1200 also employed for some markets.
The first model, the Volvo 121, was a four-door saloon fitted with a 1583cc B16 engine equipped with a single carburettor, producing 66bhp and making do with a three-speed gearbox. In 1958 a sports model was made available called the Volvo 122S, which produced 85bhp from its twincarb B16
