60 years ago, in the first week of September 1956, Volvo had presented the world with the Amazon. By Anno Domini 1970, when Amazon production had ended, the Swedish carmaker had produced 667,791 units of the mid-size model in three body styles.
The predecessor of the PV444 was named after the female warriors of the same name. Other than the cool name, the Amazon is worthy of being remembered on its sixtieth anniversary because it was a car of many firsts.
The 3-point seatbelt as we know it is attributed to Nils Bohlin. Introduced by Volvo in the Amazon as standard equipment in 1959, this was the first step on the arduous road to making seat belts mandatory. By 1970, the Australian state of Victoria decided to make the wearing of seat belts compulsory. Some years ahead of Volvo, Nash and Ford had introduced 2-point seat belts as optional extras in 1949 and 1955, respectively. In 1958, the now-defunct Saab pushed the envelope by making 2-point seat belts standard.
Nonetheless, Volvo Cars has the better bragging rights because the 3-point seatbelt is the single most important safety feature the automotive realm has ever been bestowed with. According to Volvo, “at least one million lives have been saved by the 3-point seatbelt over the course of its 57-year lifetime.” If it weren’t for Volvo and the Amazon, who knows how automotive safety features would have evolved.
The Amazon also enjoys the title of first Volvo to be made outside of Sweden. If it weren’t for this model’s appeal with the North American public, the Volvo plant in the Canadian city of Halifax wouldn’t have opened its doors in 1963. What’s more, the Amazon is the model that convinced Volvo to open two more plants in Durban, South Africa, and Ghent, Belgium. On a sadder note, what the Amazon was supposed to have but never got was a V8 engine.
Back in the day, Volvo engineers were thinking about shoehorning a truck-based V8 into the engine bay of the Amazon. Five prototypes were said to have been manufactured, but in the end, Volvo decided that a V8 would be overkill. Be that as it may, the Volvo Amazon is no slouch. After all, factory driver Carl-Magnus Skogh won the 1965 Acropolis Rally driving a 122S.
Compared to the sportiest version of the Amazon (85 bhp), the least powerful car Volvo manufactures today comes in the form of the V40 D2 hatchback. At the other end of the spectrum, Volvo is said to be working on a Polestar version of the S90 with up to 592 brake horsepower on tap.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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