Safety First

From its beginnings as a subsidiary of the ball bearing manufacturer SKF, the Guthenburg Sweden based Volvo based its manufacturing and reputation on safety. Founded in 1927 the company's name is Latin for "I roll." With its first car, the OV 4, Volvo established itself as durable enough to withstand the often harsh Swedish climate while keeping passengers comfortably safe.

With safety in mind, Volvo, over the years, has introduced numerous safety features that have been adopted by the industry world wide. Such basic safety features as padded dash boards, standard front seat belts and even three point seat belts were Volvo innovations. So too was the first optional rear facing child seat. Over the decades they have championed things such as head rests, side air bags, whiplash protections, roll over protection, side safety curtains and many more.

One of the most popular cars produced by Volvo was the P 120 series. Commonly known as the Amazon, the 120 series instantly ran into name trouble. It seems the German motorcycle company Kreidler had already registered the name. An agreement was struck where Volvo would only use the name in Sweden designated exported cars the P 120 series.

The Amazon was first rolled off the line in 1956 and was introduced in the United States as the P 122 in 1959. It was that year that Volvo made front seat belts standard equipment in their cars. Initially released as a four door saloon, two door versions and eventually be a five door station wagon model would soon follow.

Performance was never a strength of early Volvos. The standard power plant was a 1.6 liter inline four cylinder engine. Options included a 1.8 liter and a 2.0 liter inline four. Buyers also got to choose between three speed and four speed manual transmissions with optional overdrive or could opt for a three speed automatic.

The P 120 was sold through the 1970 model year. Sales totals vary from slightly more than 655,000 cars to 667,791. What is agreed is that well over half were shipped out as exports. The last of the P 120s was made on July 3, 1970, the car being replaced by the P 140 models.