Buy my Kustom

Okay, here we go, my Kustom Volvo Amazon is for sale on EBAY, auction ends on 29th Jan at 7:20PM, CLICK HERE TO VIEW AND BID ON IT ON EBAY!

ALL THE PICTURES HERE CAN BE VIEWED SUPER-SIZE JUST BY CLICKING THEM!

It's a 1970 2-liter twin carb monster which I have set down the road to becoming a super bad Kustom, and now it's up for sale for you to get your mitts on!I absolutely love this car, and the loss of my garage is the only reason I'm letting it go. It is not, however a show-winner by any means, it's a down and dirty mean ole' Kustom which is meant for rumbling around in and scaring people with. Being a volvo it's uber-reliable and tough, but let's not fool ourselves, it's a 40 year old car. There is rust under this baby, and in particular in the back end in the boot, and some of the floor inside the car. I haven't been under there myself in a while, but it got through it's MOT in Oct with a little welding (done by a very good mechanic) and I think you'll get many years of fun out of it, just as I have. I'm going to be totally honest about the state of the car, and this blog page is here to show you the whole thing, warts and all, so you know what you're getting.

Overview.

Okay, so it's a 2-liter TWIN CARB 131 AMAZON first registered in 1970. It's rumbly, and the engine doesn't idle smoothly, but it never has in the five years I've owned it! It starts, stops, and looks ratty and mean. I'm not going to promise it'll sale through every MOT, as it's a 40 year old work horse, but it'll keep you safe and get you to your destination. Like all old cars, it just needs to be looked after...

FIRST, THINGS WHICH DON'T WORK QUITE AS THEY SHOULD:
1) The Temp gauge. Has never worked in the 5 years I've owned and driven it. Never been a problem.
2) The Speedo. In the cold months for some reason the speedo sticks and stops working, then comes back to life each summer! Never understood it, and it never failed on this in the MOT, so I never got it fixed. I used a SATNAV as a speedo in the winter months.
3)Spare Tyre. The spare tyre is damaged, and needs to be replaced.
4)The passenger side seatbelt works, but is set at one length and is not adjustable. It's fine so long as you don't have a MASSIVE passenger, and if you want to replace it you can pick a spare seatbelt up on ebay for a few quid.

NOW ALL THE STUFF THAT DOES!
It has disks on the front and drums (with new pads) on the back.
It has a recently re-conditioned raditor.
It has pirelli tyres on all 4 corners, with only 700 miles on them! They make this 2-ton beast a little easier to maneuver!
It has front seatbelts only.
Paint is rattle can matt black, applied by me 3 weeks ago.
Bonnet has been shaved.
Front tooth grille is made up of 10 1956 Chevy over riders/bumper guards.
Front bumpers are from a 1956 cadillac. They look awesome on a car of this size.
New custom-stamped metal number plates front and rear.
Twin Kenlowe fans with cut in temp dial.
B20 ENGINE with TWIN carbs.
Working heater.
Nothing's in great condition, but everything works, basically!

Rust?

The body is in okay condition, but there is some rust on the A-pillars, and around the back corners of the bonnet, as well as the front and rear headlights and the front grille panel and in the boot floor...

What's under the hood?

This car is powered by the mighty B20 TWIN CARB 2-liter petrol engine and has a top speed of allegedly 110mph, though I've never visited that place myself! It returns between 25 - 35 to the gallon, depending on how you drive! She's reliable, strong, and she starts EVERY TIME. Never had a single problem starting this car, and neither will you. I had a brand new stainless exhaust custom made a few years ago, which make this car very, VERY loud.! I'm not kidding, it sounds awesome and drives well, let's remember it's a 40 year old machine! It'll do 70 out on the road no probs, in fact that's where a lot of the torque is, so it'll happily go to 90 without a struggle. I fitted 2 kenlowe fans when I put the tooth grille in, so it keeps fairly cool, though like any big-engined 70's car, it doesn't like to idle for hours and hours. The eingine ain't pretty, but it's as solid as a rock...

Brakes are good, new pads fitted in the back at the last MOT and only been driven about 10 miles since.

How else could I Kustomise it?

Ah, this, friends, is the true beauty of this car. My plans were to do just a couple of mods and make it into an exceptional, original machine, and I jiggered around in photoshop to visualise how it would look. I'm presenting these shots here to show you what can be done with this car with very little effort. PLEASE NOTE THESE SHOTS ARE NOT THE CAR, THEY ARE SUGGESTIONS FOR HOW IT COULD LOOK!

Okay, so what can you do to it? Well the first thing would be wheels. Up until 1968 the Amazons had a really weird stud pattern on the wheels which meant they were difficult to get alternative wheels for, HOWEVER, in the last two years of manufacture (1969 and 1970) they had a 4 1/2" spacing, the same as American Ford Mustangs etc. This car is a 1970 Amazon, and I've had the stud pattern measured by North Hants Tyres who confirmed it was the 4 1/2" spacing. This means you can get pretty much any wheel on 'em that you like! Nice! Once you've got some nice big steel wheels on it with whitewall crossplies, then it's just a case of getting airbags put in and have the roof chopped, (sloping back to give a fastback feel) to make it look like this:

I was then going to add trim from the side of a 1953 buick to finish it off:

So that's it, wheels, airbags, chop and side trim and you'll make an already excellent car into something unlike anything else you'll see on the road or at a show.

What's the interior like?

The interior of the car is SERIOUSLY ratty. This is just how I like it, and if you dig that lived in, beaten up muscle car interior look, then it'll suit you too!

The seats are ripped, gashed and generally in a bad way, but being a volvo they have the lumbar support and are EXTREMELY comfortable.
The dash is okay, but the bulbous surround around the steering column has gone.
Many of the knobs on the dash have been replaced with pool balls, and the gear shift has an original Volvo engine block cap as it's knob.
The wipers have two speed setting, and a separate switch for the windscreen juice.
The lights have a kicker in the floor panel for the dipper, though the indicator arm can also be pulled towards you to flash the mains.
The indicators have an auto clickback which still works fine.
The rear view mirror is a new mooneyes number.
The door windows have been replaced with autolock electric windows, and work slowly but well!
The heater works fine, and being a volvo it's pretty darned good for a 40 year old car.
There is no interior light, but the wiring is still there if you want one.
The headliner is in pretty good condition. All in all, it's functional and bada$$...

...however, one of the deal-makers with this car is that it comes with an IMMACULATE set of beeeeeutiful camel vinyl seats from an earlier model 4-door Amazon. These babies are soooo nice, and with a little modification will fit right into the Kustom no probs (the rear bench seat will already go in with no mods needed). They are the earlier design, so they have no head rests and the rear seats have a cool center arm which drops down if there's a fight going on in the back seat. THESE SPARE SEATS ARE YOURS FOR FREE IF YOU WIN THE CAR ON EBAY, THOUGH IF YOU DECIDE YOU DON'T WANT THEM THAT'S COOL.

What Else do I get?

If you're lucky enough to win the Amazon on Ebay, then you'll also get the opportunity to grab a few garage items for free that I won't be needing, but that will come in handy for the maintenance of your new Kustom! These are pictured below, and are as follows...
1 LARGE tin light body filler, plus mixing agent.
1LARGE tin Heavy-duty body filler, with mixing agent.
1 Car trolley, unused, for sliding around under your machine.
1 New valve grinding kit
1 New Compression tester
1 Grease Gun
1 Pot Grease
1 Circuit tester
2 1 ton axle stands
1 Bodywork repair manual
1 Haynes Manual for the Volvo Amazon

All this stuff is yours if you win the sale and you want it, if not, no worries!