New Beginnings

My 1970 Volvo Amazon has been languishing in the garage for years, gradually becoming obscured under a mountain of junk, but all's about to change.

My garage is not a great garage, being of prefabricated concrete construction which has always leaked in heavy rain and for a number of years access has been restricted by a broken door mechanism. Earlier this year I made the decision to rectify things. I began by repairing the up and over door, then, at the beginning of this summer, a neighbour offered me the temporary use of their garage and I went for it. I moved everything out, gave it a thororough clean, and sealed every joint and orifice. A couple of fresh coats of paint on the walls and the floor, and voilà.

Before pushing the car back I dusted it off and took the opportunity to give it the once over. I had already decided to tackle bodywork first as if I can't sort this, then any time or money spent on the mechanicals is superfluous.

Bodywork Issues

There is some serious rot to the boot floor. I have been aware of this for a while and I've been mulling over what to do about it. Looking at the current availability of repair sections it is clear that a much greater range of panels are available now than when the car was mothballed back in the 90s, but as yet nothing for the boot floor. This is perhaps unsurprising as it is essentially flat, the complicated bit is the recessed lip in which the fuel tank sits (I removed the tank when I initially stripped the car). The lip is sound in places, but there are areas which will need to be replaced. Some DIY fabrication will be required.

The spare wheel well is also pretty ropey and has been plated over at least twice. This is available as a complete section but I am thinking that I might the able repair the existing panel and save a few quid, but I won't know until I investigate more fully, with a scraper and a grinder. I will definitely need to replace the bumper bracket mounting point though as it is completely shot. It may prove easier and more sensible to replace the whole lot.

The rear valance is generally sound except for the bottom edge, where it meets the floor. There are some holes, especially toward the near side. They are not huge but complex shapes to fabricate. A replacement rear panel is available (expensive) and I am apprehensive about removing the existing one as this may create more problems. I might try and repair it? We'll see.

The boot floor joining the rear panel is in a very poor condition and this will definitely need to be cut out and replaced, as I suspect will a large section of the offside floor, towards the inner wheel arch. The metal is paper thin here.

The rear quarter sections and the rear arches were 'repaired' many years ago by a couple of cowboys who made an real pig's ear of it. Much of the reason for the rot in the boot, and for the car being taken off the road in the first place is down to this monumental botch up. I was never happy with the work and looking at it now I think that they may even have welded the offside arch to the nearside wing, and vice versa. Yes, its that bad!

The quarter sections have been attached to the remains of the old ones, rather than replacing them, and the whole thing was covered up with a ton of filler. I dug this out when the car was first laid up and it was what I uncovered that led me to buy a MIG welder and have a go myself. No matter how badly I did, I was confident that I couldn't possibly make a worse job of it.

A consequence of this shoddy work was that water was getting in behind the arch and into the boot, sitting under the rubber mat, and thus the rot problem escalated from there. This might also account for the poor state of the near side inner sill, an area that concerns me as I am thinking that that this might be one of the more difficult sections to sort out.

Apart from the above, the body is actually reasonably sound. The repairs I made to the 'A' post years ago still look fine, with no evidence of any returning rust. The offside pillar is also pretty good, although there is a hole in the scuttle and the floor pan also needs work. Both windscreen lower corners will need attention; as you may be aware, this is a common problem area with Amazons.

Moving up to the front,  the box sections at the top of the inner wings (where the front wings attach) need to be replaced, I have already removed one. I have left and right inner front wing repair sections, found at Beaulieu Auto Jumble about 15 years ago, but I don't believe that I need to replace them entirely. The wings themselves along with the front panel have been stored elsewhere (loft) and are in excellent condition.

Finally, the battery box had rotted out due to an acid leak (the resident rodent has been evicted).

As a consequence of damp within the garage, there is a deal of superficial rust across much of the car. Obviously this will need to be addressed, but it isn't my primary concern at present. It has been suggested that I should go for the 'rat rod' look, I'm not so sure.

Its a start then. Next I need to conduct some more research, then get stuck in to the rear arches and remove  those 'dodgy' repairs. 

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