The car Volvo should’ve built! Chris Mardis Sea Green 1966 122S Overdrive.
Chris hails from Dayton in Ohio and after 26 years as an Aircraft Maintenance Officer for the Air Force he retired and was looking for the right project. The idea was just to wrench on something and learn a few new skills.
This 1966 122S was found and things escalate quickly. I think Chris’ background in aircraft maintenance made him want to do every portion of the job perfect and not leave anything to chance.
And apart it went!
Any rust was removed and repaired.
The gray paint on these speedometer facia started to peel when these cars were just a few years old. Chris disassembled it and repainted it in the correct gray color.
Pretty nice, huh?
New headliner.
New dash pad, new carpeting, new everything!
Editors note: As I get older (and grumpier) I tend to prefer vintage cars in their original colors. Most of the time when you see a classic car in a non-original color it can just look… “wrong”.
“Helga” is the name Chris and his wife Emily gave this car. Helga was originally born in Volvo Dark Blue code 90 but the decision was made by Chris and Emily to go with Volvo Sea Green 115. This was a one year only color on the 1973 Volvo 1800ES.
Emily said: “If it’s the only Amazon people are ever going to see, you need to make it the prettiest one you can”
Not only is it a gorgeous color on the ES, it WORKS FANTASTICALLY on Helga!
Also, it should be noted, Volvo painted a select few of the 1967 Volvo 123GT cars in a teal metallic color. More exactly, it was called Blue-Green (Blå-Grön) and the data plate would read 53-91. “53” stood for experimental color and “91” was the Blue-Green code.
Seats were completely taken apart and restored. The decision was made to use tan interior as that would be the color you would get if you order a Sea Green 1800ES. It work very well with the exterior color.
Looks like right out of a sales brochure, doesn’t it?
Also note, Chris added the factory headrests for safety, they were normally not available until 1968. Who wouldn’t want to pilot this??
The aluminum door sills were polished to chrome finish and retained with chrome screws.
The car is coming together and looking great. A windows out paint job is a huge undertaking. Many vintage Volvo that got windows out paint jobs end up with missing window chrome trims as they are notoriously difficult to install. It takes a lot of effort and determination to push forward.
The hottest looking set up for a 60’s Volvo “back in the day” would be a set of Minilite wheels. These Minilite look-a-like wheels are Performance Superlight 6.5 inch wheels wrapped in 185/70-15 Vredestein Sprint Classics.
To add to the GT look, a set of 7 inch Cibie light were added using 123GT brackets.
Then fall came…in Ohio…what do you do??
Build a bad ass powertrain, of course!
The B18 was fully rebuilt and detailed. Some of the goodies that went in to this engine:
K-grind camshaft
– Ported head
– Five-axis valve grind
-Hardened valve seats
.040” oversize pistons (fourth oversize; 1.82 L net displacement)
– Balanced motor
– Lightened/resurfaced flywheel
-Cloyes alloy timing gear
-Melling oil pump
Exhausts are promptly exited through four in to one header and on to a Simons 2 inch sport exhaust.
M41 overdrive transmission keeps the RPM low and cabin quiet during drives.
Engine compartment is detailed to the max.
To recap: Chris basically created a four door 123GT car! A Volvo metallic color, hot engine, overdrive, factory tachometer, auxiliary road lights.
The car Volvo should have built.
Ohio is pretty much all domestic car country so when Chris and Emily shows up at a car meet, the car is gets a lot of attention.
Thanks Chris for sharing your car with us.
By: Rolf Åström
Photo: Chris Mardis