A guy a few blocks away from me is asking $1200 for his Volvo Amazon. The interior looks to be pretty good, but the outside needs a paint job. The car seems pretty complete and he uses it now as a daily driver. I'm going to have a real look at it soon. Any suggestions on what I should look for and if it's worth anything?

 

Check to see if it's got the original carbs or converted to Weber down draft. If the carbs are o.e. if it's dual carbs that's a plus. Just check it over like any other second hand car. They are incredibly sturdy, durable cars. I'm looking at a 62 544 right now myself.

 

It's got the dual SU carbs. It drops out of first unless held in place. This transmission is an easy rebuild from what I have gathered. My brother wants to go for it, so we're making an offer for 1k in cash. We'll see if they bite.

 

They'll take the G...that's what one shoots for when one asks $1200. Cuts out all the bartering, which can be a good thing. The SU's most likely need rebuilding. The shafts typically need re-bushed and will suck air making a fine tune impossible. The M40 is the simplest transmission to rebuild; I built mine in no time. Popping out of gear means the 1-2 shift fork is shot; later transmissions have replaceable bronze pads but the M40 uses a 1-2 fork that is completely bronze....means you replace the entire fork...not terribly hard to source as it seems everyone wants the M41 overdrive unit. While I'm a fan of OD, I really don't care as I seldom drive my 144 long distances and the OD weighs a bunch more.
In this pic you can see the two forks still attached to the shift rods...the 1-2 fork is at the upper right and is bronze colored and you can see the 3-4 in the bottom left...

 

Well, I'm not getting it. It's got major rust. We went back and looked at it in the daylight. The first thing I noticed was a lousy fix to the engine compartment. It was just a chunk of aluminum screwed in place to replace the top part of the left-side engine compartment. The rest of the underside looked okay because of the undercoating, but near the back of the front inner fender (the outside of the toe-box) I pressed on the metal a bit and heard it crackle. It's completely rusty. I looked in on the inside (I found water, he said it didn't leak) and could see pin holes of light on both side of the toe box. Who knows what's left of the floor. I can do the proper fixes, but I lack the tools out here and spare sheet metal. It would turn into an operation and I don't have a real garage to work in. We came to offer a grand, but we told him that we had no more interest in the car. It's sad, but as a college student I can't afford tackling a rust problem the right way, though it would be fun. I hope someone can show it some love.