"So it sounds like the Amazon "R" was never an official model but was what Volvo called the engines that were modified with Volvo's tuning competition kits."

Actually, as stated on the referenced website, there were also several hundred cars built to a different specification ("R" designated or no). I can vouch for at least one that made it into the states, because I owned the beast. It was lighter than the normal 122; I don't remember exactly how much, but I do remember weighing it to confirm. This was at least in part due to zero sound deadening material, lack of undercoating, and a plexiglas rear window. At least that was the condition of the car as I bought it from a guy in San Antonio in 1972. He had used it for amateur (SCCA) sedan racing, and that was my intent as well. It was a '64, and the story I got was that it had been a professional rally car in Europe, bought by a GI in Germany, then imported to the US when he rotated back to the states.

Anyway - an unplanned job location change at the time (from Kansas to Saudi Arabia!) got in the way of my SCCA B Sedan racing dreams, so I sold the car in 1973. It was purchased by a guy that worked for IPD at the time. He wanted it for the same reason I had bought it... it was light, and would therefore be easier to get down to racing weight. Incidentally, his knowledge of these "light" 122's included the opinion that they had external sheetmetal (hood, trunk, front fenders) of less than normal thickness. I don't know if he ever confirmed that. At any rate, he trailered it from my place in Kansas to Portland, did a first class racing prep job on the car over the next year or so, then raced it for a few years on the west coast. I don't know where the car ended up, or if it even exists today.

Gary L

--
1971 142E ITB racer, 1973 1800ES, 2002 S60 T5