Upholsteries

In the beginning of the production Volvo chooses a combination of textile and leatherette for the upholstery in the Amazon. Leatherette is used where the wear and tear is the greatest and where the need for cleaning is the biggest. On the earlier cars, the headliner is made of textile and the floor and luggage compartment mats are made of grey rubber. With model year 1965 several fundamental changes are made also on the interior, including upholstery entirely made of leatherette on all markets when the new Volvo seat is introduced. Floor and luggage compartment mats are now made of black rubber. The textile headliner was replaced by one made of vinyl already the year before. Leatherette is sometimes called vinyl.

Sections:
The Wilsgaard Tryouts
Upholstery Codes
P 1200 / P 120
P 130
P 220
Examples

The Wilsgaard Tryouts

In the mid 1950s two-tone cars were the hype and that this feature was in the plan for Volvo Amazon already from the beginning is confirmed by the fact that the two prototypes X1 and X2 were painted two-tone. But what color combinations should the Amazon get? And how should these be matched with the right upholsteries? Since before it has been known that Volvo experimented a lot with colors during early production and, as it turns out, Jan Wilsgaard decided early on to evaluate suitable two-tone color combinations on the first 20 or so series produced cars and also fit these with different upholsteries to be able to later decide what color combinations and what upholsteries to use in the continued production of the Volvo Amazon.

In a PM dated June 25th, 1956 Jan Wilsgaard lists what combinations of test paint that are to be tested on the new car, what upholsteries to try out with these colors and also what color the padded dash top should have. As known from pictures of the prototypes X1 and X2, they have different colors of the dash pad and it is apparent that this was experimented with also on the first production cars.

Different color combinations of upholstery textile, leatherette and dash pad were tried out on these first production cars. Just as with the paint, Wilsgaard numbered the colors 1 through 5 and used three different colors for the textile where 2 meant grey, 3 meant blue and 4 meant red. In the same way he used three different colors for the leatherette where 2 meant grey, 4 meant red and 5 meant black. The dash pad color was also tried out in three different colors where 2 meant grey, 4 meant red and 5 meant black.

The picture below is of the type designation plate of Volvo’s first series produced Amazon. From the top type designation (P 1200), chassis number (1), color exterior (12), color interior (12) and upholstery (455). According to Wilsgaard’s test scheme above for trying out different two-tone and upholstery combinations on the first 20 or so series produced cars, upholstery code 455 means red textile with black leatherette and black dash pad.

Upholstery Codes

Once Volvo had decided on what color and upholstery combinations to use in the continued production of the Amazon they introduced these as new color and upholstery combinations such as presented below.

When the export to the USA begins in 1959, upholstery entirely in leatherette is available – but only on the export cars. Upholstery partly in leather is also available on the US market and these cars get vinyl headliner before other markets do. From 1968 the export cars to the USA have headrests as factory installed standard equipment, but already in 1965 the front seats were fitted with the guiding sleeves for headrests at the factory to simplify retrofitting (which was often done already by the reseller).

The Estate has, with only one exception (504-215) and one model year (1962) upholstery entirely in leatherette on all markets. One upholstery code for the Estate (508-266) is not listed in the parts catalogue, for some reason. The Estate does not have rear seat center armrest on any market or any model year.

Volvo uses the same upholstery code for upholsteries in different editions. One good example is 424-551 that can be found as red leatherette on the P 130 model years 1967 – 1968. In the Favorit edition this upholstery comes without pockets, pressings or chrome lists on the doors, but the same upholstery code can also be found on the 121 edition with door pockets, pressings and chrome lists and on the 122 S edition for the USA with headrests. There are more examples, especially among the earlier model years.

From 1965 to 1968 all cars have the rear seat center armrest, except the Estate. The P 130 in Favorit edition also comes with rear seat center armrest. Headrests are available as option from 1965 (fits the new Volvo seat) and becomes standard on the export cars to the USA in 1968 and are later factory fitted on all cars in 1970. Bench type front seat, as shown in the picture above to the right, is found only on the P 120 and then only on model year 1961 with the B16 engine and on cars with the B18 engine (1962 – 1967). On the B18 cars, bench type front seat exist in combination with steering wheel gearshift lever (manual M40RV or automatic BW35) but on the B16 cars bench type front seat is found only in combination with floor gearshift lever. All cars with bench type front seat have upholstery entirely in leatherette (no textile). Front door pockets are new with model year 1961 but are revoked again in 1969 on the P 130 (not on cars assembled in Belgium) but they remain on the P 220 and are also not found on the P 130 in Favorit edition.

On 1965 – 1968 model years both the front and rear seats have pressings in the shape of weld marks on both sides of the middle section. This is on both the seat sections and on the back rests. These pressings disappear from model year 1969, both on P 130 and on P 220. Also the rear seat center armrest disappears on the P 130 while the door pockets remain on all P 220 and on P 130 assembled in Ghent, Belgium (VENV). Two of the upholsteries for P 130 are kept in 1969, black and leather brown, but now in a B edition. Black, that 1965 – 1968 is called 417-515, is for 1969 called 417B-515 and does not have these weld marks, rear seat center armrest nor (on cars produced in Sweden) door pockets. The same goes for leather brown, that 1965 – 1968 is called 425-552 and in 1969 425B-552. In 1969, three other upholsteries are added. In 1970, new upholsteries with rougher pressings in the middle sections of the seats are introduced.

Volvo shipped upholsteries as part of the CKD kits to some of the foreign assembly plants, typically to those fully owned by Volvo (Belgium and Canada). But other foreign assembly plants, typically those not owned by Volvo (like South Africa), procured upholsteries from local suppliers. This concerned also other parts, like windows, tires, batteries, etc. Volvo Amazon in different editions assembled in, in particular, Chile and South Africa can therefore be seen with completely different upholsteries than those listed here. The cars to South Africa were shipped with type designation plates with blank upholstery field.

It is common with deviating upholstery for Volvo Amazon in police edition, often having their own S-codes. Also other special delivery cars, such as to the Royal Danish Court, had completely different upholsteries than what is listed here.

It’s in many cases possible to determine the model year of a Volvo Amazon only by looking at the combination of paint and upholstery, because Volvo kept changing these combinations frequently. A for instance Dark blue Amazon with red upholstery can only be of model year 1967 because the year after Volvo changed the upholstery to blue. In the same way, a Pearl white Amazon with leather tan interior is also of model year 1967 because the year after the upholstery was changed to red and in 1969 the white paint was no longer Pearl white but California white. Some upholsteries only exist for one single model year, such as the light blue upholstery which is only found on model year 1965 (and only in combination with Dark blue) or the more lifelike and somewhat more mingled leather tan interior that only existed in 1965 (and only in combination with Golden yellow paint). Also, some of the dark red upholsteries are model year specific but a lot more difficult to tell apart.

Aside from pressings in the upholstery they also have printed pattern effects from model year 1965. In fact, all upholsteries on the Amazon 1965-1970 except black (417-515 and 417B-515) have prints, but is perhaps most visible on the red upholsteries 1965-1966 which both are a little mingled with black stains but in different ways.

The green upholsteries of 1966 and 1967 are also quite similar but still show distinct differences when compared up close.

Export only or Only US are common notes in the tables below but it can be good to know that there are plenty of exceptions. As an example, the fairly new two-door version (P 130) of the Amazon sold a lot better than plan in Sweden during the spring of 1963 and Volvo simply ran out of upholsteries intended for the domestic market and instead chose to put upholsteries intended for export cars in these. Consequently, it is not uncommon with late 1963 cars in Sweden with export upholsteries, i.e. entirely in leatherette and with rear seat center armrest which the upholsteries they were supposed to get did not have. The opposite is also true in some cases, for instance this export car with textile upholstery:

P 1200 / P 120 – Four Door Sedan

Code	Color and material	Model year	Comments
6-106	Ivory leatherette, grey blue textile	1957 – 1959	Rear seat center armrest.
7-107	Ivory leatherette, red textile	1957 – 1959	Rear seat center armrest.
8-108	Ivory and black leatherette, grey textile	1957 – 1959	Rear seat center armrest.
9-109	Light grey, red and black leatherette	1957 – 1959	No rear seat center armrest.
12-110	Beige leatherette, grey blue textile	1958 – 1960	Rear seat center armrest.
13-111	Beige and black leatherette, grey textile	1958 – 1960	Rear seat center armrest.
14-112 *	Beige and black leatherette, grey textile	1958 – 1960	Rear seat center armrest.
15-113	Red leather, red leatherette	1959 – 1960	No rear seat center armrest. USA only.
16-116	Beige and turquoise leatherette	1959 – 1960	No rear seat center armrest. Export only.
17-115 *	Beige and red leatherette	1959 – 1960	No rear seat center armrest. Export only.
114-18 *	Beige leatherette, turquoise textile	1959 – 1960	Rear seat center armrest.
117-20 *	Light brown leatherette	1959 – 1960	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
118-19 *	Beige and grey beige leatherette	1959 – 1960	No rear seat center armrest. Export only.
119-160	Light brown leatherette	1961	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
120-161	Blue leatherette	1961	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
121-162	Grey beige leatherette	1961	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
122-163	Light brown leatherette, brown textile	1961	No rear seat center armrest.
123-164	Blue leatherette, blue textile	1961	No rear seat center armrest.
124-165	Grey beige leatherette, grey textile	1961	No rear seat center armrest.
125-183	Red leatherette, red leather	1961 – 1962	No rear seat center armrest. Export only.
129-178 **	Light brown leatherette	1961	Bench type front seat. Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
130-179	Blue leatherette	1961	Bench type front seat. Rear seat center armrest.
131-180	Grey beige leatherette	1961	Bench type front seat. Rear seat center armrest.
135-200	Nougat colored leatherette	1962 – 1963	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
136-201	Maroon leatherette	1962	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
137-202	Blue leatherette	1962 – 1963	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
138-203	Nougat colored leatherette, beige textile	1962 – 1963	No rear seat center armrest.
139-204	Blue leatherette, blue textile	1962 – 1963	No rear seat center armrest.
140-205	Nougat colored leatherette	1962 – 1963	Bench type front seat. Rear seat center armrest.
141-206	Maroon leatherette	1962 – 1963	Bench type front seat. Rear seat center armrest.
142-207	Light blue leatherette	1962 – 1963	Bench type front seat. Rear seat center armrest.
147-224	Grey leatherette	1962 – 1963	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
148-225	Red leatherette	1962 – 1963	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
149-226	Grey leatherette, grey textile	1962 – 1963	No rear seat center armrest.
150-227	Red leatherette, red textile	1962 – 1963	No rear seat center armrest.
151-228	Grey leatherette	1962 – 1964	Bench type front seat. Rear seat center armrest.
152-229	Red leatherette	1962 – 1963	Bench type front seat. Rear seat center armrest.
155-248	Grey leatherette	1964	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
156-249	Red leatherette	1964	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
157-258	Golden brown leatherette	1964	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
158-250	Grey leatherette, grey textile	1964	No rear seat center armrest.
159-251	Red leatherette, red textile	1964	No rear seat center armrest.
160-259	Golden brown leatherette, golden brown textile	1964	No rear seat center armrest.
161-252	Grey leatherette	1964	Bench type front seat. Rear seat center armrest.
162-253	Red leatherette	1964	Bench type front seat. Rear seat center armrest.
167-502 ***	Dark red leatherette	1965	Rear seat center armrest.
168-503 ***, ****	Black leatherette	1965 – 1967	Rear seat center armrest.
169-504 ***	Leather brown leatherette	1965	Rear seat center armrest.
170-505 ***	Light blue leatherette	1965	Rear seat center armrest.
171-506 ***	Red leatherette	1965 – 1967	Bench type front seat. Rear seat center armrest.
172-507 ***, ****	Black leatherette	1965 – 1967	Bench type front seat. Rear seat center armrest.
175-523	Dark red leatherette	1966	Rear seat center armrest.
176-524	Blue leatherette	1966 – 1967	Rear seat center armrest.
178-526	Green leatherette	1966	Rear seat center armrest.
179-527	Red leatherette	1965 – 1967	Bench type front seat. Rear seat center armrest.
183-545	Red leatherette	1967	Rear seat center armrest.
184-546	Leather brown leatherette	1967	Rear seat center armrest.
185-547	Green leatherette	1967	Rear seat center armrest.
187-549	Leather brown leatherette	1967	Bench type front seat. Rear seat center armrest.

* The numbers switched sometime between ch.-no. 42407 and 45535, i.e. 112-14, 115-17, 18-114 19-118 and 20-117 also occur.
** Not mentioned in the spare parts catalogue.
*** Changed upholstery on rear seat center armrest from ch.-no. 182429 (some from ch.-no. 181900).
**** Changed right side front door panel from ch.-no. 193800 (model year 1966).

P 130 – Two Door Sedan

Code	Color and material	Model year	Comments
401-189	Light brown leatherette	1962 – 1963	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
402-190	Maroon leatherette	1962	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
403-191	Light blue leatherette	1962 – 1963	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
404-192	Light brown leatherette, beige textile	1962 – 1963	No rear seat center armrest.
405-193	Light blue leatherette, light blue textile	1962 – 1963	No rear seat center armrest.
406-233	Grey leatherette	1962 – 1963	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
407-234	Red leatherette	1962 – 1963	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
408-235 *	Grey leatherette, grey textile	1962 – 1963	No rear seat center armrest.
409-236 *	Red leatherette, red textile	1962 – 1963	No rear seat center armrest.
410-244	Grey leatherette	1964	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
411-245	Red leatherette	1964	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
412-262	Golden brown leatherette	1964	Rear seat center armrest. Export only.
413-246	Grey leatherette, grey textile	1964	No rear seat center armrest.
414-247	Red leatherette, red textile	1964	No rear seat center armrest.
415-263	Golden brown leatherette, golden brown textile	1964	No rear seat center armrest.
416-514 **	Dark red leatherette	1965	Rear seat center armrest.
417-515 **	Black leatherette	1965 – 1968	Rear seat center armrest. Headrests on the export cars 1968.
417B-515	Black leatherette	1969	No door pockets, no rear seat center armrest.
418-516 **	Leather brown leatherette	1965	Rear seat center armrest.
419-517 **	Light blue leatherette	1965	Rear seat center armrest.
420-532	Dark red leatherette	1966	Rear seat center armrest. Also Favorit.
421-533	Blue leatherette	1966	Rear seat center armrest.
423-535	Green leatherette	1966	Rear seat center armrest.
424-551 ***	Maroon leatherette	1967 – 1968	Rear seat center armrest. Headrests on the export cars 1968. Also Favorit.
424-585 ***	Red leatherette	1967 – 1968 ****	Rear seat center armrest. Headrests on the export cars 1968.
425-552 ***	Leather brown leatherette	1967 – 1968	Rear seat center armrest. Headrests on the export cars 1968.
425B-552	Leather brown leatherette	1969	No door pockets, no rear seat center arm rest.
426-553	Green leatherette	1967	Rear seat center armrest.
427-575	Blue leatherette	1968	Rear seat center armrest. Headrests on the export cars.
428-584	Black leatherette	1967 – 1968	Rear seat center armrest. Also Favorit.
429-585	Maroon leatherette	1967 – 1968	Rear seat center armrest. Headrests on the export cars. Also Favorit.
430-595	Beige leatherette	1969	No door pockets, no rear seat center armrest. Cars fitted with headrests have S-5558.
431-596	Blue leatherette	1969	No door pockets, no rear seat center armrest. Cars fitted with headrests have S-5559.
432-597	Red leatherette	1969	No door pockets, no rear seat center armrest. Cars fitted with headrests have S-5560.
433-635	Leather brown leatherette	1970	Headrests. No door pockets, no rear seat center armrest.
434-636	Red leatherette	1970	Headrests. No door pockets, no rear seat center armrest.
435-637	Blue leatherette	1970	Headrests. No door pockets, no rear seat center armrest.

* Changed upholstery on rear side panels from ch.-no. 25200.
** Changed upholstery on rear seat center armrest from ch.-no. 118074 (some from ch.-no. 116500).
*** Different upholstery and padding on front seats and rear seat on cars assembled in Ghent, Belgium (VENV).
**** Also 1969 but then only VENV, for instance P131941S337135.

P 220 – The Estate

Code	Color and material	Model year	Comments
501-230	Light brown leatherette	1963
502-231	Grey leatherette	1963
503-232	Red leatherette	1962 – 1963
504-215	Light brown leatherette, beige textile	1962
507-254 *	Grey leatherette	1964
508-255 *	Red leatherette	1964
508-266 **	Black leatherette?	1964	P22134VD10554.
509-264	Golden brown leatherette	1964	Export only.
510-518	Dark red leatherette	1965
511-519	Black leatherette	1965 – 1968	Headrests on the export cars 1968.
512-520	Leather brown leatherette	1965
513-521	Light blue leatherette	1965
514-536	Dark red leatherette	1966
515-537	Blue leatherette	1966
517-539	Green leatherette	1966
518-554	Maroon leatherette	1967 – 1968	Headrests on the export cars 1968.
519-555	Leather brown leatherette	1967 – 1968	Headrests on the export cars 1968.
520-556	Green leatherette	1967
521-576	Blue leatherette	1968	Headrests. Export only.
522-598	Beige leatherette	1969	Cars fitted with headrests have S-5558.
523-599	Blue leatherette	1969	Cars fitted with headrests have S-5559.
524-600	Red leatherette	1969	Cars fitted with headrests have S-5560.

* Changed upholstery on rear seat cushion and backrest from ch.-no. 14336 (some from ch.-no. 13049).
** Not mentioned in the spare parts catalogue.

Examples

Below are a few examples of different upholsteries for the model years 1957 – 1964.

Below are a few examples of different upholsteries for the model years 1965 – 1970.