Most people get a bit attached to their cars. A favourite family runabout can become part of the furniture, a familiar face on the driveway and the keeper of all sorts of memories.
But even by those standards, Bohdan and Marian Antoniw have taken loyalty to another level. The couple bought their Volvo Amazon 122S in December 1980 from a retailer in Greenwich, South London, and have kept it in the family ever since.
Now, after 46 years with the same much-loved Volvo, they are making the jump from classic car to electric car, swapping their Amazon for a new all-electric Volvo EC40.
It’s quite a leap. One car was built in an era of chrome bumpers, simple switches and family trips planned with a road atlas. The other is a modern coupe-SUV with an electric motor, a claimed range of up to 345 miles and rather more in the way of tech. But for the Antoniw family, the badge on the bonnet remains the same.
The Amazon has been far more than just transport. Bohdan and Marian used it to bring both of their children home from hospital after they were born, and it has been part of countless family journeys since. It has also done proper work over the years, including towing the family’s micro-caravan on longer trips.
For Bohdan, the move is clearly emotional, but also practical. “We will miss the Amazon because it has been part of our family for so long and is fun to drive,” he said. “But it feels like the right time for a change and to embrace electric. If cars have a spirit, we like think it would be happy knowing a new generation has taken its place.”
Built between 1958 and 1970, the Volvo Amazon is one of those cars that helped cement Volvo’s reputation for sturdy, sensible family machines. The Antoniws’ four-door 122S has been carefully looked after over the decades and is still said to be in good mechanical condition.
But with the family planning to travel further afield, including a trip to Berlin, the time felt right for something newer and better suited to long-distance driving.
The decision to stay with Volvo came after a visit to their son Thomas in New York. He also drives a Volvo and, after his recommendation, Bohdan and Marian decided the EC40 would be the right next step.
The new EC40 is Volvo’s sleeker electric SUV, sitting alongside the more upright EX40 and with the EX30, EX60, ES90 and EX90 models now all in the Swedish brand’s electric car range. Depending on version, Volvo quotes a range of up to 345 miles for the EC40, which should make longer trips a good deal easier than they might have been in a classic Amazon.
The switch comes at a fitting moment for Volvo, too. The company is approaching its centenary next year, and the Antoniw family’s story neatly links its past and future: from one of its best-known classics to one of its latest electric cars.
Nicole Melillo Shaw, Volvo Car UK managing director, said: “Affection for Volvo is deep-rooted for families up and down the UK, so we have been delighted to hear the wonderful stories from the Antoniw family about their beloved car. I am so proud to hear that the qualities they love about Volvo remain the same, and that moving to the EC40 feels like a natural next step for them.
“We were also very touched that they have trusted us to restore their Amazon, and it will be a pleasure to welcome it into our UK heritage fleet.”
That means the Amazon’s story is not ending. Far from it. As the Antoniws collected their new EC40 from Donalds Volvo Ipswich, their old car is starting a new life of its own.
Volvo Car UK has bought the Amazon from the family and will now conduct what it calls a sympathetic restoration, keeping as much of the car’s originality as possible. Once finished, it will become part of Volvo’s UK heritage fleet, meaning the car that once brought the Antoniw children home from hospital will now help tell Volvo’s own family story.
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