The Dream has Arrived! Volvo 123GT

The dream has arrived! Oh, I mean the Volvo 123GT!

11th March 2025, Tuesday, the tow truck departed from Kuala Lumpur from SAS Classics at around noon time, took nearly 7 hours to reach my place.

11th March 2025, Tuesday, 7.15pm. Finally, the dream has arrived.

The 123GT is in a really beautiful condition. Paint is clean and smooth, interior is neat.car started up right away, and I drove it down from the tow truck to the path way. First impression is the very comfy seats and easy to maneuver steering! Oh ya, Daarwin did mention that the car has POWER STEERING installed. What a great add-on!

My son came out and was surprised to see ANOTHER CAR?! He and my daughter didn’t know that another classic was coming. My wife convinced him that it is my investment, not an expenditure. He said this 123GT looks nicer than the P1800.

Since it was quite late already, I drove into the car park of the house, took my dinner and went to the prayer meeting at my church.

I have to admit that the excitement wasn’t as great as the P1800 that I bought previously, maybe because the design is a bit old style, not as sporty as the P1800. Imagine James Bond or the Saint in this 123GT vs the P1800…

At night, after back from church, I did went to check the car in a bit more detail. Engine compartment was really clean and beautifully set up. No messy wiring, no dirty engine, looks like it was just restored yesterday (though Daarwin did mentioned that it was restored maybe 10 years ago).

The next day, of course I have to drive it to work. Took a photo of the car at my favorite morning spot.

In the next several days, I continue driving the Volvo 123GT to work. It is a very different feel from my Volvo P1800. Should I say it is a totally different car, though they are using the same engine and gearbox with overdrive. This 123GT seems more powerful, able to rev faster and more fierceful. I can speed up faster in it than my P1800.

With tthe power steering, I can park, corner and turn the car effortlessly. The steering in the 123GT is huge, supposed to help in car without power steering, but in my case it doesn’t block or hit my legs when driving. Maybe because the seat was low and soft, when you sit on it, you are like sank into it.

I did my first refueling yesterday. The fuel needle point near to E. I went to my usual Petronas, pumped RON 95 at 35.6L to full tank. Needle pointing to F now. The sender seems accurate.

In tthe evening, after work, I decided to send the car for some servicing. Went to my usual mechanic with my own Castrol 20W50 engine oil and Mennol G11 coolant.

The previous said he did the engine oil chnage in Oct 2024, so by time it was due for a change. Surprisingly the engine oil was very clean, much cleaner than my P1800. Owner recommends Castrol or Shell 15W40, but since I only have 20W50 now, so I used that instead. The mechanic also did an alternator belt tensioning to the car.

So far, I can only find several issues to the 123GT that needs addressing.

Front headlights, one side has condense water inside. Yellow light bulb is very dim.
Front fog / spot lights. Both are not wire connected. Previous owner said he just changed them prior to selling, using the correct 7″ size spotlights for the 123GT.
Engine shaking / knocking during startup. Shaking so badly that I think the alternator is hitting the steering box. It was indeed, as I can see some knocking and scratching marks on the steering box. I will need to change the V-belt to a shorter length to keep the alternator at a safer distance from the steering box.
Cracked 123GT steering horn button. This is quite ugly, cracked into half. However, this is not urgent and NOT CHEAP!