1965 Volvo 122S: From Hero to Zero and back again!

We entered the Peking to Paris with Arnie the Amazon as complete novices with no previous endurance rally experience, and with that, we came with no expectations. We slowly learnt the craft of rallying over the first couple of weeks with the assistance of the more seasoned competitors. We realised after ten days that the regularities were accumulative. We were slowly creeping up the leaderboard, blitzing the STC stages from nearly last place on day one up to eighth place overall at our peak; heading into Turkey, our competitive spirit was at an all-time high, with the end in sight, and what we believed to be the worst was over. Oh, how naive we were.

We headed to Istanbul, looking forward to the rest of the day. Disaster struck when we collided with a local vehicle, spinning us a complete 360 across the highway.
As coolant poured out across the tarmac as did our hopes for Paris. Once the adrenaline had settled and with time to kill waiting for the tow truck on a public holiday, we started disassembling the car, removing the cooling fan that struck the radiator. I climbed back in the Volvo and turned the key; it sprung back into life with good oil pressure. There was a chance, and a long journey was ahead of us.
Our knife-wielding tow truck driver was hospitable despite running out of diesel twice! At this time, Steve was methodically planning the work for Volvo. 
We arrived in the hotel car park, immediately stripped the damaged parts, and started to reform the wing using the crudest of hammers and the stone flowerbed to realign the aperture.

Steve's background of over 40 years of being a jig/ panel beater was being called upon. Armed with sweep mechanics and the winch of the dodge, it was slowly taking shape. The chassis leg moving across 3 inches wasn't our only issue; a bent wishbone, half of a radiator, a broken Kenlow fan, I could go on...

As the afternoon fell and the sweeps finished their shift, we continued making progress; with help from competitors, we managed to finish the car with a Mustang headlight from Marc. We even had lights!
After a small test drive around the block, we were ready for the early morning run for the border, leaving in darkness at 5 am. 

We made good progress in Greece following a convoy on a non-competitive day. A long stretch on the motorway seemed too much for the exhaust manifold on the Volvo, which had been damaged in the impact. We lost power, stranding us, but the comradery of the rally saved us again,  being towed by the Dippies over 180 km along the Greek coast at speeds of 100 kph behind Melba, the Mercedes to the hotel with the Bradburns in the 912 escorting us for safety. 
After a long night and early morning, the manifold was now held together with tin, jubilee clips, exhaust paste and hope; thankfully, it would survive the final European leg despite sounding like a V8.

Arriving in Paris was an indescribable feeling we will never forget, and we can only thank the wonderful people who made this experience what it was, finishing 7th in Class after all. 
The immortal Volvo Amazon wasn't done; the next day, we were out of Paris to our home at Brooklands the following day. Beijing to Brooklands or Bust!
In the spirit of our car's namesake, 'Arnie', there is one thing for sure. "I'll be back".

Story by Steve & Charlie Gray