Down On The Street

Taking Juno to the dog beach at Carlsbad's Aqua Hedionda over the long weekend, I came across this gem sitting on a residential street.
Why it's a handsome and humble Volvo 122S, aka "Amazon".
Simple, stout and with legendary durability, this 46 year old car will likely still be on the road 46 years from now, provided gasoline is still being sold and that it doesn't get t-boned by some other car in the coming years.
This badge proclaims what's sitting under the hood to the world. One Volvo B18 engine powers a Volvo P1800 with over 2,500,000 miles on it. Or nearly 100 trips around the globe at the equator.

Speaking of badges, here's what's decorating the front fenders:
I bet this was designed by a guy named Sven with a high quality pencil and some vellum.
As much as I'm a sucker for period-correct Panasport Minilite wheels, if this Amazon was mine, I don't think I'd swap out the simple wheel covers. Well, maybe I would pick up a set to dress this three box car up. But the V-caps would stick around.
Let's check out the interior:
Purposeful and with a truck-like gear lever sprouting from the transmission hump.
Red vinyl and a Mexican blanket? Sweet combo!
Look closely and you'll notice a for sale sign.
Interested? The obscured area code is 858.
I'll take it!

Required Listening

My good friend (fellow Green Laker and original owner of the The Dragonfly - aka The Aquafury) Bill keyed me in to a list that Amazon compiled of the 100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums of All Time.

Can't say that I disagree with a good chunk of the list - I love eight out of the top ten and own or are at least very familiar with about half of the overall list. However, there were a lot of what I feel to be some gross oversights - no Dinosaur Jr., The Clean, The Smiths, Wire, Buzzcocks, My Bloody Valentine, The Verve, Big Black, Big Star or R.E.M. (whose first five proper albums were on indie IRS). But hey no "greatest" list is going to be perfect, it's opinions after all and there's still a lot of stuff on there for me to discover.

Oh, and Bill's band Beulah landed at spot #37 with 1999's When Your Heartstrings Break. Buy it now if you don't already have it. Indie pop perfection.