The foundation for the Volvo 140 series was laid in 1960 when the P660 project was started to develop a new, modern car as a successor to the Volvo Amazon. Test runs were performed with a masked car named the Mazuo ZT92, and the total distance for the test runs was about 100,000 Swedish miles, which corresponds to 25 turns around the earth. Volvo's test tracks were therefore expanded to a cost of SEK 2 million. The total development cost for the series amounted to SEK 150 million.

The Volvo 140 series was presented on the 17th of August, 1966 with the Volvo 144 model simultaneously in Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Oslo and Helsinki. Production of the 140 series started on the 19th of August 1966, and the first series-produced car was a black Volvo 144 that rolled off the belt at Torslandaverken with Volvo's then CEO Gunnar Engellau behind the wheel. The same year that production started, the Volvo 144 was named Car of the Year in Sweden. During the summer of 1967, the 142 model was presented.

Our example is a Volvo 142 De Luxe from 1973. It is equipped with numerous features according to US standards. The car was sold new by Axel Davidsson Bil AB in Växjö, Sweden to Mrs. Astrid Engdahl on the 16th of may 1973. The car is in fantastic condition and runs really well. The car comes with a lot of original documents such as Instruction Manual, Service Book, Warranty Certificate, Workshop Documents and a number of inspection protocols.