Norwegian Woods (OT)

The Volvo Amazon is a mid-size car manufactured by Volvo Cars from 1956 to 1970 and introduced in the USA as the 122S at the New York International Auto Show in April 1959.

The Amazon shared both the wheelbase from its predecessor, the PV, as well as its tall posture and high H-point seating — while offering three model configurations: 2-door sedan, 4-door sedan and wagon. In 1959 Volvo provided front seat belts as standard equipment on all the cars, including the export models, becoming the world's first manufacturer to take this step — later becoming the first car featuring three-point seat belts.

When introduced, the car was called the Amason (with an 's'), which derives from the fierce female warriors of Greek mythology, the Amazons. Kreidler, German manufacturer of motorcycles had already registered the name, and the two companies agreed Volvo could only use the name domestically (i.e., within Sweden), modifying the spelling to Amazon. Subsequently, Volvo began its tri-digit nomenclature and the line became known as the 120 Series.

The Amazon was originally manufactured at Volvo's Lundby plant in Gothenburg and subsequently at the company's Torslandaverken, which began operating in 1964. By the end of production, 234,653 four-door models, 359,917 two-door models and 73,220 station wagons had been produced, 60% of them for export — for a total of 667,791 vehicles.

If the log drivers could swim or not didn't matter, they were water rats...

In northern Wisconsin big money is made by guys who salvage sunken logs from 100 years ago.

The idea for the company came to Mr. Mitchen while he was exploring for shipwrecks in Lake Superior in the early 90's, after he had seen countless logs in his dives. The abundance of old logs, together with rising timber prices, convinced Mr. Mitchen that a forgotten treasure was waiting in the water.

The Water-Logged company pays Wisconsin one-third of the value of each log, based on the current market value of freshly cut timber. After a drying process that takes weeks, the old wood is cut and sold for much higher prices than new wood, sometimes 10 times as much. About a dozen kinds of trees are retrieved, including oak, maple, birch, elm, ash and pine. Birds-eye maple, with its iridescent grain, sells for as much as $80 a foot after being cut.

While most of the salvaged wood goes for furniture and craft work, some has been used to make stringed instruments, like a flat-topped acoustic guitar the company is giving to the country singer Johnny Cash.

The company's keenest hopes lie in finding wood for exquisite violins. A sample of 300-year-old maple has been analyzed by Joseph Nagyvary, a researcher and violin builder at Texas A&M University, who has compared it to the material used by Antonio Stradivari, who built the world's finest violins in the 17th and 18th centuries in Italy.

''I have not seen anything like this in modern times -- it's in the same ball park as a Stradivarius,'' said Mr. Nagyvary, whose research has indicated that Stradivari soaked his wood in water, which removed gums and resins. So it is possible that the lake water has cleansed the old wood in a similar way.