In 1966, Volvo left the old design lines from the Amazon and moved to a different level that was kept until the ’90s: the box design.
At the same time, it introduced the new designation names with three numbers: first was the series of the vehicle, the second number was the number of cylinders and the last was the number of doors. In 1967, Volvo launched the two-door version for the 1st series, with four cylinders engines. So, the name was 142.

The minimalist exterior design had a visual look of a large box containing the front, middle up tot the beltline and trunk in the same box and a second box on top, for the greenhouse. The coupe was a version of the sedan, but with two doors and two side windows.

The interior was very simple, with a straight dashboard and full instrument panel containing tachometer, speedometer, fuel level, coolant temperature, oil pressure, and battery voltage, along with some warning lights. The vehicles equipped with a manual transmission had the stick on the floor while the automatic transmission versions had the lever behind the steering wheel.

The engine was a 1.8-liter four-cylinder in three outputs, depending on the fuel system. All were with carburetors but were different. The main model was with an oil-lubricated Stromberg upside-down double-barrel carburetor. In 1971, a new 2.0-liter engine was introduced and was fuel-injected and the power output was 136 hp (SAE). The automatic transmission was moved to the floor and received a T-bar gear-lever.