On the road again…when we last left we were at the airport waiting for our next flight. To Copenhagen, Denmark! A city in a country that I have never been to but was looking forward to visiting. Our flight was via EasyJet which was uneventful (how I prefer it) and the two and a half hour hop was over in the blink of an eye… Next order of business was getting into the city center for which we decided to take another cab as the public transportation options seemed a bit daunting involving a couple of transfers and we had bags. And it was wet out.
I don’t think this is the first bar or airport that used a car as a display or advertising piece, but I’ll give it points for using a Land Rover Defender. Or at least portions of it. Or maybe reproductions of portions of it. Whatever, it did the job of catching my eye but I was not in the mood to stop. Perhaps on the way back. Just one picture.
The taxi line was being run by an efficient lady who had us in a cab in no time, here it is after we got into the city and paid the man. $38 or so isn’t too bad for four and luggage I guess. That’s a Skoda Octavia of the previous generation to the current one, yet another Golf/Jetta wagon clone just like the SEAT Leon we took to the last airport a few hours earlier. Also just like that one it was a diesel, rattle free, quiet, comfortable and again with familiar VW/Audi-like materials, but a touch over 300k kilometers on this one.
After dropping our bags in our room we decided to venture out and brave the weather. Quite the change from Barcelona but then again it’s almost exactly the same distance as going from San Diego to Seattle so there you go. The first noteworthy thing I saw was this new Audi A8 either being towed due to parking illegally, towed to the repair shop, or being repo’d. I have no idea which but that flatbed looks a lot fancier than the ones running around here. This was in the middle of a very large pedestrian-zoned shopping area. The main impressions of Copenhagen are that it’s quite attractive, very clean, not particularly crowded, and very walkable as it’s basically flat.
More CC-worthy was this 2nd generation Fiat Punto, which debuted back in 1999. Missing the hubcap and with some battlescars it would fit right in up in Eugene, but here in Copenhagen it stuck out like a sore green thumb. It’s parked in front of a coffee place that we ravenously entered and ordered at, and then realized the four coffee drinks and a sandwich or pastry each cost the better part of $75. It’s a little known fact that the word “Copenhagen” is actually a Viking term that roughly translates to “Hand over your wallet”. Denmark is a little pricier than Spain. However it appears that wages are higher too, so it all works out, unless you’re from somewhere cheaper and less prosperous.
Mk II VW Golfs aren’t super common anymore, and this later ’80s example looks like it’s seen a few things. Still puttering along, I didn’t check but assume it’s a diesel.
Back in Spain I remarked on a white Peugeot 406 and how I liked the styling, well, this green Citroën Xantia is based on the same platform and I like these just as much. It’s one of the more approachable Citroëns that straddles the line between outré and conformist with just enough character to make me find it fairly timeless (for a ’90s car). These were released in 1992 and facelifted in 1997, I think this is an earlier car. These were also liftbacks (like a Plymouth Sundance!) and there was a wagon available as well.
While you may have gotten the impression that the core of Copenhagen is dominated by older cars, nothing could be further from the truth, I just avoided most of the newer ones. But one thing I could not avoid is all the electric vehicles (EVs). Now I know this is a touchy subject at CC and I will avoid being preachy, but just hang with me for a bit and go with the flow. Copenhagen (at least the center part that we were in) has embraced EVs in a big way and while back at home there are a number of EV and PHEV choices, we have nowhere near the range of vehicles that are on the streets here. This particular one is a Renault Captur, second generation, related to the current Nissan Juke, which is not sold in the US. But what’s going on at the back?
Yes, Copenhagen has public chargers seemingly all over the place and this PHEV (Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle) is currently recharging. It will presumably use the electrons to power it part or all of the way home or just use the battery in tandem with the regular engine to help it get stupendous fuel efficiency or much better than normal internal combustion power off the line.
This one’s produced by E-on Drive and apparently works via an app.
I don’t speak Danish but I’m pretty confident that there are three spaces for charging here. Looks like at least one of them is available too.
Here’s an EV taxi, in this case the Mercedes EQE, a model that just started rolling out towards the end of 2022. It was far from the only one, most EVs that you are familiar with there were examples being used as taxis in Copenhagen, including the Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Tesla Models 3 and Y, VW’s ID cars, etc. While I found (and still do find) the styling of the new EQS (electric S-Class) slightly off-putting, I like this one better, it just seems more approachable.
I know, two electric thingies in a row is bordering on having you click to something else, so I turned around and noticed this Jeep Cherokee (XJ) pulling into a side street. This looks like one of our later “Country” trim versions but it was almost certainly sold new here in Europe as these were reasonably popular. Which means they were about as popular in Europe as for example Peugeots were in the United States. Not just for anyone, in other words.
And if a Jeep doesn’t pump your red, white, and blue ‘nads, well then here is The Heartbeat Of America, a Chevrolet! A Chevy Spark actually, which carries the same brass bowtie as any Caprice ever did. And lookit, it even has a trailer hitch! And roof rails, something I don’t think ours ever offered. So you can tow your boat and carry a roof tent, who needs a Land Rover? The white delivery van across the street is almost certainly an EV, I can’t make out the manufacturer though.
While we are on the subject of towing… A Tesla with a trailer. Well, no, not quite, it’s just a Niedermeyer-esque illusion in this case.
But this BMW 3-series folding hardtop convertible was towing a trailer, albeit it a fairly small one.
Turning back to EVs, here’s a Porsche Taycan in white. And if that’s not your bag, perhaps the black one across the street is more to your liking. Colorado is home to a decent quantity of these already, yet I saw more of them in Copenhagen than I have seen in total back home (no, not just these two, but literally dozens).
There’s a VW ID.3 (EV) parked in front of a Tesla Model 3 (EV) which is in front of a Renault Zoe (EV), and the odd man out, a non-EV Citroën at the rear.
Not the current generation, but the prior generation Mazda6 looks quite good as a wagon as well. Those haunches front and back seem to work better stylistically on a wagon than on a sedan.
We started heading towards the river (which meanders through Copenhagen although it’s also pretty much surrounded by water), so away from the absolute city center and came across this Fiat Panda 4×4, thus the reason it sits somewhat higher than the FWD version. I think Paul for one would love one of these.
Not far away sitting there Like A Rock was this Chevy Matiz, basically an older-generation Spark based on the Daewoo Matiz of course, never available in the US with any badge.
And inflaming the cockles of many a heart here at CC, a Volvo 240, and not just any old DL, this here is a GL according to the badge. And in red, so only slightly slower than the turbo. This was spied as we were about to cross the street in order to go up a set of stairs onto one of many drawbridges.
Those stairs featured something seen very commonly in Europe, and that is a rail for bicycle wheels. While these are common, just as common is a small section of the stairway where it is shaped just as a continuous slope, at the edge, the idea of course being that you can push your bicycle either up or down it without any trouble whatsoever and you aren’t getting in anyone else’s way either trying to heft your 30-40 pound conveyance up or down the (sometimes slippery) stairs.
It’s basically just U-channel steel affixed to the steps. Simple, cheap, and efficient. This is really something that every condo complex should/could have on their stairs as well,
On the bridge a Nissan Leaf taxi was whizzing by in the cold.
And on the way back, this magnificent Alfa Romeo 164S from the early ’90s! I was all set to take a series of shots as it was stopped at the light when a bicyclist decided to cross towards us. She veered off from the zebra stripes towards the metal thing you see just in front of the Alfa’s rear wheel, where it all of a sudden became obvious that the expansion joint was not filled all the way across as her front tire plunged down to the hub and she flew over the handlebars while her bicycle stayed stuck upright. I rushed to her aid (she seemed far more embarrassed than hurt) and helped tug her bike free while somebody had the audacity to honk at us. Somehow nobody in our party was able to snap a picture or shoot a video (they could have been TikTok famous!), but when all was done I was able to still catch the Alfa as it roared off. Excitement wherever we go!
Walking along the riverbank we came across a Mercedes W210 wagon, an ever-rarer sight these days, not being as long lasting as the W124, never mind the W123. The owner was unloading something onto his tugboat and my phone camera was fogged I think from walking in the rain leading to a somewhat moody shot. Or just a poor-quality shot, take your pick.
Perhaps a poor-quality Mercedes does in fact make a poor-quality photograph, however this one’s made it well over two decades, so it can’t be that bad after all. Or it’s the exception that proves the rule or something like that…
Not a postcard this time, but the real deal, if you’ve ever seen pictures of Copenhagen you’ve probably seen this or one from down the road/river. Hugely picturesque, only the sun would have made it better.
And my little guy doing his inadvertent clothing store model pose expression in front of the backdrop.
Pro-tip: When you own a Ford Fusion in the US and you happen to tell your friends from Europe that you drive a Ford Fusion, this is what they picture you driving. Yes, this is the European Ford Fusion. Your Fusion is their Mondeo. Maybe if Ford ever sells a small car in the US again they can call it the Mondeo as payback.
The bar and grill in the airport apparently has several outlets and there is an actual Land Rover that drives around town, perhaps it’s the owner’s truck. Someone took (or used) the spare tire from the hood! This may be where Dodge got the idea for the Dakota convertible truck.
A Volvo V40 like the one that I as well as Mads Jensen, our Danish CContributor, used to drive. These were built in the Netherlands in a Mitsubishi-Volvo joint venture factory. In the background, two Fiat 500s AND a Mini, all within the span of four parking spots. It’s just missing a Smart car.
I do not know what this is exactly, but it appeared like a ray of sunshine on this cloudy and somewhat wet day. And just like that ray of sunshine, it was gone again…
More EVs! This time an Audi in a shape that I don’t believe we get (yet?) in the U.S. I’ll give high marks to Audi, they are managing to make their e-tron line of EVs look very much like their normal vehicles, not everyone wants to stand out in a crowd. Assuming this comes to the U.S., it’ll likely do quite well.
This one had me doing a double-take, never mind the color, I had no idea what it was and had to head around back to figure it out.
It’s an Aiways U5. I know, that doesn’t help. It’s another Chinese EV with competitive range and pricing that is being sold in Europe. I saw several more of these, curiously all in this same color even though they do offer the more euro-norm white, gray, and black as well. It’s a solidly mid-size SUV that didn’t seem to be put together any worse than anything else around it. Here’s their website, later in our trip we’d see ads for their new sporty-ish coupe-like car/SUV (the U6), which is featured on their site currently, along with this U5.
The point is though that with stuff like the Lynk&Co that we saw in Barcelona, now this, and several other vehicles from the likes of Xpeng, Nio, the MG brand, etc, the Chinese and Europeans are FAR ahead of the U.S. producers (besides Tesla) in regard to vehicle choices. From a purely technical perspective, EVs are far easier to sell in other countries than internal combustion engined vehicles as the emissions and fuel economy issues simply aren’t considerations to be engineered to (political considerations and manufacturing costs/location are two real factors though). Sadly, beyond Tesla (which is a huge deal, admittedly, and no way to deny that) and the Mach-E, Ford and GM by themselves don’t have much going on yet, while Stellantis has a few glimmers thanks to their European brands. Get too far behind and you’ll never catch up and be doomed to the all of a sudden relatively small North American market (relative to the entire rest of the world I mean).
This old Cayenne (introduced two decades ago, where did the time go!?) could probably use a bigger battery to power all those lights. I’m not sure where he’s going, there aren’t any dunes in downtown Copenhagen, but I guess he could find some somewhere if he wanted to. Adventure awaits!
Like a Volvo 240, there’s always a ’90s Corolla about too. The 3-door hatch like we never got. I rented one like this in New Zealand many years ago, it was fine. And green as I recall the paint being. Who says Corollas aren’t memorable?
This Ford Transit (full-size van) takes the cake for being the most beat-up vehicle we saw in Denmark. The Europeans got on the square/straight sided van thing far ahead of us, this one’s a late 2000’s version.
Your typical Euro-CrewCab VW. Or maybe this is a QuadCab, I think there are some with larger rear doors than this one. It has the short bed too.
Back in the center of town, besides the masses of bicycles that were riding around everywhere, even in the rain (people here use good jackets and hats and the bikes have fenders!), it became EV-central again too. In this picture there’s a white Polestar 2, ahead of that there is a Hyundai Ioniq, then another Porsche Taycan and a Tesla Model Y. Across the street a blue VW ID.4, and a BMW i3.
Looking the other way a Model Y on the left and on the right a VW e-Golf and then two Ford Mustang Mach-E’s behind the Seat Leon wagon inbetween,
Behind that Tesla is a VW ID.3 which I found quite attractive not having seen one in the metal before, it’s a little larger than a Golf on the outside but a lot larger inside. Across the street the two Fords, one of which is plugged into a street charger made by Clever.
Continuing down this street and then looking back (the two Mustang Mach-E’s are at the upper right on the left side of the street), in the foreground is a Mercedes EQC EV, then a Jaguar iPace EV, and another Tesla Model Y. Across the Street the blue car is a Tesla Model 3.
Heading back towards the hotel we stumbled on this, a Toyota Mirai Hydrogen Fuel Cell EV. And as a taxi to boot! I’ve seen one or two in California and there were actually two junked ones in a Colorado junkyard a while back, but I’ve never seen one as a Taxi. We’d see this one again several times or it may have been several different ones, I couldn’t tell for sure. I didn’t realize Copenhagen had hydrogen infrastructure, but apparently they must.
My guess is that the same guy that designed the outgoing Prius designed this as well as it’s a little challenging to look at. The current (new) version is far more attractive. Overall it’s about the size of a Camry, larger than a Prius in other words.
The label on the box…
If you dig into the box and your favorite CrackerJack is a lot of piano black plastic and screenery then we have the car for you. This is already not aging well visually, good thing there’s a new one…I would have loved to have gone for a ride in one though, but it was not to be.
Steps away though was this, the Honda E electric car. This is the first one of these I’ve seen at street level and it didn’t disappoint, it’s quite attractive and obviously takes as inspiration the original Civic (though it’s larger).
My understanding is its range is a little short relative to its price which is hurting sales, but it’s quite cute and a handy size.
Black isn’t its best color but you work with what you have in front of you. It’s a shame we’ll never get it (in more senses of the phrase than one), but Honda is likely correct in not bringing it to the U.S., at least in its present form.
I dig the mirror cameras though, as techy as they are aerodynamically efficient.
The wood inside harkens back to the original Civic as well, although that whole expanse above the wood strip is screen, very unlike the original… On that note, we’ll somewhat abruptly end today’s walkabout and be back for some more singin’ in the rain soon. Time for a drink. Skål!
If you’ve been gone too, here are the earlier installments of this travelogue:
Well that looked quite interesting, Copenhagen is another one of those cities that I’ve been through the airport and nowhere else (just like Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Brisbane 🙁 )
With all those electric cars I was wondering what Denmark’s electricity generation mix was, the biggest share is wind power at 48.6%. Certainly a wind powered electric car is less unwieldy than actually hoisting your own sail atop your vehicle, and a good poke in the eye to the “It’ll never work” crowd.
Glad you’re getting rehydrated after Spain, looking forward to the next installment.
You’re missing out on some great cities right at your feet…!
More rehydration next and then a more moderate climate!
Absolutely fascinated by the choices in EV’s available, Europe is definitely putting us to shame for adoption. No doubt helped by the lack of political baggage that’s tossed onto the cars. It’ll be interesting to see how well the Chinese EV’s perform over the next decades, as I don’t see them coming to the US anytime soon..
I figured you’d be into it. No Opel Ampera-e that I noticed (the Euro-Bolt before the sale) though, sorry!
The mystery yellow car is a 3 door hatch Hyundai Getz (2002-11). Funnily enough there’s one I often see here too that’s yellow, but it’s the 5 door version.
Thank you! I’m familiar with the Getz in general just not this generation apparently. I know the older more upright one I guess (I getz…)
I’m quite enjoying this look at European street furniture from US eyes. Are you coming over to the UK as part of your trip?
By the way, the yellow car is a Hyundai Getz, something you didn’t get in the US apparently.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyundai_Getz
No, not this trip, we kept it an all-EU affair this time (sorry 🙂 ) Our last trip involved some Britain and a lot of Ireland, I did a few posts of finds from there but not dailies like this…
I spent a week in Georgia, in Savannah in October 2022. I found it pretty costly too. If I translated the price back it seemed that a chocolate chip cookie, coffee and panini was about the same as in Denmark: 22 dollars or so. This was not the same experience as in the later 90s when the US really felt markedly cheaper than Europe (northern).
I hope you have/had a nice time in Copenhagen. If you can, try to dive down to Germany via the ferry to Puttgarden or take a train to Flensburg.
That’s interesting, I don’t usually think of Georgia as an expensive locale over here. Prices overall have gone up quite a bit in the last year or two, especially for food places, and I suppose Savannah is more touristy than many other places in GA.
The dollar is quite strong currently which made this trip pretty reasonably priced overall as long as you kept an eye on the pricing of stuff and understand the exchange rates…
A Chevy Spark actually, which carries… roof rails, something I don’t think ours ever offered
It did. Standard on 2LT models. A pity, because that trim had a unique and more attractive front bumper, yet I feel those rails really detract from the otherwise well-resolved look for being such a small vehicle:
Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one so equipped! Of course that means the next half dozen I see will have them. It did look a bit incongruous but the practicality can’t be denied of being able to attach racks or a cargo box.
The EV cargo van is à Maxus eDelivery 3.
Thank YOU! Another new one for CC, I believe…
Maybe it looks like a river, but it is Øresund, between Denmark and Sweden.
The FIAT 500 with the small number plate must be US-marked import to Denmark.
Are you sure? It wasn’t a large body of water but river may be the wrong word, canal might be a better descriptor. The Mercedes wagon was on the Havnpromenade near the Knippelsbro which is where the Nissan Leaf taxi was crossing, with the Alfa and Volvo just below it right near Danmarks Nationalbank.
I think Oresund is more to the SouthWest, but it does connect to that at the north end.
I didn’t notice that re the Fiat 500 but yes it does appear so. For a while the electric500 over here was dirt cheap as a used car and the regular 500 as well. Early ones had the 1.4 turbo and later ones the 1.3turbo I believe, I think either could be gotten for well under US$10k for a while there. (and maybe again now)
Thanks; I’m getting the hankering for the old country again. It’s been a few years (2015). Stephanie’s preferences are for Scandinavia and Scotland/Ireland. Works for me. We’ll be used to the cool, wet weather.
This is as far North as I’ve gotten on the mainland and I have a hankering to go further and see Finland, Sweden and Norway. If what I saw of Denmark was any indication of what awaits then sign me up.
Ireland was great when we were there a few years back and Alli has been to Scotland and liked it a lot as well. The countryside in both is fabulous without a lot of people about.
The old gasoline/diesel cars are because Denmark has among the highest taxes on new cars in the world, which typically doubles the price or more and makes keeping the old one for a few more years much more attractive. The new electrics are because EV buyers are exempted from many of the purchase taxes, which basically means they are a near half-price car compared to similar fossil fueled vehicle. Denmark famously eliminated EV tax breaks in 2017 and sales totally collapsed, so they have been tweaking the tax breaks ever since to get demand back up without costing the state quite as much in lost tax revenues. Danish EV drivers can also avoid buying heavily taxed gasoline/diesel, although “renewably” generated Danish electricity is almost among the highest priced in the world, but many companies have “free rechargers” as a perk for their employees.
Denmark’s (and Europe’s) EV adoption is something both US proponents and naysayers should be
following. It’s telling how the tax situation can make or break EV adoption.
Here in the states, the exact same thing applies with the convoluted way the federal tax credits are now applied having an enormous impact on sales of whatever EV happens to benefit from them at any given time. Since the beginning of the year, the low-priced Chevy Bolt has been in very low supply and high demand because of exactly this. However, come April 18th when the credit is likely to be cut in half, demand may not be nearly as high.
Likewise, EVs don’t seem to be having much of an impact on ‘stressing the grid’ which so many EV haters espouse.
Next month (May 2023) marks the 30th anniversary of the end of Volvo 240 production. It always warms my heart to see one still puttering about in seemingly daily use. I want to believe that for as long as petrol/gasoline is available, someone somewhere will still be driving a 240.
The 240 ranks with the W123 Mercedes and pre-GM Saab 900 and Peugeot 406 as among the best cars ever made when “best” means suitability for daily use with a long service life. Only the Peugeot manages to be all that and affordable. I expect 240s will soldier on forever and, I would hope, so will 900s and 406s. You see all four of these cars in reasonable numbers in Denmark, a sign they must be well made, useful and likeable.
I was in Denmark a couple of weeks ago. An interesting aside is how in Denmark, new car taxes amount to 170% of the purchase price of a new car.
I means that Danes usually drive small cars until the wheels fall off. My buddy in Ribe has a 2007 Fiat Panda with 300,000 km on it.
Denmark is an amazing place to visit but the weather can be sketchy a lot of the time.
Yes that motivates people to really examine their choices I suppose. We were only in Copenhagen, there were numerous small cars but also a number of larger ones, the rest of the country may be different. The taxes seem to go to things that help the population, we didn’t see a huge (well, any) homeless problem or clearly ill people wandering around, the public facilities were generally spotless, the food on display and served was of very high quality, attractive, fresh, etc. and people seemed happy and were engaging in leisure activities.
Denmark is a small country. This removes “range anxiety” as an issue for most people.
Range anxiety is something that mainly afflicts people that can’t plan ahead but I’ll be the first to admit that EVs are not for everyone for various reasons including lack of chargers for many brands of EVs and in some (but a very small percentage overall of the nation’s people) their geographic location. And that’s fine.
Most Americans don’t travel very far from home, most current EVs can easily handle 99% of their daily/weekly/annual mileage. There aren’t many American families that don’t already have multiple cars, and those that are trying an EV often find that it works just fine. And when they do visit Grandma five states away, many end up either driving the other car, or rent something appropriate for a long trip (which we’ve done even before owning an EV, why pile 2500 miles on our own car), or they fly anyway. Americans have a reputation of being very good at finding solutions to real or imagined problems but aren’t always very good at identifying or focusing on needs vs wants.
Relatively high prices compared to older used ICE cars or even more recent midsize sedans is a more real (current) deterrent, yet there’s always enough money for beer, cigarettes, another tattoo or a full-size pickup truck, the cheapest of which are more expensive than some very good EVs, never mind an upper trim level. I like my mid-level pickup truck, and use it to haul stuff, but I could just as easily do with another EV for 80% of my driving and an older and far cheaper pickup for the other 20%.
I forgot – Denmark is a smaller European Kingdom but still over 16,000 square miles so if it was a square (it isn’t) it would be about 130 miles x 130 miles with a diagonal of 169 miles. I think you are assuming that Danes never leave their country. Many Americans rarely leave their home state or their metropolitan area either.
That 130 miles is the same distance as Fort Collins to Colorado Springs, driving that in an EV would give some people range anxiety depending on the car although most newer EVs would not have any issue with it yet it’s not a trip that most people here do regularly. Europe is far better equipped with chargers though and even a lowly household plug is at 220V instead of our 110V.
Sweden and Germany are both connected to Denmark by land/bridges and the Danes do go on driving holidays like many in Europe do as well.
I lived in CPH as an undergrad for a semester and have visited several times since. It’s a great place to just wander and let your mind relax. I’m due for a trip this fall. I’m an oddball, but I avoid the spring/summer tourist season. It can be drizzly at other times, but never terribly cold. November is nice b/c the Christmas markets and lights come out.
I noticed that most cars there tend to have hitches, even the tiniest cars. Small trailers are common, and easy enough to just borrow or rent it seems.
I’m jealous, it was a great city and while it was rainy/drizzly for part of the time, we were fine in hoodies with a shell jacket (but are used to the cold back home). You can see one of my kids’ feet in his white Crocs sandals in a few pictures.
Yes, not many tourists about when we were there which was a great way to just wander and experience the place as a local, with schoolkids milling about, people doing their shopping, and just observing normal life in a setting that is pretty much what people think of when they think of “Europe” as a concept.
Yes, hitches are common, some even have a sort of fold-away version it seemed (?). Vans made sense for contractors often due to the weather, and pickups in general were few and far between but not altogether absent.
Many cars now have an electric fold-away hitch as an option available. Years ago when my son send me a video of a new or fairly new Audi he was driving (as a student chauffeur), showing the mechanism unfolding the tow ball / stowing it away under the back bumper, I did not know if this was real or not. But it has become a quite common thing to have.
Always nice to read an article of Mr Klein. However, being Dutch, the cars pictured fail to surprise me – they are much the same compared to what you see here in the Netherlands 🙂
Looking forward to your US articles on new cars or whatever subject.
Thanks, and I’ll be back to doing US-based stuff again soon enough. It was wonderful to gaze at and immerse myself in the giant basket of forbidden fruit for a too-short amount of time. Even a yellow Hyundai Getz is interesting when you don’t see them every day…
Those are some great pics and cool cars. I like the Jeep Cherokee (I had one almost exact same as that one). That little white Chevy Spark was neat and I noticed a strange little hitch sticking up in back. What on earth would anyone tow with that? Lastly, that little black Honda E was nice.
Love this series, wonderful journey. Keep them coming! That’s a T5 Doka Pritsche, by the way.
Thanks! “Pritsche”, there’s a word I forgot but know what it is, thanks!
The Transit is a rental and being beat up is their concept: you rent a beater and pay correspondingly. The text on the side says, “remember, it’s also a long fucking way to the fifth floor if you rent a brand new van”. The company is called “Lej et lig” – literally meaning “rent a dead body” with “lig”/”dead body” also being used to describe a beatdown car in Danish. They used to rent out old hearses and always use pretty x-rated slogans like (on the hearses) “room for two – and your mother-in-law in the back”.
The company is quite popular with young people as you generally have to move around a bit when moving to Copenhagen due to the housing market being crazy. That combined with being broke makes these vans popular with youths.
The Transit is a rental and being beat up is their concept: you rent a beater and pay correspondingly. The text on the side says, “remember, it’s also a long f**** way to the fifth floor if you rent a brand new van”. The company is called “Lej et lig” – literally meaning “rent a dead body” with “lig”/”dead body” also being used to describe a beatdown car in Danish. They used to rent out old hearses and always use pretty x-rated slogans like (on the hearses) “room for two – and your mother-in-law in the back”.
The company is quite popular with young people as you generally have to move around a bit when moving to Copenhagen due to the housing market being crazy. That combined with being broke makes these vans popular with youths.
My days as a tow/recoverybtruck operator are behind me, but my last truck was almost exact the flatbed you pictured. MAN cab/chassis with a (Dutch) Falkom flatbed on it. Great piece of equipment, what is used all over Europe for towing and recoveries, we don’t use wreckers.
And nice to see a V40, Jim. They’re still relatively common here. Hard to kill.