When we ended last week’s post, I had moved from New Jersey to Sweden, where I was to work on the marketing side of a small-car project just then beginning to staff up at Volvo’s headquarters. Even though by that time, I had made many business trips to Gothenburg, they had only included hotel breakfasts, daily meetings within the Volvo complex, and dinners at either the hotel or at a couple of local-favorite restaurants with which I had become familiar.
Literally “cellar restaurant”, its name barely hinted at the delightful cuisine offered there.
This was different, however. Making the transatlantic move to a new country meant many new experiences, among them applying for my “personnummer” (Sweden’s answer to our SSNs) from the Swedish Tax Agency (skattebolaget) and completing a number of employment -and housing-related forms. In the end, every step needed to become an official Swedish-resident, tax-paying American ex-pat was navigated successfully.
My Swedish HR contacts provided me with a magnetic Volvo passcard, allowing me access to several of the buildings in its Gothenburg campus, and I received the keys to my V40 company car, so I had my own wheels and was ready to go when my new-car project colleagues returned to the office.
Gothenburg’s newsstands held too many tempting classic-car publications like this Volvo-themed issue.
One afternoon I found myself idly leafing through a Swedish classic-car magazine. Marveling at the sheer volume of Volvo and, to a lesser extent, Saab collector cars advertised, my eyes then fell on a small photo ad describing a pair of classic Ford Mustangs offered by a private individual in Luleå, Sweden. For those not familiar with Swedish geography, the town of Luleå is located about 1050 km (about 650 miles) northeast of Gothenburg, on the northwest coast of the Baltic Sea. It’s also fairly close to the Finnish border.
I couldn’t find a car in Kungsbacka, or Uddevalla. Of course not. I merely needed to travel nearly the entire length of Sweden… (Source: www.worldometers.info)
Most of my CC readers can probably guess what happened next. After first ensuring that I could rent a secure garage at my apartment complex for a reasonable monthly fee, I briefly debated the sanity of making a quintessentially American classic car my first major purchase while stationed in Sweden. The next step was to call the number listed in the ad, find out more about the cars, and learn as much as I could about how they ended up in that corner of the world…
As it turned out, their owner, a pleasant fellow named Börje, was about the same age as I, a Mustang enthusiast of long standing, and fortunately, fluent in English. (This was before I began taking Swedish language classes, a perk I had to fight Volvo to agree to. That’s another story…) He’d owned the two ponycars, a ’65 fastback and a ’66 GT convertible, for a few years and had regretfully put them on the market to pay for an addition to his small home in the Luleå countryside. The long conversation ended with an agreed-upon weekend meeting date and logistics: After securing a seat on one of the many round-trip flights from GOT to LLA, I would then advise Börje of my arrival time, and he would meet me at the airport.
A shot of Lulea Airport. (Source: Martin W. on https://foursquare.com)
The direct flight took slightly less than two hours, and it was easy to pick out Börje at the arrival gate, since he was the only one holding up a picture of a classic Mustang. After a short ride we arrived at his modest but pleasant home, and after some schnapps-fueled extended Blue Oval-related conversation we headed out to his garage, which housed not one, but two first-generation Mustangs, a Rangoon Red ’65 fastback and an Acapulco Blue ’66 convertible. Neither looked to be a 100-point concours winner, but both were in better condition than I had expected.
Not Borje’s car, but his also had a white interior. (Source: www.mustangattitude.com)
After doing a thorough walk-around of both cars, Börje asked me which one I was most interested in. Understand that though the southwestern coast enjoys a relatively mild winter climate for Sweden (average temperatures in the low-to-mid 30s F. and typical monthly precipitation of 4″ to 5″), it’s hardly a top-down driving mecca. However, inspecting Börje’s ’66 and possibly thinking back to my first car, the ’66 Caliente drop-top extolled in this post), I answered “the convertible”. The fact that it also had a white bucket-seat interior like the Caliente was probably also a contributing, if irrational, factor in the purchase decision.
The ’66 convertible, pictured on Hisingen island, not too far from Volvo’s global headquarters.
A short test drive raised no obvious issues, and after returning to Börje’s home, the deal was agreed-upon, funds were exchanged at the local SE-Banken, and I headed back to the airport for the homeward return flight. The ’66 convertible, pictured on Hisingen island near Gothenburg. It barely fit into my newly-rented apartment garage.
Yes, at least one of my decisions was relatively rational: I decided not to chance the 650-mile drive back to Gothenburg, instead using a car-transport service recommended by one of my Volvo colleagues to safely move the Mustang from Luleå to a Volvo parking lot near my office. The transport driver then handed over the keys and my “Mustang Jones” was satisfied.
Pony meets pony in the Swedish countryside.
In retrospect, opting for the fastback might have been a wiser choice. Even smarter would have been to limit my classic-car activities to spectating at one or more of Sweden’s numerous old-car shows (which I also did, as you will see in future posts).
But who said classic-car enthusiasts were rational?
Very nice…and I can see the attraction of driving around Sweden as an ex-pat in an iconic American car.
Looking forward to the rest of this story. For example, how did Borje acquire his cars? I’m continually fascinated by how older American cars get overseas, so it’d be nice to hear these cars’ origin stories.
When I visited Norway about 10 years ago I was surprised by the number of old American cars I saw on the roads there. I later learned that classic American cars have a very dedicated following in Scandinavia, at least among a certain subculture.
I understand the desire to bring a little bit of home with you to Sweden, and your ownership history made an early Mustang a perfect choice for you. Between the Comet and Mustang from your youth and the Sunbeam Tiger, you were quite fluent in Ford’s compacts and in that generation of V8 engine.
That blue convertible looks really sharp!
What a beautiful country.
The cars they make are in accordance with the beauty of their places. I would love to retire there and spend my last years in some rural area, no matter the cold.
“But who said performance car enthusiasts were rational?”
We are now down to 4 vehicles.
3 hot rods and a winter commuter.
And I’m shopping for another Dodge Cummins diesel truck.
Makes zero sense of any kind!
This is why my golf game never improves!
This is a great story. I think I would have made the same decision, though propelled more by being a geography enthusiast than a car enthusiast… as in I’d love to say that I bought a car near the Arctic Circle. The fact that the car was a Mustang convertible just adds to the allure.
I encountered the gentleman in the attached photo while cross-country skiing in Norway, April,1967. He had a ’66 Mustang convertible, dark color. He was from Sweden.
You don’t suppose . . . . .
I passed through Stockholm in the 2nd week of July 1976. Walked out of my hotel one night right onto the street where a cruise was happening. Right in front of me was nothing but American cars driving up and down. Some with the American flag attached to the car. The Boy Scout in me cringed a little bit about that. Nonetheless, I stopped to look when approach by two Swedes asking if I was an American. I said, I was and soon was surrounded by locals wanting to talk cars with me and wanting to show me theirs after learning what I had. Even got a ride in a 67 Chevelle which is the only time I have ever ridden in one. I wish digital cameras were around back then instead of film.
American passenger cars have a long tradition in Sweden. Before WWII, most imported cars were American. That was what Volvo had to compete for and succeed against in its first years.
Even today there is still a broad fan base for US vehicles. However, hardly imported new, but rather used cars. And it is clearly visible that only models up to around MY 1980 are actually in demand.
Unfortunately, many of them do not remain in their original condition, but suffer questionable installations and modifications during long (alcohol-fueled?) winter nights. So-called > Pilsener bilar < (bilar = plural of bil, which means "AutomoBIL".
If classic car choices were rational, this site would not be half as interesting as it is.
I blame (or maybe that should be thank) all of us.
Nice .
-Nate