On this page you can read about various events we have attended with our old cars. More photos will follow over time, since many of them will have to go via the scanner first (being non-digital photos).

Quick links
Swedish Grand Prix
Båstad Classic Car Show
NFV
Öresund bridge
Copenhagen

Swedish Grand Prix

In 1955 the Swedish Grand Prix took place at the Råbelöfs track outside Kristianstad. The owner of Råbelöfs castle, Douglas Kennedy, hosted this spectacular event. With 100.000 spectators this is by far the largest sports event that has ever taken place in Kristianstad! Mercedes-Benz was one of the stars at the race. During a classic car rally with the Swedish Mercedes-Benz club in 1994 we had a control at Råbelöfs castle. Douglas Kennedy came out and admired the cars. One of the cars had actually took part in the race in 1955. It was a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, owned by Hans Bagge, Hyltebruk.

Grand Prix anniversary
Arranged by NFV, Nordskånes Fordonsveteraner (Vintage car club of northern Skåne), the 40th anniversary took place in 1995. Both the club committee as well as a number of other enthusiasts made this possible. A lot of preparation work is of course needed for such event. The club got access to Södra kasern (Southern barracks). The star of the show was a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, once driven by Sir Stirling Moss. In the race 1955, Juan Manuel Fangio came 1st with Stirling Moss as 2nd (due to team orders). An exhibition was set up with both motorbikes as well as cars. 30 race motorbikes was on display. A paddock was also built up, to resemble the air of 1955. The keen collector Richard Bruzelius, made a lot of authentic material available.

Grand audience
The anniversary draw a large audience to the exhibition. On the Saturday a display took place at the old race track. 20.000 spectators came to see the old cars and motorbikes driving at Råbelöf!

Local classic car club, the logotype consists of the map of Skåne within a vintage wheel. The colours red and yellow are the ones seen on the regional flag of Skåne.

Getting our 1934 Plymouth PF ready for the show at Margretetorp Inn.

Båstad Classic Car Show

Since 1986, when we bought our first classic car, we've participated in numerous classic car rallies and shows. One of these shows were Classic Car Show in Båstad. The show was organized by Bengt Arvelid, who comes from Kristianstad, together with MHK (Motor historic club of Skåne). Unfortunately this show had since been discontinued. The city of Båstad put impossible demands on the organizer. The show draw a huge audience every summer, up to 15.000 visitors and 1.000 cars on display. Despite this, the local politicians managed to mess everything up.

50th birthday
We celebrated my 50th birthday at Båstad Classic Car Show. It was a sunny day with temperature around 86° Fahrenheit. This day we took our 1934 Plymouth PF to the show. The day after, we had planned to go to the well known Margretetorp Inn. However, for some reason the old Plymouth decided that it didn't want to go there and refused to start. We had instead to go in our daughter and son in laws car. The food was excellent at the Inn. The day after, our Plymouth started again without any problems at all. That's the charm with old cars, they do have a will of their own!

Margretetorp Inn
When Classic Car Show was forced away from Båstad, the organizers tried to set up a show at the nearby Margretetorp Inn. The premises was a lot smaller than previous, and a couple of years with rain made it impossible to continue. So because of narrow-minded politicians Sweden lost its biggest classic car event! And classic car enthusiasts lost a meeting place.

NFV - rally and show

For about 10 years I was secretary in the local classic car club. The club was founded in 1989, and got the name Nordskånes Fordons Veteraner, NFV. You can see the logotype on the right side, with the map of Skåne inside a vintage wheel. During these years, myself and Lennart Andersson, organized a number of classic car rally. Most times we had the start in the city center of Kristianstad. It was very popular amog the spectators and draw a lot of attention. Up to 80 cars participated in the events, and given that this was a local club that was quite impressive. The main sponsor of these events was the local VW and Audi dealer, Bilcentrum. After a number of years, when Bilcentrum got new owners, the rally got a new sponsor. The rally changed name to Stjärnrallyt (Star rally) with the local Mercedes-Benz dealer as sponsor. This only lasted for a few years. I'm still member of the club, but no longer active in the committee. These days there's an annual autumn event in nearby Hässleholm organized by the club.

Latest update
2008-02-02

Öresund bridge - prior to opening!

In year 2000, the bridge between Malmö and Copenhagen was opened. We had however driven there before it was open to the public! During an event for the workers on the bridge and their families the club got invited to come and drive on the nearly completed bridge with our old cars. We gathered almost 100 classic cars to the event, and got to drive from Malmö all the way over to Pepparholmen where the bridge ends and the tunnel to Denmark begins. Parts of the road were not finished, so instead we had to drive on steel bridges (like the ones used by the army). Bridge workers and their families came along in our cars and got driven forth and back during the day. The sun was shining and it was a truly impressive sight to see all these classic cars driving along the almost finished bridge. Since then millions of cars has passed over the bridge, but we were among the first ones...

Copenhagen with the Imperial

It would be fun to go to Hotel Imperial in Copenhagen with one of our Imperial cars. The hotel has a garage of its own. But the question is of course if one can park a full size car in there? We will have to try it out some time...

We have however been to Copenhagen with our green 1965 Imperial Crown 4d HT. Once we drove to the Royal Opera. We found a parking space at a distance from other cars, in order to avoid scratches. When we came out after the show, a lot of people stod and admired the car!