Stuff Swedish People Like: American Vintage Cars

There is a rumour circulating that the country in the world which has the largest amount of vintage American cars is Sweden. And supposedly, when the dollar is strong compared to the Swedish krona, the cars are "re-imported" back to the USA, and when the krona is stronger, more vintage cars are brought to Sweden (usually wrecks, or renovation objects). To Swedish men, things don't get more manly than having an old American classic with a V8 engine in the garage.

This is a little bit of a class issue, men from the working- or middle classes just can't get enough of the American dream. Swedish men have seen these big old cars in movies and TV shows since they were small, and are convinced that they are the ultimate symbol of rock'n'roll kickass cool manliness. The Swede who owns a car from the '50's is usually a working class guy, probably part of a group called "Raggare". Raggare started appearing in cities in the early '60's, and are still frequent in small villages. They use their cars for cruising in convoys. These guys spend thousands of hours in a garage to renovate a car to the point where it looks better than brand new. Or they go the other way and just drive a wreck full of drunken friends.

The Swede with an American car from the '60's is usually a bit more sophisticated, he probably listens to Bob Dylan or The Stones, and works in middle management. Muscle cars have made a huge rise in popularity the last few years. Often bought by rock stars, art directors, interior architects or Flash designers, they can be seen outside the hippest restaurants and bars in Stockholm. These muscle cars are often put out for sale, since these inner city media guys don't know squat about engines, and soon run up huge tabs at local car mechanics, who can hustle the crap out of these car-amateurs, to pay for their own vintage American cars.

Newer American SUV's and pickups are hugely popular with carpenters and builders. The bigger the better is the motto, and they will gladly spend half their paycheck on gasoline. Eventhough they just drive themselves to work in their supersized pickups with chrome rims, they feel happy and cool, and are assured a huge stake at being very manly. They are also popular among families with many children, since they often have seven or more seats. Soccer-moms love them, but are looking into the Lexus 400 hybrid mini-SUV or similar, since large SUV:s are frowned upon by many SAAB- and Volvo owners who believe they drive environmentally friendlier cars, and are planning to buy Priuses.

There is also a big hot rod and lowrider scene in Sweden, with surprisingly large groups of people into rockabilly, looking cooler and being more knowledgeable about vintage Americana than the Americans themselves. These people usually have 50's hairstyles and clothes, and are covered with tattoos of hot rods, devils, and Betty Page-looking girls. Most of them play in rockabilly bands, that are more authentic than the American rockabilly bands were in the '50's. if you want to get to know Swedish men, you can always talk about cars. If you know a little about older V8's you will have hours of conversation material with many of them. If not, you can just agree on how "mushy" American cars are, and that the road handling is awful!