Pictures from Scandanivia [From End To Start]

[Guest watanabe]

OK. A couple of weeks ago I posted some pictures from the Eskilstuna Vederandag which may or may not have knackered up a few computers accessing the full resolution shots. I felt that resizing all of the 5000+ images I took of cars would be too much of an onerous task to do in one hit, so I'm doing them by location as and when I can be bothered.

Here's the first set, from the very end of the holiday as we travelled back from Sweden into Denmark in order to catch the ferry from Esjberg. On the way we stopped at the Sommer Motor Museum in Nærumm, which is a suburb just outside of Copehagen. Ole Sommer was a Ford and Jaguar importer of some renown in Denmark, and he also enjoyed a very strong relationship with Volvo. He was involved in several Danish project cars which are totally unknown over here.

 

This is the Øresund Bridge, the very same structure the body gets symbolically dumped across in the titular Swedish drama.

 

Many tunnels were traversed in order to get to the museum.



The museum looked very closed when we rocked up. As it turns out I'd read the opening times wrongly, and they were only open to the public on Sunday afternoons. It was Tuesday morning when we'd rocked up.
In the end, I blagged free entry for FATHA_WAT and myself by knocking on the office door and having a word with Mr. Sommer and his secretary. We couldn't pay the entry fee because the museum's card machine wasn't switched on and we had no Danish Krone. In an act of incredible kindness, the staff told us we could wander around for free provided we weren't there ages - and then turned all the lights on so we could have a look in more detail.

 

The museum itself was split into two floors. The shutters were down which created all kinds of weird lighting conditions my camera did not appreciate, so if some of the shots look a bit off, that's why. I had to do quite a bit of tweaking to get them half decent - and that's before delving into the pits of ISO hell to get the images bright enough to shoot handheld. We spent about an hour there before departing for the ferry and so as not to outstay our welcome. I offered to transfer the entrance fee later by bank transfer but they politely refused. Quite something.

 

 

 

 

The car I'd really came to see was the Sommer Amazon Special - a PV445 based coupe that pre-dates the P1800. Sommer had the car coachbuilt using a rear Amazon screen at the front and XK150 glass at the rear. Not a completely coherant shape perhaps, but extremely interesting to size up, especially with the very Floride \ Caravelle treatment of the rear deck. The rear light nacelles and lenses are standard Amazon, but everything else has been hand-fabricated.

 

Sommer was also involved in the OScar project, which mated Volvo B230 turbo mechanicals and running gear to a specially designed chassis and body - not unlike the Gen 1 consortium that briefly bought up the remains of Ginetta.

 

 

A 4 speed box and overdrive, eh? Very sporting.

 

Several Volvo 140-based Sommer Jokers were made, too.

 

 

I realised I'd only covered about a third of the museum in 25 minutes, so I had to get a shuffle on. We were still on the first floor.

[daveb47]

You can use this

http://www.fotosizer.com/

Its free and will resize all your pics in one go.

[Split_Pin]

Blimey, nice write up _WAT I didn't know about a lot if these. The P 1900 is wonderfully distinctive. The gerrymandered jeep type thing with 140 front lights is Top of the Pops also. Thanks for sharing. Ive only been to Denmark once but Sweden attracts me, even if it's just from watching all if the Wallanders.

[pompei]

Fantastic!  Thanks for sharing! 

[purplebargeken]

Wow, fantastic stuff. Thanks for sharing it with us. Loving the modded Amazon loads!

 

Saw the Gas Monkey episode with the Woodwill Wildfire - what a lovely car. 

 

Ken

[rml2345]

Some brilliant pictures Wat, really enjoyed them so far. It's a shame Volvo didn't pursue the P1900 as I think it looks pretty distinctive but I can understand why they pulled the plug.

Looking forward to the next sets!

[Pete-M]

2 dr Cortinas are ace. 1.6Ls much less so.

I nearly bought a Taunus 2.3 V6 Ghia 2 door from Switzerland, but the price negotiation broke down when I realised the owner was a humourless sod who didn't want to shift a penny on the bloody thing.

[rml2345]

ARGH Indeed! Postwar Royce is a Silver Cloud I or early II. I think the Wolesley is a prewar Hornet special but I'm not 100% sure.

[seth]

Excellent photos Wat.  That museum collection looks fascinating.

[Inspector Morose]

Excellent thread there. Sweden holds a great fascination to me having been there're a couple of time in the past few years for business. Achingly beautiful scenery and tat a plenty: it really is my kind of place.

[overrun]

Lovely pictures, mate. Here's me thinking that with a name like yours, this sort of scene wouldn't be your thing.

 

That 343 does appear to be one of the first. It should have chrome door mirrors though.

They are the metal ones, but seem to be black? Must be painted.

The only factory black 343 mirrors were plastic later ones afaik. Incidentally, I have just posted a pair today.

 

Look forward to the rest of your pics. Especially the Volvo museum.

[stuboy]

good blag into museum

[Sigmund Fraud]

[Junkman]

 

 

 

What's the going rate for these nowadays?

This reaches my want level quite nicely, thank you.

[Sigmund Fraud]

You can get a Dyna X in France for under 3K euro, but good ones are more than three times that...

[sporty-shite]

Top thread, WatZonAbe. Jut when I think it can't get better, it does. Looking forward to more.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Oooof Look at that Mazda 929 saloon! Thats just given me a massive WAJ.

[vulgalour]

What is the car on the right here?  It looks like it's a kit car, or an old car stretched to fit modern running gear, or something obscure and exotic and far too expensive.

 

 

[michiel]

A Sabre Royale perhaps? (Edit: I've robinrelianted this one, what I thought of is called a Royale Sabre... might be the one though!)

 

Superb thread Wat.

[Lukas]

 

 

Hmmm... 1985 Subaru Leone 1.8 GL Saloon. Tasty!

[outlaw118]

Dude, as always your skillz with the camera are legendary.

I appear to have shat my kecks at the sight of some of those, to the extent where I would normally try and pick a favourite, and I can't.

 

Good work Sir

 

U R GR8 EBAYER ETC