Halsingland-Detroit of Sweden.

I thought Sweden only made cars like Volvo and SAAB, but I was so wrong. In the beginning of the 20th century there were many more car models produced in Sweden. by Jan Silèn. Translation Ellen Kay Krantz.

Many car makers searched for luck in this country just like inUSA but very few actually found it. The makers failed because of lack of financing, lack of quality in their products and bad performance outcomes. Who would want to buy a noisy horse wagon with an engine that you had to jump off and push uphill? During this time there were even political forces that wanted to ban cars because of disturbing noise.

Höckenström.  One of the ones in pursuit of happiness was the locomotive driver Lars Höckenström in Bollnas that started making the car Höckenström. You would know the car was home made by a farmer. Every bolt and screw in this two cylinder homemade engine had its own pattern that only fit in its own place. The engine only had a few hp and the buyers were not impressed by the performance. Horse and wagon actually turned out to be a faster way to travel.

The body was for the greater part made by paper material similar like the material in the Unic box. The body then was sprayed with tar. The very first Höckenström was registered in 1910. 

In the registration the vehicle was simply named: “Car”. Lars Höckenström passed away in 1928.

 

SAF. Another car produced in Bollnas was SAF (Swedish Automobile Factory). 22 cars were registered before SAF closed shop.

Regnsjöbilen. The third car from Bollnas was the Regnsjö car. The first car completed in 1913. Records shows circa ten cars were built with different engines, one with five hp and one big one on ten.

GEA. In the Stockholm are the GEA-car (Gustav Erikssons Automobile Factory) was produced but stopped in 1909. 

 

Venus Bilo. Gustaf Eriksson also created a car of the future, Venus Bilo. This one entered the market in 1933 and was inspired by Volvo PV 655.

ERL. In Mölndal the car ERL was made in 1939.

LT. This car was built by a grocery shop owner, Anders Rudolf Lindström in Torsby and the year was 1909.

Tjorven. Kalmar Work Shop made these for the Postal Service.

 

Why Not. Engineer Börje Hallèn, Motala. A body of Masonite was placed over an homemade frame. The engine was a two cylinder Husqvarna with 13 hp. The year was 1948. Only one car was made.

Cederholm. Brothers Anders and Jöns Cederholm from Ystad started in 1890 to build a steam driven car with a mounted motor. When it was time for a test run in 1892 it mostly went straight ahead. The steering left a lot to be desired. It contained of a stiff axle with a centered plug a so called Pilot steering, just like the ones on horse wagons. The test drive ended with a sudden collision at the side of the road and towing had to be performed with horse.

Car in moonlight. The first speed ticket given in Sweden was in Stockholm where the driver was given a ticket for driving in the dark on a moonlit road. The Police Officer ran past the car and handed over the ticket.

There have probably existed more car models in this country, possibly every town had one car maker in pursuit of success. Maybe, if we’d been lucky we would have become like USA with several makes and more, pretty, chrome-full vehicles.

Sources: Special fordon, Små bilar och Hobbybilar i Sverige.