SWEDEN. On the outskirts of Solleftea is Bjorkabruk. It practically simmers of the new frontier. The new generation is in full throttle and the senior center is rebuilt to a workshop and is now the village hot spot. by Lars Krantz. Translation Ellen Kay Krantz.
Martin Erlingsson and Cecilia, Cissi Amrén/Pantsare live in a croft from 1846. When the young couple first moved in the draft was worse in the house than in a rackety Valiant with the windows rolled down.
It could easily be 52 F in the kitchen during winter before the youngsters got the fire burning.
Today the enchanting croft is going through some serious renovations and still they have some time over for cars.
Martin and Cissi are mad about Opel. They’ve got about half a dozen plus some other beauties but now everything must go. It’s shopping time for American cars. Martin’s mother drives a Dodge and Cissi hasn’t forgotten about Martin’s fatal mistake when he sold their only American, a Dart 2d ht.
Cissi came home one day and Martin had exchanged it for a jukebox which put Cissi in distress. That was the car they got together in. When the jukebox didn’t even fit through the door she got even madder. You can still see the anger when the topic of the jukebox is brought to attention.
One Opel is already heading out. The light blue low miler is on a trailer. Emil Gybo is seventeen. He’s had his eyes on it for a while and today is the day, an Opel Rekord Caravan from 1965. It’s a perfect match.
– I major in motor vehicles and am planning on putting it in everyday use, he says and turns the engine pre-heater socket under the hood.
The Caravan was previously sold to Hoof’s paper shop in Stomsund were it ran as a company car.
Today, 43 years later it’s got a mileage of 5200.
The paint has lost its glow and the hay stuck to the hubcaps tells a long story of a lot of idling.
A car free of rust with everything intact and an untouched service book in the glove compartment.
– It’s a great first car, Emil says.
– I can even have the BMX bike in the trunk.
There’s a hard rustle from chunky grovel as he jumps down from the wagon. He doesn’t say that much just pays and shakes hand in agreement. Time for drivers test is scheduled. In the fall the car will be rolling with Emil behind the wheel.
Next to the Caravan there’s a Capitan from 1950. Martin is using it as an everyday car at the moment.
– Great car, he says but he doesn’t like the upholstery.
Brown Manchester covering the seats whispers of a seventies renovation. The phone rings. A potential buyer from Gotland is calling. The replies are short, fast and easy.
All firewood hasen’t been burnt this winter. One of them keeps the carburetor in place.
The guy had a turnover of 20 cars during his first year, took out the turns during a cruising and had a first of May demonstration of his own under the influence of distillated drinks.
Today he’s an entrepreneur within industry montage and has put drinking aside.
– You get so crazy, he concludes.
It’s the same with Cissi.
– It’s way more fun to drive and be able to remember the evening the day after, she says.
- A generational shift in the neighborhood. There is a murmur in every yard and the coherency is a fact. – This is the place to live.
There are three cars in Solleftea that has to go.
A1962 Opel Rekord 2d Sedan and a 1962 Opel Rekord 2d coupe is for sale as well as a 1972 Mercedes 220D.
The Opel coupe is rust free, The Mercedes nice and more cars this couple owns are brought up.
A 1959 Olympia and a rackety Vauxhall Viktor from 1964.
Instead, it’s time for an American in the yard. Cissi browse the net.
– We don’t have a special “must have” car in mind, we can make do with a little bit of this and that. A 50’s car would be fun, she says and pulls down the zipper on her jacket when the sun makes an appearance behind the clouds and the evening heat hits the spot in front of the garage.
– What about a Dodge, or how about that Ford with a surfboard on the roof in Klippan, she adds.
The phone rings again and Martin, once again, talks about the Capitan.
He tells the caller about when he found it in a barn in Bygdsiljum.
About the upholstery from the seventies, about the drive kit from 1939 that runs perfectly and about the welding on the left door.
It’s a hot night, the sun refuses to set and the two of them are delaying going in. Emil starts his ride home with his purchased Caravan on the trailer.
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