Detour Pit Stop #130: Härnösand Car Museum, Sweden
Sweden’s largest car museum is home to over 300 classic vehicles, as well as an extensive collection of Barbie dolls.
Don’t worry, this is definitely a museum of cars, but a proper effort has been made to make it not just a history of transport, but of social history too. Trends in fashion, technology and lifestyle are explored, which gives entertaining context to what is a mahoosive collection of vehicles. There’s said to be more than three hundred, but I was too lazy to count, and although not all cars are accompanied by details in English, I’d set aside the best part of a day to explore. The automotive variety extends from two wheels to four.
Crammed in, but not quite bumper to bumper, the beautifully preserved vehicles, which date back to the earliest years of motoring, are tidily arranged in themed areas. Which includes, of course, a showcase of pristine Volvos. In contrast to Sweden’s practical native marque, gas-guzzling plus-sized yank tanks have been awarded a fair amount of floor space. From Fords to Pontiacs, Plymouths and Cadillacs, pretty much every brand of car manufactured on American soil is present.
The reason, it’s safe to assume, is to cater to the tastes of the Swedish raggare – a pop-culture tribe of rock'n'rollers that’s devoted to the 1950s. As the driving force behind the Scandinavian country’s bounty of US-born classic cars – over 5,000 are imported from the States every year – it’s believed more American classics reside here than anywhere else in the world.
With such a love of Americana, it’s no surprise then that Barbie, the all-American icon, gets to have her moment too. Accessorised by a variety of motors, from a red Ferrari to a flame-covered Harley, each 11.5-inch-tall doll is dressed to match her ride. It was in 1962 that Barbie first got to rev an engine, but rather than a Chevrolet Corvette – which is widely considered America’s sports car – Mattel gave her a British-made Austin-Healey 3000 MKII.
Out in the open air, the museum’s very own automotive graveyard is a cornucopia of rust-tinged curiosity. The final resting place for models including a 1927 Buick and 1958 Standard Vanguard saloon, there’s something a little melancholy about seeing manmade objects stripped bare of their industrialised sheen, but back in the main exhibition, it’s the rather harrowing mannequin of Mr Bean that’s most likely to give you nightmares.
What started as a way to save for retirement has turned into a passion project for Härnösand’s owner, Calle Lundkvist. Constantly evolving, it’s now a pit stop for the car-loving public – though I’d give the coffee in the cafe a miss – and has helped put the coastal city of Härnösand on the road trippers map.
Words & Photography Charlotte Vowden Instagram
ROADBOOK
CLASS: Museum
NAME: HÄRNÖSAND CAR MUSEUM
ROUTE: DJUPHAMSVÄGEN 4, 871 45 HÄRNÖSAND, EXIT 239
COUNTRY: Sweden
Sweden’s largest car museum is home to over 300 classic vehicles, as well as an extensive collection of Barbie dolls.