- Title: SWEDEN-CLASSIC CARS/USA Roll over Volvo, classic Americana rolls into Sweden
- Date: 4th July 2015
- Summary: VASTERAS, SWEDEN (JULY 3, 2015) (REUTERS) WIDE/PAN SHOT OF FIELD OF VINTAGE AMERICAN CARS VARIOUS OF FLAGS OF USA AND AMERCIAN CAR CLUB OF SWEDEN VARIOUS OF JUDGES AND PRESIDENT OF AMERICAN CAR CLUB OF SWEDEN, KJELL GUSTAVSSON, INSPECTING CAR (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT OF AMERICAN CAR CLUB OF SWEDEN, KJELL GUSTAVSSON, SAYING: "Power Big Meet started in 1978, first yea
- Embargoed: 19th July 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Sweden
- Country: Sweden
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA3M2RPFYW26HE7C8DW5HTIWC1O
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: QUALITY AS INCOMING
As America gears up to celebrate Independence Day on the Fourth of July, thousands of Swedish car enthusiasts gathered in the town of Vasteras to celebrate their love of classic American automobiles.
Touted as the world's biggest American vintage car show, some 20,000 cars are expected over three days, it highlights Sweden's unusual love affair with post-War American cars, rock and roll and cultural rebellion, known as "Raggare".
As if fresh off a Detroit factory line, gleaming 1950s Cadillacs with tail fins and 1960s Chevrolet Impalas with rear lights shaped as rockets paraded through the historic, Viking-era town of Vasteras on a hot summer day.
"Power Big Meet started in 1978, first year, so this is the 38th time in 37 years," said Kjell Gustavsson, the event's organiser. "We started the first time in a small city and we had 80 cars and 400 people. And now it's grown to this tremendous, humongous thing with over 20,000 cars."
For over fifty years, American automobiles and rockabilly music have been combined in a car-cruising, beer-drinking culture the Swedes call "raggare."
"It's always been this way," 65-year-old Gustavsson said. "It started in the fifties when rich people and corporate executives, they had big Chryslers, big Cadillacs. In those days, when the car was two years old it was worth nothing, so the kids bought 'em because they could stuff eight more kids in there and share the gas costs. And that's how it started, basically."
Despite attracting unwelcome attention from the country's law enforcement community, the culture has continued to thrive, not least because of the bonds of friendship created at places like Power Big Meet.
"Most people that are here have been here for 15, 20 years. This is like they gotta go, this is where they meet all their buddies from all over the world and have a good time during the day, and at night they go and see all the cars that cruise," Gustavsson said.
Though there are almost as many veteran visitors as there are cars, there is also a growing younger demographic which attends the events, inheriting the culture, its music and symbols from their parents.
"It's because of my father. He has always had old cars and I just found them pretty and lovely," said one man.
"It's the cars, it's the power, the size of it - everything," said his female companion, part of a group of five that had driven to Vasteras from the town of Karlskrona.
For Gustavsson the new generation is welcome, and despite the American imports starting out as playthings of the rich, he believes the modern lack of snobbery helps the "raggare" culture continue to survive and thrive in Sweden.
"Nobody really cares if it's a five thousand dollar car or a five hundred thousand dollar car. We're all buddies and no-one judges the other person's car. You buy whatever you can afford and just accept the fact," he said.
In one of the world's most socially liberal countries, U.S. Confederate flags, widely viewed as a symbol of slavery, flew opposite Swedish banners, and 1950s rock and roll blared from loudspeakers hoisted on a crane.
The event, which takes place in the town of Vasteras from July 2 to July 4, is expected to attract over 20,000 vintage Cadillacs, Chryslers, Fords, Buicks, Dodges and other iconic cars produced in the golden era of US auto manufacturing in the fifties, sixties and seventies. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None