Cars of Finnish Immigrants

[kpaavola Registered Find all posts View Profile Close kpaavola]

Seeing Cooper's beautiful photo of the car (and the incredible building in the background) made me think about a new thread showing pictures of cars that our immigrant ancestors might have had. I wonder what they thought of it (owning a big fancy car and all) as I suspect this wasn't the norm back in Finland.

Here's a photo of my paternal grandparents and their new car. It was taken circa 1922 and my father is the young boy in the middle.

[kpaavola Registered Find all posts View Profile Close kpaavola]

Sorry for the big photo. This was AFTER I resized it.

[Gita Wiklund Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Gita Wiklund]

Come on Kevin! Are u sure u don´t mean to impress on Cooper the old american way?

[Hasse Admin Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Hasse]

The American size cars...

Since Kevin has tooo big cars for Finlander I took the liberty to resize the car to fit European standards...

[Gita Wiklund Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Gita Wiklund]

ooops

Forgot the main message: Great picture! Don´t you wish you still had the car?

[kpaavola Registered Find all posts View Profile Close kpaavola]

You all are too funny! It was early this morning and I had only started my 1st cup of coffee (not instant!). That's what I get for playing instead of getting ready for work!

It would be interesting to see if any of you in Finland/Sweden have similar type of pictures from the turn of last century. Would it have been common for them to make such a purchase?

Gita, do I ever wish I had that car!

[kpaavola Registered Find all posts View Profile Close kpaavola]

Oh, and thank you, Hasse.....

.....for your master editing skills!

[D.Frilund Registered Find all posts View Profile Close D.Frilund]

Cars in Finland

Autos in Finland:

-The first auotomobile in Finland was owned
by a businesman named Victor Forselius.(a Swedefinn??)
This was in the year 1900. The car was a Benz Velo Comfortable.

-in 1922, registered cars: 2 591 and of those 1131
private cars. In 1927 about 17 000 private cars.

-population in Finland during that time about 3-4 million people.

-owning a car was not so common in those days, they were expensive, after the second world war cars became more usual.

I attached a picture showing my grandfather
and grandmother with their first car in 1927.
The place is what I think Nedervetil Ostrobthnia, where
they both were working as teachers. Is this car a Ford? Could someone recognize? The car driver is probably a employee
from the car-sellers company.

Cars, cars... and what about boats!

[granskare Registered Find all posts View Profile Close granskare]

Relatives in Finland had a 59 Pobeda

I can't find much in the way of pics of actual vehicles but think people might find this interesting.
The car is not the actual car so maybe not suited for this thread.
I visited the farm near Voltti in 1960 and one day an "uncle' pulled in with his brown Pobeda car.
The next time we were to the farm, I asked Jari about the Pobeda and he took me into a small wooded area and there it was without anything of value on it

Chuck

[kpaavola Registered Find all posts View Profile Close kpaavola]

Equal opportunity

Seeing Chuck's message reminded me of a photo from my mom's side of the family. This photo was taken of my mom's family in the 1930s. I can count at least 6 kids in the back seat.

[kpaavola Registered Find all posts View Profile Close kpaavola]

Gita, this car looks even bigger than my father's family's car!

[Gita Wiklund Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Gita Wiklund]

Kevin,

Wow....

I regret that I can´t come up with anything even bigger. All I know is that my dads first car was a.... Ford Anglia Not much to brag about. But it was cute! I know there is a picture somewhere, but not yet in my computer. I don´t think my grandfather had a car.

I love these old pictures. Thank you all for sharing them!

Gita

[syrene Registered Find all posts View Profile Close syrene]

Dancing car

Hi all!
No picture available, but SFHS just received a package of clippings from Karen Berg Douglas, including one "Dancing Car". It was designed by a Swedish Finn in the US.
Syrene

[Karen Douglas Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Karen Douglas]

Dancing Auto

I must confess, that as a journalist, I was somewhat skeptical when I first heard about this "Dancing Automobile," but I am happy to say that the packet of information Syrene received contained a copy of a magazine article about the unique auto AND a copy of the patent!

Syrene: Just received more information on the inventor, which I will be forwarding to you.

Karen Douglas