Lots has changed over the past year and a half, but thankfully there are still some simple pleasures in life which remain very much the same.
Remarkably, the above statement doesn’t just revolve around the Covid pandemic – even if pretty much everything else seems to do so nowadays. We can probably all agree that 2020 was a bit of a bummer. Well, my 2020 hit me smack in the face as early as September 2019 when the company I was working for in the UK went down the drain. Along with 20,000 other professionals, my life was turned upside down. Luckily I found another job and relocated to Luxembourg, but frustratingly, that didn’t last. So eventually – after living abroad for all of 14 years – we relocated back to our homecountry, Denmark. At the same time, I also binned a career which I had otherwise spent 20 years building up. So yes, it’s a whole new scenery.
But it’s certainly not all bad – quite the contrary actually, as I now make a living working fulltime with my greatest passion and hobby. This spring, there’s a new and rather innovative classic car museum opening in Copenhagen called Haaning Collection, and I’m thrilled to say that I’m a part of this fabulous and very ambitious project. And that brings us to the topic of todays article…
Many of the classic cars which will shape this new museum have previously lived in a collection in western Zealand comprising well over 100 cars not to mention several motorcykles and mopeds too. Needless to say, they now need to make the 100km trip to their new home in Copenhagen. There are a few new purchases already in the new museum, but we quickly decided that the moving of cars from the old to the new museum was to be celebrated by actually driving the first two cars, while the rest will have to follow in truckloads.
So while the Danish driving season is typically kicked off on the 15th of March, that is how I found myself in the very privileged position of having a bit of an aperitif already last week.
Mikkel Thomsager from Denmark’s largest car magazine, Bil Magasinet, joined me in the old museum last Wednesday. We piled a bunch of car keys into a hat and pulled two random keys for our transport from Sæby to Copenhagen. Mikkel was truly excited with “his” 2-stroke SAAB 96 from 1967 and I must confess to being equally delighted to find the keys for the stylish Ford 26M Coupé from 1971 in my hands.
We connected the batteries, checked the fluids, fired up our two classics and headed out onto the winding backroads of western Zealand.
It was a rather foggy and chilly morning, but at least the roads were dry and the heater in the brown metallic Ford soon had me feeling nice and cosy. I could constantly hear the RING-DING-DING-DING of the 2-stroke SAAB being rev’ed enthusiastically as we made our way through the Danish countryside. Meanwhile the Ford was nothing if not sublimely comfortable. The V6 could barely be heard yet it was strong on torque, there was very little road noise, the seats were pleasingly soft and the suspension extremely cosseting. The entire driving experience was one which could easily have been expected from a much more upmarket brand.
While enjoying the day, we even had a film crew on site to document the drive. You’ll of course have to live with Mikkel and me chatting about all things classic cars in Danish, but I hope you’ll enjoy the footage nonetheless:
In some odd way, it was both a very different, but also a pleasantly familiar experience. On the one hand, I have grown used to kicking off the season with a local drive through the stunning Peak District in the UK. Just as I am very much accustomed to it usually involving my beloved BMW 2002. Now I was suddenly in Denmark and behind the steering wheel of a classic car which I had never driven before. However, it still gave me that lovely, warm and fuzzy feeling which the first drive of the season always gives me. A feeling of hope and expectations. One which invariably leaves me mentally mapping all the great drives I have planned for the coming season.
It felt good to be back in Denmark. And obviously, it felt good to be back in a classic car.
Both the SAAB and the Ford performed flawlessly on their drive to their new home in Copenhagen. They’re now resting in the new exhibition hall here at Haaning Collection while they await the arrival of the remaining cars – a broad collection ranging from a 1886 Benz Motor Patentwagen through yesteryear’s daily heroes such as the 2CV and VW Beetle to the more exotic like our Corvette C1, Jaguar E-type and of course the ultimate poster child, a fully spoilered Lamborghini Countach.
I can barely wait for my next classic drive, but truth be told, I’m even more excited about opening the doors to the new museum and inviting all of you into this fabulous universe…
Video by: Storyflight.dk
and a huge thank you to Mikkel Thomsager and Bil Magasinet for assisting to make this happen.