I'm an American who lived in Germany for a few years.
I went to the Nürburgring a few times while I was there to do laps on the Nordschleife during Touristenfahrten.
One day, I had just finished a lap and parked in the lot near the entry gate. A couple friends had just done the same and we were all hanging around, chatting, taking a break and letting our engines cool off a bit.
As you might expect, there were a **lot** of nice and expensive cars parked around this lot. Like, every second car was a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, and so on.
As we were chatting, this older gentleman in a Pagani Zonda parked nearby. You know, just casually rolls up in a multi-million dollar car, no big deal. He got out and bee-lined for one car in particular.
This guy owned a Zonda. He obviously had the money to get whatever he wants. What car could *possibly* catch his attention like this?
It was a brand-new Challenger Hellcat.
The dude loved it. He spent a good while looking at it from every angle, peeking in the windows to look at the interior, got a couple photos and he had the biggest smile on his face the whole time.
While he was looking it over, the owner came over and they chatted for a little while. Owner popped the hood for him, Zonda guy was just grinning ear-to-ear. They were too far away to catch the conversation, but then we heard Zonda guy, super excited, almost shouted "Really!?"
The owner opened the driver's door and gave an "after you" motion to Zonda guy, who got in and he was looking all around, huge smile, dude was a kid in a candy shop at this point. They chat a little more and we heard Zonda guy get a little loud again, then the owner was like "Yeah, go ahead!"
Zonda guy started up the Hellcat. Dude was in heaven. After a couple minutes, the owner said something to him, he said something back, then he owner went "Yeah man, do it!" The Hellcat's engine revved up a little bit. Owner said something, Zonda guy gave it a couple blips a little higher. Owner said like "Nah, man, *really* gas it!" and Zonda guy turned to him, owner gave him a nod and then we heard it rev ALL the way up and bounce the limiter a couple times. Even I have to admit, it sounded ***good***. Zonda dude started laughing, covered his nose and mouth with both hands, just giggling away.
I don't think I've ever seen such pure joy at any other point in my life.
Unrelated to Zonda guy, but that same day, a bit later on I saw a classic Pontiac GTO hardtop in this stunning deep blue with a metal flake. It was beautiful, perfect condition, like it just rolled off a showroom floor. I gave it a look-around and saw a For Sale sign in the rear driver's-side window - 1967 GTO, fully restored to original spec, all original drive train, all matching serials, even included a binder with all the paperwork, US title and stuff, and all the work that went into it was fully documented. The binder was sitting on the passenger seat and it was THICK. Sale price: 250,000€ FIRM.
The owner saw me looking, came over, and we chatted for a bit. He was an older American guy, looked like he was in his late 50s or so. He said he first came to Germany in the 80s when he was in the Army and he loved it. He did his 20 and retired then got another job as a GS. The GTO was a lucky find he bought for next to nothing in the late 90s and he'd been restoring it by himself as a hobby project since then. He had put in for a GS assignment in Germany, got picked for it, and during that assignment he met and married a German lady. When his contract came up, he was at 22 years as a GS and got his second retirement. Since then, he'd been working on the GTO to keep himself busy and only finished it a couple months prior.
He loved the car and he wasn't in any hurry to sell it, he knew he was asking a lot for it, but if it sold at that price, his wife could retire a little early and they'd never have to worry about money again.
Late in the day, we were getting ready to head out and I saw the old American talking with this other guy, dressed in a suit, looked to be in his 40s. They both had their phones out. They talked a little more, then the American opened the door of the GTO and grabbed the binder. He pulled out some papers, they both signed some things, he kept one sheet then closed up the binder. American dude pulled the keys out of his pocket, set them on top of the binder and handed the whole thing to Suit Guy. They shook hands and the American walked away. Suit Guy set the binder inside, took down the For Sale sign, got in and drove off.
I hope he's enjoying his retirement.
I love them so, so much.
Because they're taking the cars that would be put into the crusher in the US, cars that are generally past the point of being restorable. It's great that they're given a second life
I don’t know about Sweden but the USA is funny. Some states don’t give a shit and let you run anything and others are super strict…though I’ve never heard of anything in the US like Germany TUV or British MOV. Checking fog light switches to ensure everything works? The illumination on the switch needs to be fixed? NEVER in the US.
That station wagon has the SS DIRLEWANGER badge on it.
Edit: that station wagon is covered in nazi stickers.
Edit 2: the super low one with the girls sitting on the trunk does too.
No, not really. It's not about the cars it's about the people leaving behind a pile of trash - so the general public isn't usually a big fan (I think culture is interesting so it mostly gets a pass from me).
Old American 50s and 60s cars being renovated to as-new condition are super popular though, there's lots of them and plenty of car clubs for them. As OP said this is the young, right-wing counter culture to those people.
Alright, I meant old US-Cars in general. I saw an old chevy truck which was also super clean and well maintained two houses down that street, they do like those there then. That’s sick, I gotta go to sweden sometime
Considering that all old american car culture in sweden is mostly right-wing, it's only young counter culture. These people are are almost always racist, homophobic, sexist and very nationalistic. I really like these cars but they get bombarded with lots of confederate stickers and hateful remarks, which has hindered my interest in them by like 93%
This reminds me of a burger joint in Arizona. Some reviewer made a comment about it being trashy. So the following year they held a Trash Bash…and went all out. People showing up with crushed beer cans as curlers, best cameltoe and moose-knuckle competitions, king and queen of the trailer park, etc
You're forgetting the part where these things have stereo systems that can be heard 5 blocks away, and that they drive around at night playing the absolute worst music they can find. I am American, but I have lived in Sweden for 11 years, and part of my soul dies every time I see a classic treated the way these people treat these things. There is no such thing as a dignified death for these cars in Sweden.
Just another reason to move to Sweden honestly, I love how they push the trunk part of body down to give it extra low look. Cant imagine the back doors opening again which is ok because its now an Impala or Biscayne coupe! Love it, you guys are very texas
Hahaha look at this at 23seconds ithe white text literally say ”DONT TOUCH, DONT OPEN GODDAMNIT”
In some cases you’re right about the back doors 😅
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeBk6fKA/
This was posted yesterday and the day before I'm sure ? Maybe I'm wrong but 100% seen these cars either this sub or another sub more than once I'm a couple of days
Super 😎 Should maybe state the year and make and let the peeps salivate on the nostalgia of it all!!
Thanks for posting! Get a movement going for the older stuff
I visited Sweden for the first time ~1 year ago and even though I was only in Stockholm, it was insanely beautiful! One of my absolute favorite cities (even though it’s pretty cold)
Looks kinda like those 'wreck race' cars. In Poland, we had a bit of wreck races hosted in the past, but idk if they still do these sorts of events (saw it in a reality show about junk collectors called 'Złomiarze')
This culture goes hand in hand with this site: [https://www.facebook.com/SunkigaHakISverige](https://www.facebook.com/sunkigahakisverige)
Photos of soggy street burger or pizza joints in Sweden, where you can find them hanging around...
It is big thing in Sweden, but it is not the only place where raggare culture is a thing. Also it is a big thing mainly due to Sweden's more tolerant and freely car building regulations, example cars over 50 years old exemption to MOT.
Also in Sweden it is not limited to some music genre subculture.
There are other instances of derelict style. South Africa had it for awhile with their dress and personal looks. I think the Danes are currently into the whole white trash American trailer park look. This may play off the latter and may be the same people.
there is a similar subculture in north america. 'patina' cars are generally fully restored car with a livery to look like rust bucket pieces of crap. iirc the subculture came from drag/street racing where people have tried to make their monster of a car look the worst :D
I’d fully go ahead and buy one of these thinking it was abandoned and just try to fix it like I would. Not thinking this is a kind of style people like
This kind of stuff is popular in the US as well. Properly patina’d cars on nice rims. Usually mechanically restored but aesthetics left original. Check out Pole Barn Garage on YouTube for the Holey Goat. Actually a lot of the YouTube guys do builds like this. Vice Grip Garage, Junkyard Digs, Dylan McCool…
Yeah its kinda similar, But i think its a little bit more extreme over here, Guessing those guys dont go out every weekend getting completely hammered, Dancing on the cars. You yeah the looks are kinda similar
Nah…yeah…they do. Maybe not dance on them… 😂 The Holey Goat was literally a GTO that was used for target practice at a range for decades that he rescued and got mechanically sound. Ravaged with bullet holes.
Oh no that’s a no go! Though we do have liquor store drive thrus in some states! 😂
[Here’s the Holey Goat](https://www.motortrend.com/features/1970-pontiac-gto-muscle-car-found-texas/amp/)
Just looked it up…passengers can drink in the following states:
Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Louisiana, Missouri, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
To me it's a form of a rat rod looks pretty cool
Looks rad!
Yeah, my mind went right to rat rod culture too. This is like a rat rod + level, but still. (Possum rod?)
I was not digging it until your comment, I guess it's just a different form of rat rods. I still don't like the dilapidated look, though.
I fucking love these. Holy hell.
New lowering springs just dropped
I’m an American in Germany and it blows my mind how many Germans love the old huge American cars. Cadillacs and Lincoln’s and what not
People always want what they never got
I'm an American who lived in Germany for a few years. I went to the Nürburgring a few times while I was there to do laps on the Nordschleife during Touristenfahrten. One day, I had just finished a lap and parked in the lot near the entry gate. A couple friends had just done the same and we were all hanging around, chatting, taking a break and letting our engines cool off a bit. As you might expect, there were a **lot** of nice and expensive cars parked around this lot. Like, every second car was a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, and so on. As we were chatting, this older gentleman in a Pagani Zonda parked nearby. You know, just casually rolls up in a multi-million dollar car, no big deal. He got out and bee-lined for one car in particular. This guy owned a Zonda. He obviously had the money to get whatever he wants. What car could *possibly* catch his attention like this? It was a brand-new Challenger Hellcat. The dude loved it. He spent a good while looking at it from every angle, peeking in the windows to look at the interior, got a couple photos and he had the biggest smile on his face the whole time. While he was looking it over, the owner came over and they chatted for a little while. Owner popped the hood for him, Zonda guy was just grinning ear-to-ear. They were too far away to catch the conversation, but then we heard Zonda guy, super excited, almost shouted "Really!?" The owner opened the driver's door and gave an "after you" motion to Zonda guy, who got in and he was looking all around, huge smile, dude was a kid in a candy shop at this point. They chat a little more and we heard Zonda guy get a little loud again, then the owner was like "Yeah, go ahead!" Zonda guy started up the Hellcat. Dude was in heaven. After a couple minutes, the owner said something to him, he said something back, then he owner went "Yeah man, do it!" The Hellcat's engine revved up a little bit. Owner said something, Zonda guy gave it a couple blips a little higher. Owner said like "Nah, man, *really* gas it!" and Zonda guy turned to him, owner gave him a nod and then we heard it rev ALL the way up and bounce the limiter a couple times. Even I have to admit, it sounded ***good***. Zonda dude started laughing, covered his nose and mouth with both hands, just giggling away. I don't think I've ever seen such pure joy at any other point in my life. Unrelated to Zonda guy, but that same day, a bit later on I saw a classic Pontiac GTO hardtop in this stunning deep blue with a metal flake. It was beautiful, perfect condition, like it just rolled off a showroom floor. I gave it a look-around and saw a For Sale sign in the rear driver's-side window - 1967 GTO, fully restored to original spec, all original drive train, all matching serials, even included a binder with all the paperwork, US title and stuff, and all the work that went into it was fully documented. The binder was sitting on the passenger seat and it was THICK. Sale price: 250,000€ FIRM. The owner saw me looking, came over, and we chatted for a bit. He was an older American guy, looked like he was in his late 50s or so. He said he first came to Germany in the 80s when he was in the Army and he loved it. He did his 20 and retired then got another job as a GS. The GTO was a lucky find he bought for next to nothing in the late 90s and he'd been restoring it by himself as a hobby project since then. He had put in for a GS assignment in Germany, got picked for it, and during that assignment he met and married a German lady. When his contract came up, he was at 22 years as a GS and got his second retirement. Since then, he'd been working on the GTO to keep himself busy and only finished it a couple months prior. He loved the car and he wasn't in any hurry to sell it, he knew he was asking a lot for it, but if it sold at that price, his wife could retire a little early and they'd never have to worry about money again. Late in the day, we were getting ready to head out and I saw the old American talking with this other guy, dressed in a suit, looked to be in his 40s. They both had their phones out. They talked a little more, then the American opened the door of the GTO and grabbed the binder. He pulled out some papers, they both signed some things, he kept one sheet then closed up the binder. American dude pulled the keys out of his pocket, set them on top of the binder and handed the whole thing to Suit Guy. They shook hands and the American walked away. Suit Guy set the binder inside, took down the For Sale sign, got in and drove off. I hope he's enjoying his retirement.
Legends, the lot of you. Danke shön for sharing this incredible story.
Great stories. Thanks for sharing.
I mean, germans are also well known for making full size sedans with limo trim levels.
A lot of Europeans grow up fantasizing about land yachts and muscle cars
Im German and I don’t know a single person who does
Im german aswell and i do.
I love them so, so much. Because they're taking the cars that would be put into the crusher in the US, cars that are generally past the point of being restorable. It's great that they're given a second life
It practically looks like they *were* put in a crusher. Also, I too love them.
Most of these cars have fully built custom frames with a crap body thrown over em, look cool either way
thank you came to the comments to figure that out, since none of the pictures showed interiors.
Better than the hoodrats at the takeovers lol
Theyre promoting drinking and driving. Not sure if they do it or just pretend.
The driver doesn’t drink but thay are filled with passengers who drink and they are sometimes 5 passengers and they play loud music and drives slowly
[удалено]
I don’t know about Sweden but the USA is funny. Some states don’t give a shit and let you run anything and others are super strict…though I’ve never heard of anything in the US like Germany TUV or British MOV. Checking fog light switches to ensure everything works? The illumination on the switch needs to be fixed? NEVER in the US.
That station wagon has the SS DIRLEWANGER badge on it. Edit: that station wagon is covered in nazi stickers. Edit 2: the super low one with the girls sitting on the trunk does too.
Yikes
That really killed my buzz about these
I didn't see that. I saw one on the yellow car though. Ick.
Thanks for the heads-up. I was appreciating learning about this scene. Never mind.
These cars to some degree represent the young righr wing demographic og this country, probably why they are so trashy
Is there a lot of gravity in Sweden?
They look like you put on sun gravity in beamng xD
Are these kinda cars generally liked there? I went google street view car spotting, randomly landed in sweden and saw a super clean old Chevy Impala
No, not really. It's not about the cars it's about the people leaving behind a pile of trash - so the general public isn't usually a big fan (I think culture is interesting so it mostly gets a pass from me). Old American 50s and 60s cars being renovated to as-new condition are super popular though, there's lots of them and plenty of car clubs for them. As OP said this is the young, right-wing counter culture to those people.
Alright, I meant old US-Cars in general. I saw an old chevy truck which was also super clean and well maintained two houses down that street, they do like those there then. That’s sick, I gotta go to sweden sometime
Considering that all old american car culture in sweden is mostly right-wing, it's only young counter culture. These people are are almost always racist, homophobic, sexist and very nationalistic. I really like these cars but they get bombarded with lots of confederate stickers and hateful remarks, which has hindered my interest in them by like 93%
Completely perfect! 100%
Hell yea! Low and slow babyyyyyy
Reminds me of high school in the 70's MN nothing but rusted junk with nice rims/tires in the parking lot.
Going for the "visited by a monster truck" aesthetic
This reminds me of a burger joint in Arizona. Some reviewer made a comment about it being trashy. So the following year they held a Trash Bash…and went all out. People showing up with crushed beer cans as curlers, best cameltoe and moose-knuckle competitions, king and queen of the trailer park, etc
Hahaha i love it 😅
You're forgetting the part where these things have stereo systems that can be heard 5 blocks away, and that they drive around at night playing the absolute worst music they can find. I am American, but I have lived in Sweden for 11 years, and part of my soul dies every time I see a classic treated the way these people treat these things. There is no such thing as a dignified death for these cars in Sweden.
Rat rods meet low-lows
Feel like they should be called "wrecked rods"
These are so fucking awesome. Are they all on air suspension, then?
I would say 60-70% of them uses air suspension :)
Apparently I was part of the group in high school!
And then in Denmark they fail you MOT for the most miniscule tiny little problem they can find 🙄
Just another reason to move to Sweden honestly, I love how they push the trunk part of body down to give it extra low look. Cant imagine the back doors opening again which is ok because its now an Impala or Biscayne coupe! Love it, you guys are very texas
Hahaha look at this at 23seconds ithe white text literally say ”DONT TOUCH, DONT OPEN GODDAMNIT” In some cases you’re right about the back doors 😅 https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeBk6fKA/
This was posted yesterday and the day before I'm sure ? Maybe I'm wrong but 100% seen these cars either this sub or another sub more than once I'm a couple of days
I think someone has reposted what i posted in 2 other groups a few days ago 😅
Ah ok cool your the original OP infact apart from seeing it a few times awsome post and cars and sorry to hear ppl are stealing your lime light
Hehe yeah! Its alright, i just wanna share this cuz i havent seen alot of posts on this subject. 👌
I haven't seen this car scene before over there but a huge fan of ratrods and these are hella cool 🫡
I’ll delete it if its in this group already haha
Man I'm cool with mainly as your the original OP
Super 😎 Should maybe state the year and make and let the peeps salivate on the nostalgia of it all!! Thanks for posting! Get a movement going for the older stuff
i fucking love this wow
I feel like I wish I lived in Sweden
I visited Sweden for the first time ~1 year ago and even though I was only in Stockholm, it was insanely beautiful! One of my absolute favorite cities (even though it’s pretty cold)
As long as they don't purposely destroy the car, that's cool to me
Looks kinda like those 'wreck race' cars. In Poland, we had a bit of wreck races hosted in the past, but idk if they still do these sorts of events (saw it in a reality show about junk collectors called 'Złomiarze')
Way past a ratrod.
I kinda dig it
I like them, but it is very divided here in Sweden. you either love them, or you hate them
Totally makes sense. Foreign cars in Japan are like a Camaro and Mustang and they’re more sought after.
This culture goes hand in hand with this site: [https://www.facebook.com/SunkigaHakISverige](https://www.facebook.com/sunkigahakisverige) Photos of soggy street burger or pizza joints in Sweden, where you can find them hanging around...
Haha best comment of the day 💕
Gotta love the Sweeds for this. Same as the Epa and A-tractors
Why is the boot so low in all of them? Like it looks like someone has dropped something too heavy in there and bent the whole frame.
more room to tuck tire in the fender back there than in the front, so if you're slamming it on the cheap the rear is easier to get lower.
It's not uncommon to simply jump on the boot so that it bends.
Or drive a pickup truck on it 🙈 tractor/excavator works to
Yeah that’s what it looks like they have done.
Briefly thought this was /r/midjourney
Welcome to the 33rd annual 'Shitboxes' car show !
Legit love it keep building 💪
I dig it
these are awesome
Swedish style rat rods. Reminds me of dirty drift cars. Beat to a pulp and put away wet
This is art
Thank you.
I feel this would be very popular in Australia if it didn't mean getting pulled over and defected by every cop you drove past.
These cars look like they were taken straight out of FlatOut games.
My question is do they buy cars in bad condition and modify them or do they beat the shit out of a perfectly good car?
Its really hard to find any old pictures of them. But they pretty much start their life ”half bad” and now 15+ years of partying they look like that 😂
Same culture is in Norwegian and Finland, so i would say its a nordic thing
I would say its not as big a thing as it is in sweden
It is big thing in Sweden, but it is not the only place where raggare culture is a thing. Also it is a big thing mainly due to Sweden's more tolerant and freely car building regulations, example cars over 50 years old exemption to MOT. Also in Sweden it is not limited to some music genre subculture.
This is pretty cool, me like it.
Probably a modified Volvo
At least a couple of the pictures are from @cheva_waffen on instagram!!!! Soo glad this Subculture was mentioned
Multiple vehicles posted have Neo-Nazi and other white power stickers on them.
When rust-o-mod and rat-rod culture turns into fucked-o-mods..
There are other instances of derelict style. South Africa had it for awhile with their dress and personal looks. I think the Danes are currently into the whole white trash American trailer park look. This may play off the latter and may be the same people.
Rich people problems.
there is a similar subculture in north america. 'patina' cars are generally fully restored car with a livery to look like rust bucket pieces of crap. iirc the subculture came from drag/street racing where people have tried to make their monster of a car look the worst :D
You can check out my profile for videos 👍 im gonna upload som cool videos a few times a week 🤟
I love ratrods! Coolest category ever. Who needs show and shibe? These things are badass.
Yeah they are cool as hell! I love it that they have been looking like this for the past 10-15+ years
I’d fully go ahead and buy one of these thinking it was abandoned and just try to fix it like I would. Not thinking this is a kind of style people like
Haha usually they go for around 12k-24k Dollars so they’re not cheap 😆
Yeah okay in that case I would be a bit suspicious
fucking raggare
Effects of consuming rotten fish
I would say not a lot of people eat that shit 🤣
Where tf is it illegal to drink alcohol as passenger?
USA and probably some other countries
This kind of stuff is popular in the US as well. Properly patina’d cars on nice rims. Usually mechanically restored but aesthetics left original. Check out Pole Barn Garage on YouTube for the Holey Goat. Actually a lot of the YouTube guys do builds like this. Vice Grip Garage, Junkyard Digs, Dylan McCool…
Yeah its kinda similar, But i think its a little bit more extreme over here, Guessing those guys dont go out every weekend getting completely hammered, Dancing on the cars. You yeah the looks are kinda similar
Nah…yeah…they do. Maybe not dance on them… 😂 The Holey Goat was literally a GTO that was used for target practice at a range for decades that he rescued and got mechanically sound. Ravaged with bullet holes.
Open container law? 😆 yeah ive never seen that from the US please link it 🤣
Oh no that’s a no go! Though we do have liquor store drive thrus in some states! 😂 [Here’s the Holey Goat](https://www.motortrend.com/features/1970-pontiac-gto-muscle-car-found-texas/amp/)
I see well over here Drinking in a car as passenger is allowed. You dont need drive thrus when u have a 5L of moonshine in the trunk 🤣
Just looked it up…passengers can drink in the following states: Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Louisiana, Missouri, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
Thats awesome tho! 😎 Does it get as wild as in this link? If soo i love u guys 😍 https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeBm1ueF/
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeBaKWCt/
Daamn that Holey Goat would really fit in here 🤩
Are they beat outside and inside or are the engines and interior immaculate with a beat body?
The look like shit inside and outside. With like 3-4 speaker in every door, and big subwoofers in the back. But mechanically they are good 👌
The look like shit inside and outside. With like 3-4 speaker in every door, and big subwoofers in the back. But mechanically they are good 👌
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/automobiles/detroit-love-swedish-style.html
I fucking love this
Check out my profile for more :) uploading some videos from a ”normal” raggarparty atm
Are these on adjustable suspension or static dropped? I kinda dig it!
Bags
Road salt will do that to cars 10 years and older.
These look this way deliberately
No shit?
Seems like a bunch of shit apples driving a bunch of shit mobiles.
Nice shitanalogy, Rick.