The Svenska Volvo PV-klubben almanac 2009
The text for each months picture
are published in English translation here

Translation by Dan Jansson

2008 almanack texts here
2007 almanack texts here
2006 almanack texts here
2005 almanack texts here

Almanach texte auf Deuch hier  

Cover

The square in Öregrund in the beginning of the 1960:s. The cars are nothing but Volvo, Saab, Opel, Volkswagen and Morris. The only slightly odd species is the grey car underneath the Gulf sign; a Ford Anglia 105E

January
Perhaps it is a Sunday or a holiday, because it looks rather dark inside the Hjort´s newsstand at the Valhallavägen 39 in Ludvika. It is anyhow not closed for a longer period since the chewing gum vending machine has been left on the stairs.
Should one need something to read from the Hjort magazine vending machine is always open.
Mattläggare Johnny Hultberg is probably at home. His pearl-grey PV444HS 1954 is parked in front of the house..

February
Here are the maid hunters from Byske in Västerbotten ready for yet another Saturdays dance. From left is Erik “Smisse” Nilsson,  Sten Stenberg, Gunnar Sandström and Janne Johansson.
They have spent several hours in order to conceal the real identity of their cars. “Smisse” has mounted a non split window on his car. Sten has put an extra chrome trim on the hood, changed the grille and added front flashlights. Also Janne has changed the grille in order to conceal that his car in fact is from 1951. They seem to be satisfied with the result.
The picture is from the beginning of the 1960:s

March

The picture is from Västerhaninge south of Stockholm and shows the Håga Mill & sawmill in flames in the middle of the 1060:s
Håga Mill & sawmill was in operation until 1952. Later it became an engineering workshop managed by Erland Österberg.
1958 the premises were too small for the operation and the company moved to Skåne.

April
Woodsman Ivar Sundberg has stopped at Jönssons grocer´s shop and petrol station in Lillögda south of Lycksele. He has filled the PV from 1964 with Premium fuel from the Star pump with two stripes that means 97 octane. One stripe means Regular 93 octane and the pump without stripes contains diesel fuel.
Ivar Sundberg lives his whole life in Långbäcken in Åsele. He was born in 1917 and started working in the woods when he was young. He did not obtain a drivers license until in the 1960:s and then he also bought his first PV. After that he never changed brand.
Here he is about to change spark plugs. If you look really close you can see that it is Bosch W175.

May
Ulf Andersson is demonstrating the “Washing elephant” at the Expo-Norr exhibition in July 1977. Today we would probably call it a high pressure washer.
Note the two small boxes on the wall above the PV. Those are junction boxes from the telephone company, commonly called  mouse trap boxes because of the spring loaded lid that almost always would squeeze the fingers of the repair man. This type of junction boxes are still in use but instead of only telephony today also broadband and TV runs through these almost eternal products from L M Ericsson. The car is a PV 544B 1960/61.

June
This year’s holiday picture shows the camping grounds at Torekov, ten km west of Båstad. This is in the beginning of the 1960:s and the caravans have started to appear on the camping grounds. To the left is an SMV  10 with a Peugeot 403 as towing car. The Volvo owners seem to like living in tents.
Up front is a maroon red PV444ES 1953 that has had an upgrade to the 1957 grille, to the right is a midnight blue PV544A 1958 and in the middle an early Amazon (P121). 

July
The first one to leave the car ferry at the Vallsundet outside Östersund is merchantman Folke Nilsson from Revsund in a 1953 Duett with curtains. After him comes Karol Olsson from Dvärsätt in his PC444ES 1953 and next is a Morris Minor.
The car ferry line was between Genvalla on the mainland and Valla och the island Frösön until 1998. Already in 1934 a plan was established for a bridge across the Vallsundet but it took almost 60 years before the proper location of the bridge was decided.
On the ferry we can see as many as three Citroen B11, three Volkswagen, two German Ford; one Taunus 12M and one Eifel. In the rear is a Ford V8 truck from 1946.

August
In May 1958 MHF arranged a kind of traffic investigation in order to check how well the car drivers adhered to the traffic rules. Here two boy scouts have been placed on a street near the Östersund tennis hall at the Samuel Perman street.
The tennis hall was built in 1937. The architect was Cyrillus Johansson, more famous for the Årsta bridge in Stockholm from 1929.
The PV in the rear is a 444LS from 1957

September
The motor company Malte Månsson´s export salesmen shown ready for yet another tour abroad.
To the far left is Algot Åbom with his rebuilt 1953 Duett. The modification can not be seen on the picture but it has one single rear door instead of the two original doors.
In the middle is a brand new Duett with red plates. It comes from the Blekinge banch. This car has been equipped with a couple of flashlights in the forward fenders.
To the right is smiling Stig Svensson by a very early Duett. This is obvious when you see the bumper horns that only were fitted on the earliest cars.
The picture was taken on the Hamngatan in Linköping 1954

October
Please dad, can´t we buy a PV Sport.
The father does not seem equally enthusiastic.
The three gents in the rear seem to have opted for a SAAB. Perhaps a 93 with rear hanged doors or the newer  96 beside.
The Bilbolaget was founded in 1932 by brothers Sven and Gustaf Persson and obtained the agency for Volvo in Jämtland from the beginning. The picture was taken in 1962 at the Bangatan in Östersund where Bilbolaget had it´s used cars sale.
Here you could find a variety of Volvo cars, from a six years old PV444KS to the almost impossible dream car – an Amazon Sport.
Note the opened key cabinet in the far right where all the keys to the cars were stored.

November
Today it might look  incredible but in the 1950:s any object was possible on a postcard. Here the sports ground Tallevi outside Vislanda not far from Växjö has been pictured.
Up front concrete worker Tor Larsson has parked his Saab 92B 1955 followed by a M.G. Magnett Mk II, Volkswagen 1200, Volvo PV544 and a DKW 3=6. To the far right is a red and white Lloyd Arabella.

December
The picture was taken in Bydalen a spring day 1963.
Bydalen is a mountain area some 50 km west of Östersund. Already in the beginning of the 1900:s the first tourists came here to ski and walk in the mountains. 1962 the first ski lift was inauguratedm at that time the longest in Sweden.
Everyone seems to want to try the novelty. They all have ski racks on their cars. One of them is Timo Kaikonen from Fåker south of Östersund. He has parked his PV544C 1961/62 up front. Further back you can see a one year older PV544, Mercedes Benz 190, Mercedes Benz 219 or 220, PV544 and Ford Falcon. To the far right behind the lady with skis on her shoulder you can see a Simca Aronde

Research and picture texts: Magnus Björkquist and Dan Jansson
Coloring: Göran Blomquist
Graphic design: Dan Jansson

Printing: PrintGraf Stockholm 2008

 Latest update January 24 2009