Reykjavík Grapevine - 23.05.2008, Síða 26

26 | Reykjavík Grapevine | Issue 06 2008 | Destination
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NARSARSSUAQ
Greenland
FAROE ISLANDS
REYKJAVÍK
AKUREYRI
EGILSSTAÐIR
WESTMAN ISLANDS
ÍSAFJÖRÐUR
VOPNAFJÖRÐUR
GRÍMSEY
KULUSUK
Greenland
NERLERIT INAAT
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NUUK
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Tucked away in the industrial part of the town
Egilsstaðir in East-Iceland, a part of the country
that most tourists will never pass, lies an enor-
mous collection of old cars that have been stored
on a tract outside the machine shop Véltækni hf.
“I have about 200 cars here,” says Valdimar
Benediktsson, owner of Véltækni hf., who has
taken it upon himself to preserve the history of the
automobile in Iceland. Benediktsson maintains
that little has been done to collect old cars that
have served their time. Mostly, people just want
to discard old cars and never see them again – a
point that is all too obvious, considering how Ice-
landers import cars at a rate that would put most
countries to shame. “I thought it was worth keep-
ing a few samples of these old cars,” Benediktsson
explains.
Although many of the cars in the collection
fall squarely under the term ‘antique,’ – as in ‘be-
fore the great oil depression antique’ – a large part
of the collection is made up of models that were
still a common sight on Icelandic roads 20-30 years
ago. Models that most people will remember, but
may not have seen for decades, such as the origi-
nal Volvo L3314 Laplander or early ’70-80s models
of the Ford Escort, the Saab 99 or the Skoda 120.
“At first I just collected American cars,”
Benediktsson explains. “I have a motto: cars are
made in the U.S.A. – beware of replicas!” Although
this operation is exclusively a hobby, Benedikts-
son has gone through great pains to hunt down
and fetch some of these cars. “This is mostly just
an inconvenience for me. And it has cost me a lot
of money as well. I have gone all the way to Reyk-
javík to fetch cars that I thought were worth keep-
ing.”
Text by Sveinn Birkir Björnsson
Photo by GAS
Dead Cars
Society