Sweden’s Ingmar Bergman is world-renowned as one of the greatest movie directors of all time, the creator of The Seventh Seal and other classics in a career that spanned more than half a century. The remote Baltic island of Faro, population 572 in 2007, was of central importance to his life and career, the location of many of his films and his home from 1967 to his passing in 2007. The reclusive Bergman did not open his home to an interviewer until 2004, for a TV documentary series released as Bergman Island. A Ford Mustang II is the last thing that anyone would expect to see on the set while a brilliant artist opens up to the public for the first time on a remote location in Europe, but there one was, parked in the background and immortalized for film fans. Almost a decade before the word “photobomb” entered the Oxford English Dictionary, it was an automotive photobombing of the first order.
Sweden being a country known for its many American classic cars, the presence on Faro of a Ford from America is hardly surprising, even on an island with only a few hundred automobiles. The Ford being a Mustang II is surprising, however, since Swedes are known for favoring full size Yank Tanks with big V-8s, the full calorie American car experience. The Mustang II – the least desirable Mustang from the Malaise Era, widely condemned including here – evidently had a fan on Faro, who may have gone to some lengths to learn where and when the interview shoot would occur and park his car there at the right time. The bright blue Mustang II coupe ended up becoming a central element in the scene, with the interview seemingly revolving around it.
The underdog Mustang II may have been a good metaphor for the struggling young version of himself that Bergman described in the interview.
Like the Mustang II giving way to the Fox platform Mustang in 1978 and adding the High Output 5.0 in 1982, Bergman grew after his early problems and prospered, starting with advice and support from Victor Sjostrom, one of the most distinguished figures in Swedish cinema before Bergman. The Mustang II appears to stand in place of Victor Sjostrom at this point in the interview.
The Mustang II made an appearance in only this one scene. It was not one of Bergman’s own cars, which were far more appropriate for a distinguished European living in the country: a Mercedes-Benz Geländewagen, a 1980 230G short wheelbase two door wagon in particular, and a 1980 Mercedes-Benz 500SE sedan. Bergman’s two Mercedes, each with only approximately 80,000 km, were sold to collectors at auction in 2009 for the surprisingly low prices of just over 200,000 Swedish kronor, or 20,000 Euros, each. The uncelebrated local Mustang II may after 11 years have also moved on to another owner, who may or may not know about its role in cinematic history. If anyone spots a blue Mustang II coupe parked curbside in Sweden, it may be this very car, and probably available for a small fraction of 200,000 kronor.
CC Global: American Classics of Sweden
Curbside Classic: 1976 Mustang II Cobra II — Ford’s Deadly Sin II
Interesting color scheme on the Mustang II. Or maybe it had some serious rust repair done to it!
nothing says malaise era like a mustang ii. i wonder what attracted a swedish collector to it.
It’s not such a big enigma as it would seem. All of the pics on the top of this article is not from the island of Fårö, but from the backlot of SF’s film studio in Stockholm. SF, Svensk Filmindustri, was the major production company in Sweden, and they had their own little shop in what’s called “Filmstaden”, literally, “Film City”. Bergman made many of his productions on their lots, and probably had an office there until the day he died. He had an office at the Royal Dramatic Theatre though he hadn’t been working there since before his retirement. He was a national monument of sorts. And that’s why they are there, filming for that documentary.
There has always been a small trickle of American cars sold in Sweden, officially imported or through private channels. Because of the abundance of Mustang II’s from the 70’s, I’d dare say they were imported officially. And Filmstaden is located right smack into the middle of central Stockholm. So, unusual as though it is, it isn’t more unusual than that you could probably see an old Volvo parked curbside in any random documentary about Hollywood. I have no idea what the car did there, though. It’s displayed quite prominently, perhaps it was part of some set? Filming a commercial or something.
I have written about Bergman and his Mercedeses previously, this is what I had to say about them last time:
“Curiously enough, Swedish director Ingmar Bergman owned an early SWB 230G that he used at his summer house at the island of Fårö, Sweden. He famously went into tax exile into Germany between 1976-84, working as a theatre director at the Residenz Theatre of Munich.
Living in Germany, he acquired two Mercedeses, both model year 1980, neither of which was available for sale in Sweden at the time. He used the G-Wagen for his summer house, and an S-class to ferry vip-guests the way from the airport in Stockholm by ferry the long way to Fårö. The S-class was a 500SE, and the 500 wasn’t for sale in Sweden until the early 80’s. As an ex-pat moving back to Sweden, he was exempt from the regulations, and allowed to register the cars as private imports in Sweden.
“On 30 January 1976, while rehearsing August Strindberg’s Dance of Death at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, he was arrested by two plainclothes police officers and charged with income tax evasion. The impact of the event on Bergman was devastating. He suffered a nervous break-down as a result of the humiliation and was hospitalized in a state of deep depression.” ”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filmstaden
International celebs often have tax issues, either through carelessness or ambiguous legalities. Brit writer P.G. Wodehouse, after taking up residence in the USA, wound up in trouble with tax authorities in both countries, so while he eventually resolved it, he moved to France hoping to avoid further trouble, where events & the Wehrmacht caught up with him in 1940; he was interned along with other Brit civilians. “If this is Upper Saxony, one wonders what Lower Saxony must be like.” Some of his captors were also his fans.
Seem tax evasion prosecution was a big deal back then. I have a Swedish friend who had a restaurant, several apartment buildings and several nightclubs of the type not seen in the U.S. Those are where he made his money. Well his tax trouble started when he was informed his taxes were something like 110% of his income. Naturally couldn’t pay it so he got jail time. Once in jail he began to operate the black market concessions and was able to park his 1970 Mach I inside the prison. Guards allowed it.
After awhile they kicked him out more than released him and he went back to his businesses. Then the authorities came knocking again and he took off. Now Interpol was involved so he hid in Thailand for a few years. Next went to Mexico and crossed the border at San Ysidro in 1982. Made his way to San Francisco and managed to import gray market Mercedes. In 1985 he started his antique business where he flew to Asia to buy for clients. He was very good at it not to mention an excellent chef.
He was able to go to Europe in the second half of the 90’s for antiques. he then became a US citizen and ventured into Sweden. Apparently Sweden wasn’t interested anymore and he was even able to register for his pension. Why not since they took his apartments. Now retired at 72. He did introduce me to good vodka, those crayfish that you can keep, and ligon berry.
Ingvar,
I stand corrected about the location. I assumed that it was on Faro like most of the documentary interviews, quite incorrectly. I suspected earlier that the design and color of the buildings looked too “generic central Stockholm” to be on Faro, and I should have looked further into that suspicion.
Regarding the Mercedes 230G and 500SE, I find it interesting that the auction prices for them were not especially high, by U.S. standards for both low-mileage examples of those cars and for celebrity cars especially. Were they actually fairly high by standards in Sweden, for both the cars themselves and celebrity cars?
Old S-classes are a dime a dozen in Sweden, you can buy a run down W126 for two thousand dollars. And drive it to the ground. Because it really needs parts for another ten thousand dollars. And you very rarely see an old S-class for sale in the ten to twenty thousand dollars, simply because people are not prepared to pay that much for a thirty-forty year old car. It hasn’t yet achieved classic status, and if you want to buy a cheap classic, this is were you start.
You can have a nice W108 250S or 280SE for about five thousand dollars, and that would get you a pretty nice and decent everyday classic. There are tons of cheap S-classes out there, like the W108, W116, W126. Even newer cars like the W140 and W220 are down to under ten grand. It’s the same with old Jaguars, they are practically giving old XJ40’s away. Because people just can’t be bothered with the upkeep, it’s too much of a hassle. For the fun they get out of it, the cars are just sinkholes of money.
Considering that, there are well kept examples out there, and the sellers have a hard time getting their moneys worth out of it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an S-class of these generations above twenty thousand dollars. Except for the 6.9, which has become a true classic. With that in mind, the Bergman Mercedeses may have been the most expensive ever auctioned of those generations in Sweden.
They had this big auction and sold a lot of his stuff after his death. The most expensive cheap item was a paper basket that went for about twohundred bucks. Because, if you’re a writer, wouldn’t you wanna toss your reject scripts in Ingmar Bergmans waste paper basket? For me, it’s a toss up between the cars and his Eames chair. This is a pic from his study at Fårö. If I remember correctly, it went for about ten thousand dollars.
Hey, that looks just like my first new car! Well, when I had it there was no primer showing . The last time I saw it was a couple of years after I traded it in. It was so beat up that I walked right by it at first before I recognized it. Not my favorite of all the cars I have owned, but I took care of it and it looked like new when I traded it in after 3 years.
I think whoever conceived Volvos infamous Redblock B23 owned a Mustang II at one time, you’d be surprised how similar Fords 4 cyl is to Volvos overhead cam redblocks.
Might partially explain why Ford 5.0 swaps are usually pretty easy.
People with SVOs and turbo coupes have actually used the DOHC cylinder head as an upgrade Here’s someone who did it…
I’ve seen some builds with that combination, it seems pretty popular around the Ford engine builds.
Even in Fords those engines were insanely sturdy, a few brave souls have cracked 200k out of their Mustang 2-Pintos.
Can somebody please tell me what kind of car the elderly professor was driving in “Wild Strawberries”.
IMCDb, The Internet Movie Car Database, says the car is a Packard 120.
Notice also that the car is LHD though they are driving on the left side of the street. Sweden didn’t switch to right hand side until 1967. Curious as it is though, most cars were LHD, so most people drove from the “wrong” side of the car.
http://www.imcdb.org/movie.php?id=50986
I can recommend IMCDb when it comes to identifying cars in movies, there’s nothing better out there for it.
Thank you, I never even knew this website existed. First movie I went to was “Doctor Zhivago”, I wanted to confirm what that limousine parked by the hydro-electric power plant was. It looked like a Packard, and IMCDB said it was a 1948 Packard Custom 120. It was probably used because it resembles an Soviet ZIS and since the Soviets refused to cooperate with the film makers, this car “stood in” for the ZIS.
I prefer Bergman’s casting of Volvo 444s/544s as police cars. Timeless classics, just like his work.