The Cal-look Lounge

Just had to share this very nice video on the day before and the day of change to right hand driving.
September 3rd 1967 was called H-day
It could also be a VW video. Wonderful nostalgic video with good quality shots from daily life.

I was 8 years old and remember it vividly.
For example pulling the stickers on the lights off because it was all being prepared so they did not have to be re-set immediately.

Family going out to drive just to get the feeling.
Dad had a british Alvis he had imported and it had the steering wheel on right hand side and now it was not as good anymore....
Anyway, enjoy. It is some quality 5 minutes, if you are in to memories.

http://www.snicksnack.nu/movies/v/3286

Fabulous film! It really brings home to you how many VWs were sold in Sweden. Incredible. Thanks for that! 8)

Great film! I bet if you go back to those woods today that guy will still be there trying to cut that huge tree down with that piddly saw  ;D

Great video !
My Mother and Father were there that day.
I believe we have some home movies of it also.

So, were Saab's and Volvo's for the Swedish domestic market built and sold as Right Hand Drive before that date? Were VW's RHD as well?
I worked on Saab's in '75-'77 and on Volvo's '85 to the present, but I've never seen a RHD Saab or Volvo here in the US.
Must have took a little getting used to!
Thanks for the video, too cool.

What a great thing to get to watch. A slice of time caught, but never to be repeated again.
I did note about the 5 minute point the bay window single cab. If this was filmed in Sept 1967, that had to be a pretty new VW !

Very cool film!
Thanks!!

As far as I understand, the only right hand drive Volvos and Saabs that were built for the domestic market were for the Post office.

So they went from driving on the left side to driving on the right like the rest of us here in europe?  except UK...
And in the period they drove on the left they did this with LHD cars??  WTF??  ???

Wow I could "smell" new VW's from here !!

Yes, that's correct!
Crazy Swed's ::)

LHD made sense… Part of the reason, from what I understand, is so you could step out of the car straight on to the sidewalk in snowy conditions. The only vehicles sold in large numbers in RHD were Buses, so that the passengers in the back could step out onto the sidewalk. This is what Jonas told me. Is it right? Makes sense.

Nice vid ! I didn't even know that Sweden was "LHD". And it's cool to see all those classic cars.

Here the famous H day sticker in the 57 that i just bring back from Sweden 2 months ago.
(http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/5924/dsc078070.jpg)

My Mother just told me that the change took three days.
On the first day, only emergency vehicles were allowed on the roads.
The second day they added busses and taxis.
Then the third day included everything else, passenger cars, etc..

Imagine making that change with the amount of vehicles on the road today.   :o

Sorry to say that she is wrong.
I was there and just as the video is also showing 2 Sept. and the H-day 3 Sept. , all cars on the road.
It was done on one single moment overnight and without any, zero official accident linked to the switch.

It was global news for a long period of time.
Sweden was from then on linked to road safety also with Volvo as a very safe car with its crash zoen thinking and actually actively testing and crashing cars as one of the first, first safety belt law, first law on child seats, just look on the video 1967; A Child seat! and then the first law on headlights for daytime...and more.

Yeah, they'd have to do the trucks one week and the cars the next week… :D

The longer you Brits keep putting it off, the harder it's gonna get!

I wish I have a timemachine. ;D

There seems to be an orange double cabin Bay window driving past just before that aswell. I am guessing the video - all though being about that day in September 1967 - was made in 1968 or later and contains newer clips.

1968 VWs had been on sale for about 5 weeks when that was filmed in Sept 67.