How did Fascinating Cars passion start?
Throughout my life I have always had a love for cars.
The first memory of a car is when my stepfather let me sit in his lap when we rally raced down the dirt road to our house in a white Ford Cortina.
He confidently claimed that the car we were driving was the absolute best in the world for rallying. Naturally, I wholeheartedly believed him, convinced that this specific car reigned supreme and was the fastest in the entire rally circuit.
My belief persisted until that fateful day in adulthood when I stumbled upon a photograph of the car. To my surprise, it depicted an ordinary, unpolished Ford Cortina of the simplest kind.
At first a bit disappointed, but what the heck … it made my motor interest grow.
Letter to the Swedish Porsche Club
Our family were data “pioneers” because my father worked with IT from the very “beginning.” This meant that we always had the latest PC at home.
It was both fun and depressing. What could one do with a PC in 1987?
Writing, calculating, and playing chess.
So, after I had “played” with counting and writing, and had grown tired of chess, I had to find something more to do with the computer. After all, it was just standing there.
I sat down and wrote a short letter along with a long list of questions.
This letter was later sent to the Swedish Porsche Club.
The letter sounded like this:
Hello
My name is Peter Edenberg and I am 12 years old.
I am interested in cars and I think that Porsche is a very nice car.
Would like to know more about Porsche and about your club.
Sincerely
/Peter
The list of questions that was sent with the letter had the quality like:
What is a horsepower? How fast can a engine spinn? How much arid should it be in the tires?
Car fair, Track Days and Porsche
It took two weeks, and then someone knocked on our front door. There stood Ulf Tolérus, the Vice Chairman of the Swedish Porsche Club.
He introduced himself, handed me tickets to the Swedish Car Fair that was about to happen in about a week, and mentioned that I could join the club’s various activities whenever I wanted.
When the Swedish Car Fair did come up a week later, I skipped school for the entire week, made my way across town, and walked around all the cars while wearing a constant smile. 12 years old.
Over the next few years, I followed the Porsche Club to lectures, slalom competitions at Stockholm Airport, track days at Mantorp, and much more.
I smiled all the time, every time I got to sit next to someone in a different Porsche or a classic car. This made the gears of my interest in cars churn much faster.
After a few years, however, my life took a slightly different path, and my contact with Ulf grew distant. Yet, my passion for cars didn’t wane. Fascinating Cars later became my outlet for my automotive interest and the connecting with their owners.
Of all my heart, thank you, Ulf, for taking me with you and showing a young kid the fun world of cars.
Rest in horse power
Fast track with Peter
The craziest car ever driven:
Audi Ur-Quattro – trimmed to about 800 hp
The most fun driving experience:
25 laps of Nascar at Las Vegas Speedway
Biggest starstruck:
Meeting Lewis Hamilton in a grocery store at 11pm on a Tuesday night in Los Angeles.
What to say in such a moment? Gave him all my compliments and told him that I was/ and still am a great fan of him.
Later that weekend, Lewis won the German Grand Prix at Nurburgring.
Most enjoyable racing driver meetings:
Picko Troberg, a Swedish racing superstar in the 1960´s. Such a icon and character. I had the opportunity to spend time with him his last years. May you rest in horsepower Picko.
Breath taking moments:
1. Sit alone in a Porsche 959 when I was 12 year old. Just the felling of exlusiveness and super car and the dream of owning one, one day.
2. Arrive at Indy 500 for the first time and get hold of how big of a event it was and how huge the track really is.
Most enjoyable ride experience:
Getting a ride home by Rickard Rydell when it was fresh powder snow on the ground.
Rickards BMW M4 was only 1500 km old and the car was going more sideways than straight on the highways in the dark Swedish winter.
Follow the Fascinating Cars journey
Read other fascinating articles
