(Click on any image to enlarge)

This page holds some of the cars that I have owned or operated through the past 16 years - and there's a motorcycle as well (Don't have pictures available of the 16 mopeds, 80 ccm off-road bike and first Suzuki 400 motorcycle though - what a pity). This site is still not complete as of this writing as I have to scan older pictures - stay tuned.

Where it all began - almost. There were a couple of my parents VW Beetles' before or shortly after my 18th birthday... But 6 days after I turned 18 (got my drivers license on my birthday), I bought this Ford Taunus 1973 Coupe, the first love of my life. It was originally a 2.0 but I had a 2.6 v6 in it - coupled with a light rear it would spin the tires through the 2nd gear - great stuff. I tell ya', going 180 in this car was really interesting...! Did my first competition - orientation driving, together with buddy Thomas, in this car. It was fast but it ate a lot of gas too.

One time when the Taunus was seriously de-commissioned, some friends and I rented a Fiat Uno 45 and drove to Germany, 5 people going 175 km/h in that tin box, that was good fun too and thank god it was in a straight line with no surprises. At this time I had 2 jobs as a driver, (working 6 days a week) in between High School and college - drove a Nissan Kingvan, a new VW LT 35 turbo supertop with a lift and a multitude of Mercedes 307, 308, 309's, Iveco Turbo daily 35-8 and 35-10 and later bigger vehicles such as Mercedes 409, 710 - or something like that; thought it good fun at the time. 

I said ALMOST the beginning as before my 18th birthday, I lived in the United States and got my driver's license at 16. I drove a huge Chevy Malibu 1976 station wagon, dubbed "the tank". Big v8, lovely sound though looks weren't much - perhaps I'll get a picture up one of these days. Also one time rented a Chrysler Dynasty (or Imperial??) and drove from Panama City to Atlanta - a nice, comfy, 'unsafe at any speed' sailing boat for the road.

Moved back to the States at age 19 and got this 1981 Ford Escort as daily driver - sure wish it was the Countach on the left, which by the way inspired my best presentation at my college speech class and which I often chased around town, hanging out the window, just to hear that 12 cylinder roar. The best I can say about the Escort is that it got me from A to B and that I'll never see it again - good riddens. Then got a 1975 Plymouth Duster with a straight 6 - reasonably powerful and with the most overboosted power steering I've ever heard of, kind of like a steering wheel for a computer game. Soft too, like a waterbed - undampened - but I did have some fun with that car and I'm forever indebted to Don & Annelie Demello for providing me with those cars and the occasional ride in their 1965 1/2 Mustang. Well, anyway it was time to get something a bit more firm and fun:

There was only one thing to do, return to Denmark during the summer semester, work my but off as a truck driver.   3 fun but hardworking months, earning enough dough to buy something better - here I am with my good colleague John and my 8-ton truck complete with air brakes, convoy air horn and all - keep on trucking rubber duck...

Then came the 2nd true love of my life, a 1986 VW Scirocco 1.8  Not much of an engine but reasonable road holding - had my first Solo II race in this beauty and several trips to New Orleans from Florida.

While studying at college, several friends came and went and left their ride behind - bud Thomas stayed half a year and left me this Yamaha 750 2-stroke. great fun, even with a messed up 1st gear. At that time I enjoyed other friends rides, like roomie Tomohiro Inoue's Pontiac Firebird and Steve's Mustang 5.0 HO.

Another bud, Monsieur Frederic Villain' sold me this Mercury Capri which I turned a fast buck on. Also bought a VW Beetle together with Thomas and fixed it up cosmetically, though not really mechanically. Sold it to a woman named Alice I hoped I'd never see again as we knew the engine had trouble - big time. Later she became my COLLEAGUE at the college when I became a student ambassador - god I was embarrassed but thankfully it turned out she had forgiven me, fixed the mechanicals and loved that little pink bug.

When I moved back to Denmark there was a short time driving taxi's, mostly VW Passat but also a selection of Mercedes E and C classes and a 190 - these were jobs, not coincidentally involving driving, intended to tie me over before next stage of University in Denmark - but it didn't go that way... I joined the company I now work for and definitely haven't regretted that. 2 years as a management trainee, driving my sister's Ford Taunus Coupe 1.6, which was an almost army-green wreck I had originally bought as a parts car for my 2.6 Taunus. It got too embarrassing, driving that old 1971 clunker so I hopped on a 400 ccm Suzuki instead which was great, except for winters. So my driving experience at that time of destitute, was driving my Parents VW Corolla 1.3 from 1985 and later their brand new Fiat Punto 75 SX. Oh, almost forgot, I got to spend a glorious month in the mailroom in the midst of my trainee time, driving a 10 year old screaming light blue station wagon, delivering mail, packages and coffee to some of our subsidiaries and later, as a broker trainee, a beige (!) Volvo 245 estate car which was heavy as a tank but surprisingly did 200 reasonably well.

Best time was a vacation with bud Anders Dahl Madsen, we drove through Germany in his Ford Escort 1.6 LX Brazil! and visited Wolfsburg (VW), Ingolstadt (Audi) and Stuttgart. We did the whole factory tour at Mercedes and then visited the suburb of Zuffenhausen and saw the Porsche museum. 

In 1994, I moved to China and after a while got a brand new Beijing built Jeep Cherokee 2.5 4x4, after half a year risking my life in assorted Taxi's. - the picture on the left is a bit of a cheat. My Cherokee was light blue but I haven't been able to find a picture so far, so this will have to suffice - looks similar otherwise...

Took a holiday in the States early 1996 to attend my "brother" Brian Demello's wedding and had this beautiful ride between Atlanta and Panama City.

Later that same year Dora and I took a ride across the United States, about 8,000 miles, partially in the Taurus on the left and mostly in the 3.5L Chrysler LHS which was pretty cool if it ain't your daily driver. Fast too and the $200 investment in a Whistler radar detector was money WELL SPENT. On this trip we went to Mecca, sorry Detroit and visited a.o. The Edsel Ford mansion.

When we came to Panama City we looked at used cars and I thought I almost persuaded Dora to let me buy this Corvette which I had out for a spin - literally - but that didn't work out; seemed like a good plan at the time though!

In the winter time we went on vacation in Denmark and got a BMW 316 compact which was fun but I don't think we got any pictures of it.

After 18 months in Qingdao, China, we moved to Shenzhen and got a Toyota Previa company car - silver.  And meantime Dora and I got married in Denmark in 1997 - rented a beautiful green BMW 520i. The Beemer took us on honeymoon to Monaco and also on a quick trip across the border to Italy, or more specifically Maranello where I visited the most holy of all holy sites - the Ferrari F1 workshop - accompanied by a Signor Ferrari - I was impressed till I learned he wasn't a relative of Il Commendatore. Apparently most people in those parts have changed their last name to Ferrari.. Still, he was a nice guy and well connected - I also got to see his office, and though he was a forwarder, the decor was mostly with automotive themes which has inspired me to break the mold a bit in my current office. From strictly business, I now have a model collection and an Aston Martin polished wing nut on a wooden base, ornamenting my meeting table! 

Another anecdote about the Beemer, is that Dora's boss Peter seemed enameled with the car and it got us in a good car talk so he let me take his Saab 9000 turbo out for a serious spin; surprisingly, quite a fun car. Her other boss Steen had the very same week bought a new 5-series himself. Sometime later, Peter replaced the Saab with an Audi A6, funny enough at the exact time we visited Denmark and rented an A6 ourselves.

Moved to Guangzhou and got another Previa (blue), seen here.

On the next vacation in Europe, we rented this smooth silver 520i though I didn't care much for the color! Had to make a quick return to China for a week and then came back to Denmark to be with Dora and the boys another few days. For that we got a black Ford Focus 1.6 3-door GLX something or rather - don't know what all the raving about the Focus is for; found it "plasticky", slow and definitely not something I'd want in my stable - at any price. 

I got the same, cheap impression when test driving a Ford Mondeo ST200 which however WAS extremely fast but spun the front tires and torque steered as badly as the Volvo V40 T5 I tried same day. Among the front drivers, the Alfa 156 2.5 V6 felt much better and had a beautiful sound - I might consider that one despite the front drive layout..! 

Talking about test driving, did the Golf VR6 2.8 Synchro and there's a car I'd like to have. 4-wheel drive completely changes the personality and that car you can just fling. But I prefer rear wheel drive, it is much more efficient for acceleration and more fun - do you think you'll ever see a front wheel drive F1 car - no, I thought so. Therefore, when going test driving, I mostly go for BMW's.

One day I had set up the full scale from the 316 over the 318 to the 320, 323 (compact) and 328, thanks to Jess Høgh, the sales manager at Jens Winther automobiler in Roskilde - I have decided that when I do by a BMW, it will be from this dealer, not only because Jess did a great job but also as JW himself gave me 3 hot laps in his BMW M1 during a SOS charity run at the Roskilde Ring in 1993. Well, back to the test driving of the whole series... I still haven't done the 330, neither gas nor diesel but I think it was high time to bring a more powerful car to market - none of the others have enough oomph so though I've never owned a 3-series, I have made plenty of plans and correspondence about tuning one with a kompressor (supercharger). Perhaps the 330 will suffice??? naah - and I can't afford an M3 so perhaps one beautiful day we will have a 330, blown and M3 fast but looking stealthy like a camouflaged chameleon - quite unlike my first car, the Taunus...

My previous company car, a Honda Odyssey (Shuttle) 7-seater with a 150 HP 2.3 L V-tec engine- 4 regular doors, not sliding. Best minivan there is and it's a pity Honda caved in and made the next generation a run of the mill minivan with sliding doors, bigger body, V6 etc. On the picture to the right, my then-driver John is at the wheel.

Another vacation in Europe, had this sweet, although a bit sluggish 2.4 v6 Audi with a tiptronic box.

During that same vacation we also got our first RV, a Fiat Ducato and spent a week in Sweden - good fun. We stopped by in Trollhattan and visited the Saab Museum.

My last car before we left China was a 3.0 V6 Shanghai (China) built Buick Century GLX with a 4-speed automatic and all the creature comforts - it was comfortable, soft and distinctly not my kind of car. That's why I rent more sporty vehicles when I travel. Had this one for 2.5 years and sometimes supplemented with the 2nd company car, a Buick GL8 van (a.k.a. Chevrolet).

Then there was the Korean connection - a 2001 Kia Carnival in the charming color you see above. It was another company car and even worse than the Buick... aargh. But traffic in Jakarta, Indonesia was so bad that I had very little desire to drive on my own. In my job I have an awful lot of reading to do so in Jakarta I took the backseat and let the driver fight with the traffic. Then, more than ever did I need cool rental rides. The good thing, given that we are a family of six (incl. the dog) and in Jakarta had both a maid and a driver with us, is that the Kia is spacious. There's also a VCD player to pacify the kids - great invention. In case you wonder - driver and maid - it may sound wild if you live in the west but in Jakarta (or China for that matter) it's a given even for junior expats, most expats in fact never drive by themselves as traffic is wild, tales are many of accidents and angry mobs beating up drivers involved in accidents and then traffic moves on the left hand of the road, not very comforting unless you are from the UK, Australia, Hong Kong or Japan (or a few Poly/Micronesian or Caribbean islands.

In September '03 I managed to swap the Kia with a great Mitsubishi Galant 2.5 V6 - silver color a bit dull but this is one sweet engine and importantly - it's got a stick! Weekends suddenly became much more enjoyable and the kids were playing in the car all the time, forgiving me for the loss of the VCD player. Oh yeah, that's our former alley cat jumping from the hood - Pinky.

Ok with the move to Singapore I got another minivan - no comment!!! This one is a 4-cylinder automatic!! Ford Galaxy, well equipped but with a spongy suspension and an asthmatic power plant. With a bit of suspension tuning and a few components on the engine it is now pretty acceptable - first proper professional tuning I've ever had done and I highly recommend it. In addition, got a DVD player with 3 screens so the kids think it's a scream. Nevertheless, this has GOT to be the last camper we have before I get that elusive BMW...! Check out my additional pictures and tuning description (in Danish) on http://www.bilgalleri.dk/html/gal_visbil.asp?ID=14196 and I'd be happy to elaborate in English on a mail if you feel so inclined - tuning is worth it!

And now for the really BIG news - instead of the elusive BMW we finally decided to get a 2nd car that's a bit less family oriented and more focused on fun. This will be our first "own" car (not company car) since 1995 where I bought the new Jeep Cherokee. We looked both at new and used. I test drove a 2-liter Alfa 147 and 156's with Selespeed (pretty fun actually) and a tiptronic BMW 320 sedan and a 325 coupe (both E46's) and found they were all too sluggish; in particular the BMW's transmission even if the engine in the 325 almost had enough power - and as always, what a fantastic steering feel in a BMW. We also considered a 350Z, Mazda Miata 2.0, Maxda RX8 and even a (very) used 911 but in the end settled on a brand new 2006 Subaru Legacy GT. I've been drooling over this car for the past two years. 2004 Car of the year in Japan. It is a true Q-ship, that is to say pleasing but very anonymous looks. I think it most resembles a Honda Accord and most people including the traffic police will consider it a pedestrian family sedan. But the exterior of this Dr. Jekyll sedan belies a Mr. Hyde dual persona, despite the fact that it has a 5-speed tiptronic transmission. When you hit the gas at any speed in any gear and awaken the 245 turbo-motivated horsepowers, it lurches forward with an urgency worthy of a Porsche Boxster. Actually the 310 nm torque is probably more what you feel pushing your back into the electrically operated leather sports seats. It tops out close to 250 km/h and goes 0-100 km/t in 6.8 seconds (0-60 mph in 6.6 secs). With a manual we are in the 5-something range but I'm ok with the slushbox for this kind of power, especially as there are shifter buttons on the steering wheel and three shifting modes and the box works well - quickly! Getting all that power to the ground is helped through full-time four wheel drive. It has a great sound system too and a nice electric sunroof. The interior is a major upgrade over past Subaru's and look very BMW'esque. I also like the Optitronic instruments which light up in three stages when you switch the power on and does a sweep from 0 to max before resetting again - I'll upload a video of this little dance very soon. Other nice touches are frameless windows and the Mercedes-like turn signals in the side mirrors. In my book this is the most refined sports sedan on the market for just about any money and my preference over even a BMW 330 (especially the latest e90 eyesore)

Other car experiences - Rentals:

In year 2000, a good colleague, Sun Lian Gui, and I toured the United States and rented a White Mustang Convertible for a cool ride through Florida - still looking for pictures, maybe Sun can help me out.

Pictured above - soon - was our 2nd RV which took us over much of Northern Europe with the entire family in 2001. During that vacation we also rented a minivan (sulk) - A surprisingly zippy and roomy Opel Zafira which, I hate to admit, I do recommend to families.

We spent a week in Australia in April 2002 and had 3 different rentals. In Melbourne, a fully loaded Rover 75 which was kind of nice though a bit of a British version of a Buick!

Then got to the Gold Coast and had this beauty - a 2.0 Turbo Saab 9-3 convertible - sweet ride. We rounded off with a Mitsubishi Magna - an Australian built Diamante with a 3.5 V6 and an auto slush box, that was not a pleasure. See a Saab 9-3 convertible unfold the roof

In May 2002 we went to Europe again and had this SWEET Audi TT.   It was like a Renault Spider for the road. Got my first speeding ticket in 14 years though; good looks like that, attract too much attention from the local constabulary! Guess I better choose a more stealthy ride in the future or loose 1 of my 3 licenses!

The black MR2 belongs to friends we visited in Norway and I got to take it out for a spin - felt quite like the Audi and I was impressed with the firmness and the relatively fast acceleration.

No pics of 2 of my moew recent rental drives - Suzuki Katana's in Bali - basic bottom feeder 2-wheel drive jeepsters with a lethargic engine and safe as a thimble - yet still fun to drive.

Going fast in an Audi TT (click underlined text for video)

In early 2005 we rented a BMW 320 sedan in Denmark as well as a fully loaded Renault Espace and positively loved both the cars. In the summer I spent a couple weeks at the University of Virginia's Darden Business School and rented a Chrysler Sebring convertible - fun but not a sports car. At Christmas we rented the new Audi A6 avant 2.4 which was near perfect. I'll upload a few pictures very soon.

There have been many, many other cars, vans and trucks I've driven, belonging to friends, family, company or just a quick test drive, either from a dealer or a colleague - much too much to mention though not nearly enough to even remotely satisfy my never ending thirst for automotive experiences - I guess I should have been in the car mag business... I look very much forward to write future chapters here...

And now on to track cars - haven't owned one but have flicked around the 1.8 L Mitsubishi Lancer you see here

as well as the Renault Spider, though the picture shows me co-piloting with Claude Fior.

Formula Campus racing school graduation day

and finally a Formula Renault 2000 follows - FAAAST and FUN.

And I'd like to end off saying that the really true love of my life is Dora who puts up with my multitude of car mag subscriptions, expensive race practice in Zhuhai and the assortment of cool cars we rent on vacations. Not to mention the cd's with recordings of F1 power trains, the video's of Claude Lelouch racing through the streets of Paris, the Sundays spent watching F1, the many scale models, the Scalextric stuff I keep buying "for Mickey", the expensive picture books, the Automobilia paraphernalia etc. - She puts up with all of that, loves my driving style and takes good care of our 3 future motor sport stars. I am a lucky guy.