Norwegian Car Production Through the Ages

 

 

 

Norwegian car‑buildin’ through the years — most folks today figure Norway ain’t made much more than that little electric Think‑car. Some know ’bout the handful of Troll cars from the late ’50s, includin’ that one IL Tempo Gigante special.

Others remember Pivco — PIV1, PIV2, PIV3, City Bee — the forefathers of Think, and even Buddy Electric, the Norwegian follow‑up to the Danish Kewet Buddy.

Plenty of newcomers and foreigners think Norway never built a car at all.

And hardly anybody’s heard ’bout that attempt in the ’80s and ’90s to build a Norwegian seven‑seater family car based on the Volvo 850 and Chrysler Voyager — the so‑called ‘Drammensbilen,’ recently restored and taken care of.

But let me tell y’all somethin’: Norwegian car production is a whole lot bigger than folks think.

Back in the interwar years, Norway was crankin’ out American cars on a scale that was mighty impressive for Norwegian standards — built at Strømmen by Strømmen Mekaniske Værksted A/S, at Kambo in Moss by Norske Automobilfabrik R. Hesselberg Meyer Kambo, up in Lillehammer at Lillehammer Motorcentral A/S, and down in Skien at A/S Mobile Skien.

A/S Skabo Jernbanevognfabrik even built 231 cars. And Kolberg Caspary & Co in Oslo put together close to 1150 Dodge trucks.

And here’s a fun fact: the most‑produced car ever built in Norway is the Volvo L‑3314N field wagon — folks call it the Volvo Valp, Volvo Laplander, or just the Volvo Feltvogn. A full 2273 of ’em rolled out of Raufoss Ammunisjonsfabrikk between 1962 and 1968.

More people know ’bout that one — and some remember how, ’round fifteen years ago, Skien tried to build the Reva electric car from India. That whole thing was all over the news with Frederic Hauge and Bellona talkin’ climate and kick‑startin’ what became the Norwegian EV boom — the same boom that later turned global with Elon Musk ridin’ shotgun.”

 

Lillehammer Motorcentral and Helleberg Auto Workshop eventually ended up under the same roof, and Lillehammer Motorcentral was crankin’ out Ford cars like it was nobody’s business. Same deal with A/S Mobile down in Skien, along with a whole bunch of other shops all over the country.

But when it comes to American cars Norway actually built the most of, we’re talkin’ Chrysler, Dodge, and Fargo — all from the same company, what folks today know as Chrysler Motor Corp. Those rigs were put together over at Kambo in Moss and out in Strømmen.

Now here’s somethin’ a little different, and pretty darn cool. Norway’s usually known for its wild, beautiful nature and all those fairy‑tale places with old Norse names and sayings. But did you know that, besides the Troll car, folks around World War I tried to build a car called the Geiranger Car?

The Geiranger Car was attempted by Geiranger Wagon Factory. Karl Mjelva up in Geiranger thought it’d be downright awesome to have a car rollin’ off the line with the name Geiranger on it. And around 1918, the factory in Stavern built an electric truck (!). Same company made 32 trucks up until 1923.

Early in the 1970s, Norske El‑Bil AS built a larger electric delivery van as part of a project to explore renewable energy. They were ahead of their time, but they sure weren’t afraid to try somethin’ new.”**

“And did y’all know the world’s first automobile could’ve been Norwegian?

Sure enough — back in 1895–96, two relatives, Paul Henningsen and Jacob Irgens, built a real, honest‑to‑goodness automobile in Bergen. Then in 1899 they put together a steam‑powered, front‑wheel‑drive bus. If Irgens had had the money to chase that dream all the way, the world’s very first car might’ve ended up bein’ Norwegian.

And in 1895, Hans Torgersen Vestby built what folks called the Vestby Car, which was most likely the very first petroleum‑powered automobile ever produced in the Nordic countries.”