Over here in Volvo-land you stick the nose out a little by owning a 300C. On every driveway to every house there are Volvos, some SAAB`S and to those people who want to be different and classy it is AUDI or BMW. Total lack of fantasy. Many Japanese cars of course, but I have the feeling that they are owned by people who doesn´t really care about cars but just want a reliable set of wheels. Otherwise everyone has a Volvo. Mostly SW:s. The Chrysler Voyager is the most common Chrysler over here.Good when you have many children I suppose.Swedes like rather big cars. Comfortable, safe. The country is large to be a european one, about the size of California. I read somewhere that the 300C is ranked 91 insales statistics of 2007. This means that you meet one, or two, after a day on the road. A quick blink with the headlights when we meet is rather common and nice.
However, it is really nice to have one of these cars. It is a bit like taking a stroll with your dog. People you don´t even know stop and talk. Really a very unswedish habit..
A couple of nice examples, the other day I backed up to the house to unload a trunk full of foodshopping bags, and the neightbors wife came by:
- I looked at the car, is that yours?
- Yes.
- It´s lovely. It´s a beautiful car.
- Thank you, yes, I like it myself.
-What car is that?
- Chrysler.
- It is such a beautyful car. It is the most beautyful car I have ever seen!
- Thank you. (A little embarrassed, I admit that)
And another one, some time ago I parked outside my wifes job, to pick her up when she left. Then a Volvo V70 yellow cab parked next to me. Aftera minute or two somebody tapped at

t my window. No good sign. I was prepared for attack. But looking out it was the taxidriver, from somewehere in the middle east who wanted to ask everything about my car, as he heard it was a diesel. It took me some time as he had so many questions, I almost made a new friend.
A funny one, that happened just a couple of days ago was when I was in a nearby town of Sigtuna.
Asthe streets in this little town has the same structure as when theywhere made in the Viking ageand thereby very narrow I drove slow. A couple of nurses pulling a man i a wheelchair showed up in front of me. One of the nurses, a middleaged lady walked out in front of my car and started to doublejump her feet and waving her arms.
(?) She came up to the car and I opened the window..
- OH ! I thought you were my husband. We have a car just like this! But now I can see that your dashboard is grey and not like ours..
( Well, what about me than..)
American cars are coming back again. I know they are having economical problems in the U.S. But at least in this country the were the most common untill late 50´s. Then they almost died out. But from late 80´s and onwards they are coming back big.