Stensböle Lost Car Museum
According to current knowledge, Finland’s first automobile museum was located in Porvoo, at Stensböle Manor. Interest in historic motor vehicles—known as automobilism—began to grow in Finland during the 1950s. In 1959, a group of enthusiastic young car romantics officially founded the Finnish Automobile Historical Club (SA-HK), now known as the Finnish Vehicle Heritage Federation. One of the most visible activities in the early years was the annual vintage car drive from Helsinki to Porvoo. In addition to Finnish enthusiasts, Swedish participants often joined with their impressive, high-quality vehicles. These touring events inspired many pioneers in the field, not least the Porvoo-based visual artist and heir to the manor, Iván Wallensköld-Rotkirch.
Stensböle Manor, associated with Baltic-Swedish noble families, is one of the oldest and most significant estates in Finland. It was here, about seven kilometres from Porvoo towards the sea, that Iván—captivated by the beauty of vintage automobiles—opened Finland’s first car museum in a former stone cowshed that had once housed a hundred head of cattle. The museum was inaugurated in 1964, and in the following years, large numbers of visitors came to explore the small exhibition, which was open by arrangement.
The display featured more than a dozen cars considered “old” at the time—many of which had only just reached what we would now define as museum age. Over the years, some vehicles disappeared and were replaced by others. The information about the cars was written in a rather creative manner, and the museum itself had a distinctly do-it-yourself spirit. It is therefore no surprise that many people do not remember the Stensböle Automobile Museum—or do not quite consider it a museum at all—although images of the cars occasionally appeared in enthusiast magazines.
The activities of this small private museum gradually declined during the 1980s, and the collection was left to rest within the thick stone walls of the old cowshed.
In the 2020s, the manor passed into new ownership, and clearing the barn for other uses became necessary. Iván’s son, the visual artist Viggo Wallensköld, who inherited the collection, wished for the cars to remain in Finland. A solution was found through member museums of the Finnish Automobile Museums Association, to which Viggo donated his father’s collection.
In May 2026, the cars from the Stensböle Automobile Museum will return to public view as a distributed exhibition across Finland. The exhibition will be jointly launched on 2 May 2026 at the Classic Motor Show in Lahti. After that, the cars will be displayed in their new museum homes according to each museum’s opening hours until the end of 2027.
At Mobilia, visitors can explore two cars once owned by the Wallensköld-Rotkirch family, an Austin A70 Hereford and a Mercedes-Benz 170 S, as well as the story of the Stensböle Automobile Museum.
The Lost Car Museum of Stensböle at Mobilia from 4 May, 2026 to 31 December, 2027.
