{"id":16637,"date":"2026-03-19T17:46:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T15:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobilia.fi\/?post_type=nayttely&p=16637"},"modified":"2026-03-19T17:50:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T15:50:48","slug":"stensbole-lost-car-museum","status":"publish","type":"nayttely","link":"https:\/\/mobilia.fi\/en\/nayttely\/stensbole-lost-car-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"Stensb\u00f6le Lost Car Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Stensb\u00f6le Lost Car Museum<\/h1>
The\u00a0Porvoo Car Museum Comes Back to Life<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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According to current knowledge, Finland\u2019s first automobile museum was located in Porvoo, at Stensb\u00f6le Manor. Interest in historic motor vehicles\u2014known as automobilism\u2014began 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, Iv\u00e1n Wallensk\u00f6ld-Rotkirch.<\/p>

Stensb\u00f6le 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 Iv\u00e1n\u2014captivated by the beauty of vintage automobiles\u2014opened Finland\u2019s 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.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The display featured more than a dozen cars considered \u201cold\u201d at the time\u2014many 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 Stensb\u00f6le Automobile Museum\u2014or do not quite consider it a museum at all\u2014although images of the cars occasionally appeared in enthusiast magazines.<\/p>

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.<\/p>

In the 2020s, the manor passed into new ownership, and clearing the barn for other uses became necessary. Iv\u00e1n\u2019s son, the visual artist Viggo Wallensk\u00f6ld, 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\u2019s collection.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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In May 2026, the cars from the Stensb\u00f6le 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\u2019s opening hours until the end of 2027.<\/p>

At Mobilia, visitors can explore two cars once owned by the Wallensk\u00f6ld-Rotkirch family, an Austin A70 Hereford and a Mercedes-Benz 170 S, as well as the story of the Stensb\u00f6le Automobile Museum.<\/p>

The Lost Car Museum of Stensb\u00f6le at Mobilia from 4 May, 2026 to 31 December, 2027.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Nurmikolla\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stensb\u00f6le Lost Car Museum The\u00a0Porvoo Car Museum Comes Back to Life According to current knowledge, Finland\u2019s first automobile museum was located in Porvoo, at Stensb\u00f6le Manor. Interest in historic motor vehicles\u2014known as automobilism\u2014began to grow in Finland during the 1950s. In 1959, a group of enthusiastic young car romantics officially founded the Finnish Automobile Historical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16608,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","nayttely_tax":[75],"class_list":["post-16637","nayttely","type-nayttely","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","nayttely_tax-upcoming"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobilia.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nayttely\/16637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobilia.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nayttely"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobilia.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/nayttely"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mobilia.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nayttely\/16637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16641,"href":"https:\/\/mobilia.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nayttely\/16637\/revisions\/16641"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobilia.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mobilia.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"nayttely_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mobilia.fi\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nayttely_tax?post=16637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}