American Iron in Iceland on Display at Burnout 2011

Image: Gudfinnur Eiriksson

If you’ve ever been to Scandinavia, you will notice that they love American cars – probably the biggest lovers of American iron outside the US, rivaling Australia. Iceland, a quasi-Scandinavian isle famous for their turf houses, doesn’t seem to be much different. Their proximity to North America and relatively low taxes must make being an American car enthusiast a less daunting proposition compared to other countries.

Image: Gudfinnur Eiriksson

Take a look at the photos from Burnout 2011 and try not to be impressed with this show, which was sponsored by the Icelandic Quarter Mile Club on April 23-26, 2011.

This 1959 Oldsmobile is sweet, isn’t it? Not the most popular choice in a Chevy and Ford world, but this mild custom Super 88 has the right amount of candy apple paint and chrome highlights to make you forget about going with the herd.

Bonus points for keeping it Oldsmobile-powered too – the stock engine would have been a 394, and a later 425 would have fit in quite nicely.

To some Mopar people, 1972 was the last year for the “real” Road Runner. Certainly it was the last year for the Dana rear (only available on 440 4-speed cars), the 6-bbl. motor (canceled in the first week of production, with two cars surviving at last count), and the general spirit of what makes us like muscle cars.

That’s not to knock the 1973-and-beyond cars, but they don’t look as cool as this, even though they may share the same body.

Image: Gudfinnur Eiriksson

This 1969 GTO Judge is a nice surprise. Normally you’d expect to see a Carousel Red car in Iceland judge because it was the signature color for the Judge, with about 82-85% being painted in that color. But Midnight Green? It’s one of the more popular “other” colors, and you can see how different it looks compared with Carousel Red cars.

Image: B&B Kristinsson

Is it still psychedelic enough for you space cowboys? Certainly it’s more subtle. “Ram Air” decals tells us this car has the standard Judge engine, the Ram Air III rated at 366 horsepower.

I’ve gotta admit that one of my favorite Ford products is the 1965 Comet. It’s just the right size, it has those neat stacked headlights (you can tell I’m a Pontiac fan, eh?), and look so good jacked up a bit with a set of Cragars slapped on.

This is the high-line Caliente version and not the performance-oriented Cyclone. Top engine for the year would have been the 289/271 Hi-Po motor.

It’s hard to say whether Björk Guðmundsdóttir (simply known as “Björk“) likes AMC products, but it’s nice to see the Red/White/Blue brand is not ignored in Iceland. This 1972 Javelin was the second year for this style, of which it’s claimed racer Mark Donahue had some influence in its design.

Exaggerated front wheel arches haven’t aged well to contemporary eyes, but you can see the 1971-73 Mustang is cut from the same cloth otherwise, and those aren’t lacking in popularity. Simply put, perhaps the best value in muscle.

Image: B&B Kristinsson

In 1970, the Kansas City zone at Ford commissions 90 Calypso Coral Torino Cobras and 96 Grabber Orange Mustang Mach Is (plus four Ranchero GTs) for their dealers. All the Mustangs were equipped with Shaker-equipped 351 Clevelands or 428 Super Cobra Jets.

They were all called “Twister Specials” and, other than a tornado decal on the rear quarter and side body stripe, they were like regular production Fords. I don’t know if this is a real one, but it’s unusual to see something like this in Iceland.

The 1969 Galaxie XL was the last of the big Ford cars that had any resemblance to performance. Engine options went all the way up to the 429 Thunder Jet rated at 360 horsepower – not terribly powerful for such a big car – but an available GT package added stripes and mag-style wheel covers to make it groovy.

If you look closely at the side marker trim, you can make out that this convertible has the 390.