Car enthusiast quit drinking and smoking for his passion

Halldór Andri Halldórsson gave up drinking and smoking to pursue his lifelong passion for cars, according to mbl.is. His enthusiasm for classic vehicles runs in the family, he told Morgunblaðið’s motoring supplement.

Halldór’s father, Halldór Guðmundsson, was among the founding members of the Icelandic Vintage Car Club. Halldór’s older brother Guðmundur has also been closely involved with the club and owns around ten vehicles. Another brother is a car painter who specialises in restoring old cars.

Halldór, who is managing director of the wholesale company Karl K. Karlsson when he is not in his garage, has imported numerous classic cars and motorcycles. Many of the vehicles he has owned are rare, luxury cars or vehicles with an interesting history.

As a young man, he imported a 1958 Triumph TR3 bought from renowned car dealer Mark Hyman in New York. Hyman runs Hyman Ltd, a dealership whose listings consist exclusively of classic cars, either awaiting restoration or already restored.

“Buying cars was a little more complicated then. You looked through newspapers and used all sorts of tricks to find them,” Halldór said.

He restored the Triumph 30 years ago and bought another, blue example at the same time. While he was buying a house, Magnús Scheving bought the car, which later became the sports elf’s car in Latabær.

The blue Triumph had to be sold because Halldór and his wife were facing substantial expenses while buying a detached house. They live in Mosfellsbær, where his wife, Helga Reykdal, is from.

Helga is also part of a family with a strong interest in cars. She is the daughter of Jóhannes Reykdal, a prominent car enthusiast and the founder and editor of Bílabloggið.

“Shortly afterwards I bought a 1966 Mustang from Akureyri. My brother painted it, others repaired the rust, and I mainly focused on finding spare parts, trying to obtain them used in Iceland and importing whatever else was needed,” Halldór said.

At the time, there was no Facebook to help locate parts. Instead, he contacted companies that sold them.

Halldór said importing cars in the last century had gone reasonably well despite stricter restrictions. Customs authorities were mainly concerned about cars in poor condition and wanted reports on how they had been restored, as well as payment of an excise duty.

He said the situation was now worse. The excise duty on classic cars had been 13 percent the previous year, with exemptions also applying to racing cars and racing motorcycles. The vehicles were later placed in the 13 percent category, which was abolished at the turn of the year.

Halldór’s grandson Alex Krummi is pictured with his grandfather on a pretend car ride in a 1973 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray with a 454 cubic-inch engine.