Year and place: 1905-09, Stockholm

Gustaf L.M. Ericsson got interested in cars early. After his engineering examination 1903 he went to Dayton U.S.A. for experience at the Franklin factory. They had started producing cars in 1902, and Ericsson brought one with him back to Sweden. Determined to build own cars he founded Gustaf Ericssons Automobilfabrik.

From the start the products consisted of engines for pumps, boats and other machines. Boat engines, under the name Gurik, was exported to other countries. They also exported 4-cylinder aircooled engines to Russia, where the army used them for the turning of gun turrets in fortresses, engines with the Franklin engine as model.

Another part of their business was to import and sell foreign cars, among them Franklin, italian Bianchi and french Delahaye. Looking at the list of cars and engines the company displayed at the car show in Stockholm 1907, these cars were apparently sold under their original name. The list include buses and trucks.

Ormen Långe
Their first own car was spectacular in some ways. It had a 6-cylinder engine, built from three 2-cylinder Fafnia-engines (from Germany). These were put together in a row. The biggest problem was to construct a working magneto, even with the help of the german company Bosch. They finally found the solution themselves - they used two magnetos to the engine. The car had a top speed of around 60 kilometres per hour, a high speed for a car in 1905. And the car was long. It got the nickname Ormen Långe (the long snake).

The idea was to start production of this car, but the swedish market was not ready yet. Automobiles were still considered the rich mans hobby, and many were they who were against fastgoing, noisy and dangerous cars on the roads - scaring horses and people.

Some more traditional private cars, and maybe also trucks, were eventually produced. But as for so many other car makers the business was not profitable, and the car production ceased in 1909.

It is not known how many Gurik cars they made. It is also difficult to decide which car was a real Gurik and which was a car put together from finished parts. Maybe some imported cars also were sold under the mark Gurik.

Today there is only one Gurik left. It was found in a carpenters shed in the 60s, where it had stood some 40 years.

Read more about Gustaf L.M. Ericsson under Venus Bilo.

(Gustaf L.M. Ericsson was a son of Lars Magnus Ericsson, known from early telephone business. The telephone company still has the same name.)

2000-04-21. www.konditori100.se. Text/pictures: Arne Granfoss ©. Prod: AG Informice