We were surprised and delighted to find a massive unofficial hot-rod rally taking place on Sveavägen, the main drag where we were staying in Stockholm. It was the annual city gathering of ‘raggare’, fans of old American cars and 50’s ‘greaser’ culture, something I’d never heard of before but apparently HUGE in Sweden… It looked a bit intimidating at first, very loud, very beery, and with lots of echoes of hells-angels in the clothing, but it was a friendly crowd who either ignored my sketching or enjoyed my appreciation of their extravagant cars and bikes.

I started drawing the vehicles, but became much more interested in the people; the way they draped themselves over bonnets, poured out of car windows, peered into engines, and generally hung out in their outfits. Bamboo dip-pen wasn’t really going to work here, and I ended up using a marker pen as the light faded and the crowd got increasingly busy and ‘relaxed’! The sketches can’t convey the sheer volume of the engines being revved and over-revved as they slowly cruised up and down the boulevard. They’d all gone home by 2am, lightweights…