The end of the 1950’s saw the emergence of a new youth subculture – the Greasers!

Greasers were young men with greased-up hair, leather jackets and old American cars who gathered on Kungsgatan in Stockholm.

Cars featuring giant fins and lots of chrome are no longer being built. However, the Greaser subculture lives on.

For three years, journalist and photographer Per-Olof Sännås has mingled in the world of the Greasers.

“Without a doubt, many Greasers are both knowledgeable and handy when it comes to cars and engines. However, the car serves primarily as the key into the circle, a means of making contact. It is something that gives colour and life to the environment”, he says.

Per-Olof Sännås is the photographer who became famous through his comprehensive reporting on various youth subcultures. He had already been known for his acclaimed photographic books on skinheads, graffiti artists, the Black Army football supporters and Hells Angels.

This book presents the story of the Swedish Greaser subculture. How did it start? What brought it about? What was it like, what it is like now, and how, against all odds, has it survived and developed?

In Sweden, Greasers are known as raggare and the word came from a vernacular among taxi drivers which meant driving around looking for customers. When the young men in their big American cars showed up in the 1950’s driving around and looking for girls, they got the name raggare.

See the interview with P-O Sännås on ABC/SVT: