Tom Trana (1937) was a Swedish rally driver. In the early 1960s, he was one of Sweden’s foremost in the motorsport and participated in a large number of international races. Tom Trana was the son of Ivar Trana, who was an engineer at Albin Motor in Kristinehamn and whose interest in cars spread to his son.
Trana began her career as a rally driver in the 1950s at a car workshop, Volvo PV service, in Kristinehamn. The person who helped him get started with the rally business was Einar Nyqvist, often referred to as the “car doctor” because when consulting broken cars he could usually only by listening to the engine determine what was wrong with the car.
The success began with a Volvo that was prepared at this workshop. He also started driving track races and also achieved great success there with a black Volvo with a “roof cuckoo” (roof mounted indicator lights – also called “fixlight”), on which he had painted a white crane on the hood.
This Värmland sportsman was Volvo’s counterpart to Saab’s Erik Carlsson (“Carlsson på taket” – “Carlsson on the roof”). Rally driver Tom Trana had several successes with the Volvo PV544 and also competed with the Mini. But later he started driving for Saab and then he was also used in marketing – as in this commercial.
Successes were also achieved in this car, including a victory in the Norwegian Rally and a Swedish Championship gold. In the early 1970s, Trana ended her career. He rallied with Saab until 1972, when he finally hung up his helmet and retired from rallying.
In 1987, he was attracted to new rally race, through the new event Classic Rally Cup. Tom Trana died in 1991.
