When the guy say anywhere in the world when you drive the driver should be in the middle of the road, that is not necessarily accurate. I'm not exactly sure when this takes place. I saw 1967 somewhere.
Until September 3rd 1967 we drove on the left side of the road in Sweden, but we drove the same cars as our neighbouring countries with the steering wheel on the left side. (I'm so glad I didn't have drive like that.)
That's an interesting tidbit of Swedish driving history that I wasn't aware of. Thanks for the factoid.
Based on the old photos posted at http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/dagen-h-day-sweden-switched-sides-road-1967, the roads in Sweden looked positively chaotic during the 03 Sep 1967 switchover.
And since the driver's seat was located on the left side of the car, wasn't it dangerous for the front-seat passenger (located on the right side) to alight, when Swedish cars still drove on the left side of the street?
As for the movie, the closing onscreen lines indicate that Burt Munro's 1967 land-speed record for the <1000cc category still stands.
However, Munro didn't set only 1 record. During the 9 times that he raced at Bonneville, he set 3 world land-speed records, ie. in 1962, 1966 & 1967 respectively.
As such, based on the timeline & storyline, the movie was presumably set in 1962. (Note that in real life, Munro only recce'd the site but didn't race during his first year of visit to the Bonneville Salt Flats.)
So yeah, the secondhand car-dealer Fernando's advice about drivers being at the centre of the road didn't apply to the uniquely Swedish driving situation in 1962.