Have you clicked your REFRESH button? Ever?


December 31 - New Year's Evening

Happy New 2013!


Family together at the country cottage in the woods outside Bengtsfors, at new year's evening.
Agneta and Axel drove up here a copuple of days before me and when I arrived they
had worked most of the day with a fabulous duck dinner!


Interesting, at least for our families, is that as Agneta and I married on New Year's Eve in Umeå in
1997-98, so now we celebrated 15 years which also is called crystal wedding and therefore I
searched for something apropriate to give to Agneta. This egg is not of crystal but it's created by my
brother Björn who included lava stones in the melting glass. And these lava stones were given to
Björn for this purpose, years ago, when Agneta and I visited the vulcanic island Tenerife and
brought home samples to him. But we never knew it would show up on a day like today.

Ahead...


What are they doing in the workshop on New Year's Eve? When passing by Vargön on my way
north to the cottage, I took a chance on finding them here, and I was right!
-Yes there are so much to do!, they said with one mouth.
I had not talked to them for over a year since I gave them my burnt AFR heads, but now I was
glad to see them repaired by this fantastic group at Vargöns Mekniska! Welded by Göran Larsson in
the middle. The Lindahl twins is running at least two Pro Mods and a Comp Eliminator car (Larsson's
turbo). Besides that they are a helping hand for racers throughout the whole European drag racing
business and has been for a long time. So now also Blackout Full Size Racing is on the hot list!




December 28

The largest christmas gift!


What a wonderful sight in the middle of Gothenburg as the Clarion Post Hotel was gift-wrapped. It is
said that the owner norwegian Petter A Stordalen paid 600.000 SEK (cirka USD 94 000) for this wrap!
Thanks Petter for this amazing gift for all passing people!


Weld wheel!
(Per-Erik Lindgrens joke)


No, not really. However, when we drove to Germany we put on summer wheels (summer tires) since
Germany have a ban on winter tires with spikes. Back home, here at terrific small autoshop Abo
Bilservice, we changed back to the summer wheels. Except for one because one of the nuts didn't
come off and then not the stud either! After several hours of different work in trying to kill and remove
that stud, we had to decide to kill the whole wheel.


Unfortunately, it was the only way to do it. Back home it didn't take too long to find the wheel on internet
which is pretty remarkable since the Dodge is from 1997! So USD 197.66 felt like a bargain. And FREE
transport within US. Lucky me, because my friend Sören "Fixarn" Fjellstedt had a container going from
Santa Monica CA to Sweden and he promised me to include the wheel if I just got it to Santa Monica
in time, and that was no problem since it was 5 weeks ahead.
Do you think it worked? I'll be back with more...



December 24

Tomten is coming!


Axel is grown up and everyone knows the secrets about Tomten since many years.
However, Axel is still driving the Tomten project further as the important factor of the
Christmas it always have been. And we are happy for that.


In 2001 it was myself, then Susanne Roth, Tommy "Aga" Olsson, Frida Roth Bagger.
Since 2005 it has been performed by a professional.


It was a long time ago since Axel's braces sparkled so much! The helicopter toys has getting better
over the years and now they just don't fly straight into the wall and brake in 40 pieces. With three
props and steering via iPad they are very accurate after some training.

3 883 000 viewers of censored Disney show!


No Christmas without the Disney hour "To All of You from All of Us...". Sent in Sweden since 1960.
Now "TV forces" are trying to adjust it by taking away bits'n'pieces from this old document
in the name of "gender equality" and "justice"!
Last time it was even said it was Disney themselves that wanted to change one of the oldest
features - "Santa's Workshop" from 1932! The press release said only "Disney" probably just to
shut down opponents. Then it emerged that it was only the local office Disney Sweden.
Of course the national SVT channel can put pressure on Disney Sweden to change their show to get
the airtime at all. And by that also take the fire from the angry viewers.
TV or Disney...I see women meeting women for decisions like these, and "funny" enough, I also see
the color of red - and me saying these things are of course taboo.
I do anyway.
And there are no forces that can meet that. Women is always right today, no one argues, except for
other women in extreme cases. To take away parts from the oldest Disney film? - sure! When
these forces are done there will be no Disney left, and that would be the smallest problem.
Maybe they leave "Ferdinand The Bull" from 1938? Or will it disappear because there are no
women in this story, except Ferdinand's mother. even if she is just a cow...?




December 22

Hurry up! X-mas cards must be mailed today!


Of course we were out late this year to send out christmas greetings two days before christmas. We
wanted to include the new friggebod shed "Elvan" since it was a major part of our lifes in 2012 with all
the preparing and tree felling. All the drilling, cracking up and moving of the heavy mountain rocks. And
the transportation, building and painting it. Now the card was also a bit influenced by Germany...

This is the result:





December 20-22

Nach Lübeck gefahren...

Eat and drink German style


Leaving Gothenburg. Eriksberg is really living now. It was dead and totally blacked out when the warf
business went out and until we opened up Dockhouse Film here in 1989 (we moved our business
there in 1988) and we were the only company there together with the SEB Bank and the Eriksbergs
Archive! Back then it was only one floor lit in our building over there - and it was me working overtime.


Nice. Yes, of course I know that we've paid for the minibar in our ticket, but still the sign is magic...


Grown ups had unlimited refill here! Hard luck for me since I had the duty of driving next morning. But
it's always nice to be as fresh as Axel is in the morning. Now he becomes more and more like me
when dressed in my Autoshop clothes...


Wellknown Holsten Gate of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck. This port is from 1478 and was one of the
gates in an old city wall. But already in 1216 a bridge here was mentioned by the King of Denmark!
Yes, dzis is old medievel stuff! And today was December 21th and Earth was still intact!

Click on bar below for full story.







December 19

The End Of The World?

The Maya indians must excuse us at my work Vingaland Film because we need to at least
distribute our Christmas card before that scary December 21! Click it to get a humungous one...


Can you spot me?


Christmas work and Christmas party


First we had to finish our work of our Christmas card at Vingaland. Here is a G performed by Hans and
Maria for Anders Haraldsson's camera. All of us made letters. Meanwhile Jan "Fobbe" Forsberg is
working on the rest of the postcard built of stills from our productions, which we call "Book of Love".


Then we had our annual Christmas party where we had invited all our colleagues/suppliers and celebrate
our common effort and result of the year. New at Vingaland staff this year were to the left Maria
Bengtsdotter and Anna Abelius who were perfect hostesses. Pointing Per-Erik "Perra" Winberg is one
of the composers who creates original music for our films. A really fun dude who once drove around
ZZ Top in his 'ol rusty car in Gothenburg, interviewing them! He worked as a journalist
for the local newspaper then, but that's another story.


This year we had our "Julbord" / "Christmas smorgasboard" at the Liseberg Restaurant. This is a very
popular tradition around Christmas in Sweden, so you have to be out really early to book a table
at a good place like this.


This is our little special group. Eat and drink as much as you want! Have fun! Thanks! Cheers!


Anna Abelius was happy. I guess...?


You normally begin with the herring before you pick up all the rest of the dishes ...


On occasions like these some of the better ideas can be born...


A really old tradition, Carl-Johan Wolmesjö always holds a candle or two or a candelabra on our
Christmas party for his picture to be taken. Why? We don't remember any longer.


After dinner we went across the street and up to the skybar at the Gothia Tower to continue the party.
Our Alana was in the middle of it as usual. :-)


Film photographer Henrik Hjort was a bit scared of the height so I had to squeeze him a bit...


Here are four of the most experienced and skilled film/video photographers in Gothenburg which we
hired during 2012. From left Henrik Hjort, Lennart "Löken" Lökholm, Mats Longum and Niclas Karpaty.
Missing in the pic are PeO Olsson and Christer "Chris Condor" Ljungaeus who also were invited.
And of course our own in-house photographers Jan "Fobbe" Forsberg, Alana DaSilva and Anders
Haraldsson. What an amazing group of talents to have the opportunity to work with!
Yes, cheers!




December 13 - Lucia

That special morning again


Old tradition in Sweden, go up really early and celebrate an Italian Saint - Lucia - "The Saint of light".
More than even the Italians do! Everywhere in Sweden, in schools, at work places and on live TV there
are singing, slow processions of Lucy and her friends to bring light into the darkest period of the year.
And it begins in all homes. However, Axel is doing these early breakfast surprises for his parents
quite often around the year so for us it isn't that special with "Lucia" anymore, even if we don't want
to miss it. At least we have skipped the costumes. Thanks for the breakfast Axel!


wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lucy's_Day



December 8

Let there be light


Couldn't just forget our newest family member during Christmas, the Elvan Bierstube shed. At least
it is worth a small illuminated christmas tree from IKEA during the dark winter.




Bad Santas!


We followed this fearless group of Moped Santas challenging the traffic from Jonsered into the big
city of Gothenburg! Not a single moped was legal - all of them were souped up!


We also got the time to meet the moped expert Moppe-Lennart and take a look in his shop in Jonsered.
A lot of pictures will be presented.


Mopeds rule! Gedd'it?



December 4

First snow


It is terrible, every year. Some years it is more terrible than other, but it is always terrible. Snow.
This night of the 3-4 December the first real snow came, the snow that stays. First snow have a
certain ring to it, like First Blood... Of course it is OK to have some snow in December but then
it should disappear! At least we now have a newly built shed in the backyard where we have
put all the stuff that have been left outside during earlier winters.




December 1

Hot Dogs in Frozen Floda


Agneta and her Undermat was invited to the Christmas Market in the Floda square. And as she is
smart she knew that it would be too cold to really have a sales success of her products, and since she
have the permit for handling hot dogs - she made a perfect combination of Hot Dogs with her
delicious sauerkraut products! Voila!
Agneta and her mom Sonia worked and Axel and me visited for a short while just to be able
to devaur hot dogs for free...


Behind the scenes. Sonia is warming up the Bullens pilsnerkorv in two steps to get them just right.
And together with bay leaf. Mmm.


Cadillac Band also helped keeping all the frozen souls warm with good ol' rock'n'roll! Well done!


Martin Scorsese on drums and the other band members really froze but stayed with it. I didn't, I took
the cold mother in law and drove home. Axel stayed and helped Agneta.



Guitar Hero World Championship


Typical Guitar Hero food, Argentinian slow food Arepas - pulled pork - with avaocado, tomato and more.
Corn bread, Naan bread. Also Lingonberry/Cola pie and Nut pie. And more. So Agneta made sure that
all competitors should be happy even if the Guitar Hero competition itself would be disappointing.


And she was proving herself with going out early. She never tried this game before, or any game for
that matter! So was also the destiny for Monica and Natalia. Little Stella didn't care at all.


Little Stella's dad - Per-Erik "Perra" Winberg (Peps look-a-like to the left) - had never tested Guitar
Hero before, but we all wondered how much of an advantage it could be for him as he is a very driven
and professional guitar player and composer? He just sat quiet here in the back and noted carefully
what it was all about. Here Anton is playing and he have had the game for years.


Natalia played as the best female of the evening, came in 4th in the competition! She have played
a lot together with her husband Anton... Songlist started with a Cream song, then: Schools Out,
La Grange, Pride and Joy, Ruby and as the final song was Rock'n'roll All Nite.


When the gunsmoke had vanished...
Guitar Hero World Champion "Perra" did not only win but also with 65.017 points which according to
Axel is extremly good for a rookie! Axel was the Runner Up at 57.350 as the highest score.
Congratulations to both of you!
Anton came in third with an 62% count (had 61.015 in an early round!). I came in #%&)"/ myself.
Now let's go and eat more...


Monica, Natalia and Stella. Nice to see you, let's make this a tradition!





November 17-25

Mr Sting do India


A good start before 7 in the morning at Delhi Airport when we showed our carnét and stuff for the
customs office and happened to be treated with coffee. Or was it tea? All of it is heavily sweetened
anyway so it feels like antifreeze on the teeth. A very nice welcome though from friendly people.


It is the third time I visit India and now the hotels are getting close to figure out my name from the
information I always give them beforehand - Anders Stig Ingemar Envall. I didn't explain and change
anything, I thought it was fun to be Mr Sting during this stay.


Always staying at luxury hotels when working in India, they have the best international and local
kitchens so you can feel "safe" when eating. And they have the most pillows.
And the shower behind glass walls, and...and...


Also on the outside was nice. A handyman took care of the entrance fontain. Very thorough...


-Let's go to the Lotus Temple on Sunday, said the ladies. Yes Mr Sting thought, let's see
all these models built, from street to Formula 1. Guess what, it was no cars at all in there!
It was empty! Except the good quiet feeling. Actually, it is the most visited building in the World...


I'm fascinated by people and characters so I had much to see and love in India. Like the lady with the
popsicle and the armed guard outside a jewelry shop. Not the people you meet everyday.


Not the mopedist you see everyday in traffic, at least in Europe. Helmet? What is that?


Last time I saw this Promod shop was in Portugal. This was in a big mall in Gurgaon, suburb to Delhi.


When visiting India you must go shopping fantastic textiles and clothes.


Fobbe thought like me, what to shop? Now thinking back, anything would be nice to bring home!


We got ourselves a nice time with the salesman (which we called "Blue Eyes") who educated us
in different Cashmere textiles and works. And we got to learn the different feel between textiles.


Pashmina is the finest of the finest Cashmere wool. And most expensive. It's made from a special
breed of goats living in the Himalayas. It's more to it, check out this link to read more.


These pashmina works are so expensive that they are kept in a safe. To the right "Blue Eyes" (that
was really good in his trade) took it too far at the end, like when he ensured that most of the money
was sent to the workers up in the Himalayas...thanks, but no business.


You can't take photos like this.


He looks so proud and strong! Respect to all Indian people who struggle to do daily business at the
streets and roads. I think this is one of my best pictures - taken by chance from the speeding taxi,
with the iPhone. Click it.


Royal Enfield is still living and feeling good in India. After partly being manufactured in India because
of earlier large orders from the Indian Police and Army it was finally taken over to India from
Worcestershire, UK when their production ended in 1970. Good story here.


You don't know if a Royal Enfield is old or new.


In the middle of Delhi we walked to the Lodi Garden and it was like coming into a Indiana Jones movie.
From building like Bada Gumbad to free flying exotic parrots.


And Chip and Dales with long tails. Millions of them everywhere.


Time to work. A flight south to Aurangabad and then some miles in a couple of Mahindra Boleros!!
Wow! They named some cars after me! These cars took us out to the very countryside of India,
where the poorest people live...


...the cotton farmers. They don't even need to pay tax in India! The reason why we came here to film
(and filmed here before) is that cotton farmers in India and Pakistan where endangered since they were
getting physically sicker and sicker and their crops were smaller and smaller. Bad spiral.
IKEA India and World Wide Fund for Nature India got together 10 years ago to do something about it
and invited all other cotton buyers in the world, like Levis Jeans and others, even competitors to each
others. All these users saw the world of cotton collapse in front of their eyes...
This "Better Cotton Iniative" totally turned the development by helping the farmers to improve their
farming methods. Like cutting down the use of pesticides and make a smarter irrigation (picture)
with the very scarce resource water. And now they educate each others!


Most of them can't read so WWF is sponsoring educations where they get to learn how to take care
of themselves and their cotton fields. Here Fobbe is filming a class on "Side effects of harmful
pesticides on human body". They had no idea before!


Poor but colorful. All of the cotton farming families are happy for what has happened the last years
thanks to WWF and IKEA and the BCI - Better Cotton Iniative. The crops are getting better and larger
and they earn more money and they aren't as sick as before. Good spiral.


A visit in one of the poor villages where the cotton workers are getting a better and better outcome
of their work thanks to the BCI and their own work! Memories of this picture for me are:
cheering, curious, friendly, open and warm people. Heartbreaking. The film we're making is for
IKEA and WWF to explain their successful cooperation for their organisations.


Even if new cars are flooding the market this classic is still seen everywhere - an Ambassador
from Hindustan Motors! Also, please check this Peugeout commercial on Youtube.


Ah! Here's a Bolero pickup! Mr Sting likes.


When coming back from Aurangabad we noted that the Delhi airport are a very decorative place.
All these finger sings of course means something, like "tremendous joy"...


...but when we made that Indian sign to amuse these kids at an open air school theatre - they just
"rocked" back with the Dio sign from Black Sabbath... Thanks Internet.


Colors, colors, colors...


Some of Casio's 11.000 employees around the world work here in their office in Gurgaon, a suburb to
Delhi and possibly the richest area in all of India. All the big companies are here. I publish this picture
to Jonas Alholt who have been true to the Casio cameras. I thought he was alone, but obviously not...


Here are two of IKEA's 120.000 employees in the world. A friendly reception at the Indian HQ.


Across the street from IKEA's office is Ericsson. I asked our host at IKEA if they had any contact
between each other and was thinking "Swedish club", Floor ball, Field hockey, heavy drinking or
anything, and he answered "Yes, we're hiring from them". So some of the 110.000 world wide
employees at Ericsson are crossing the street..


More Indiana Jones. An exotic temple is lit up.


From the morning plane from Delhi up north - the Himalayans are seen over there in the east!
"Coffee or tea Sir? Ah, coffee please...without sugar... "


We were to factories refining the cotton and making products of it. Inpressive. Like this 300 acres
Trident factory in Sanghera, Punjab! Probably the most modern cotton factory in the world with
special machines from all over the world!
Here you could do drag racing year around, if not kinky about those iron posts... (and use air filter
or your engine will become a towel on the inside)


At the hotel in Ludhiana we saw an easy way of decorating a car for wedding or any other hilight.
Flowers and scotch tape.


Food is always an issue for us westerners when visiting India due to their different food culture and
bacterial flora. I have always been careful and choosen banana and Coca-Cola, whiskey, Jaegermeister.
However, in company with Ulrika and Elisabeth it was another experience. They have been here before.
Elisabeth even 7 times! And she is halfway through a work on a book on Indian food and recipies!
Fobbe and I ate whatever they ate.
These ladies are vegetarians so we become that as well and I must say after this week I felt better
than...maybe ever? No problem to be a vegetarian when in India with so many flavors!! Here we are
at a Thali restaurant where they refill the whole time, so it's bottomless! And extremely tasty!
Oh, I'm getting hungry just seeing this picture and writing about it!


On the platform on the way back to Delhi. Elisabeth WWF, Fobbe Vingaland, Pramod IKEA India
and Ulrika IKEA Group going back with a four hour train to Delhi. The last filming was done and
everybody was happy of the outcome.


India and trains go together. This is how it looks inside. Perfectly OK and no people on the roof.


You are scared and impressed at the same time!
In this week we travelled with every form of transportation, except boat. This is by hired bus.
Everyday around the clock! Indians must be the sharpest drivers in the world? I don't know if you must
have a driver's license there, but we did never see a traffic sign to begin with, and all these people
must see the traffic like a flow which they have been raised in and on different vehicles.


I'd like to end my short India story with a picture from a large mall in Gurgaon, Delhi. It is the dancing
Lord Ganesha which is the symbol for Happiness, Prosperity and Purity. I think we all can need more
of that, especially the Blackout SS back home in the garage. Thanks for reading.






November 14-15

IKEA Through The Ages


If you are passing through Älmhult in the south of Småland, make sure to stop for an hour or
two at the IKEA Tillsammans because IKEA have opened a museum that is quite amusing for those
who have at least a small interest in this company or maybe have some early memories from home?


"IKEA Through The Ages" is showing the company story partly through a set of showrooms from the
50's 60's and 70's and on! We were there filming interviews and found some fun stuff in the backrooms.
One of thousands nice documentations was this bus in Malmö with IKEA-advertisment is on its way to
Östra Kyrkogården. That Ford was just part of the daily traffic in Malmö at the time.


The reason for our filming was IKEA's trademarks with history and all. This is said to be "The First
Logotype" and it was made in the early 50's. However, Ingvar Kamprad himself made the first
outlines even earlier on something that looked like a cloud.


Found in the 50's showroom, a couple of issues of Teknikens Värld, a magazine that still is published
in Sweden. "The World Of Techniques" were much broader in these days explaining spacecrafts,
aeroplanes, the frontieres of medicine and much moore! Nowadays it is mostly about new cars.





November 7

Congratulations Stig!


Finally Stig Sjöberg got recognized by the Swedish publishing business for his long dedicated work
with the publishing house Förlags AB Albinsson & Sjöberg which with Bilsport and all their other
automative titles has shown that you could prosper your business also outside Stockholm,
like at home in Karlskrona.
However the award giving show was held in Stockholm and Sveriges Tidningars Stora Pris was
handed over by another successful publisher Amelia Adamo with this motivation of the jury board:

"Stig L Sjöberg has shown that even outside the big cities can build viable magazine publishers
with strong reader relationships. He is a long-term and visionary entrepreneur with a heart in
the editorial. A successful combination of journalistic instinct and nose for business.
With a moderate pressure on the throttle and gaze steadily forward he control the direction
and calmly past the bumps in the road".

Watch the video!

Well deserved! Congratulations my friend!





October 31 - November 5

Homecoming Umeå

Four years since last visit - felt long ago!

This is just a teaser for the proper report I'll do later
with much more pictures, people and stories!



First visit directly from the flight at Kent Edin's roomy garage! He invited for a Shrimp sandwich lunch!
Kent is one of the persons I have most contact with since I moved from Umeå in 1986, especially since
2006 when he decided to build an Impala SS just like mine. Come back for more here.


For you who can't think there could be any action in Umeå in the beginning of November...you didn't
count on Öhmans 1962 Thunderbird - once a movie car driven by Helen Mirren!


...Thomas Öman is the person who I have most contact with, almost everyday, year in and year out.
He was like a host in my old hometown this time. He also borrowed me his daughters car so I had
my own wheels. And I checked in at Hotel Dragonen so I had my own time schedule, even if Öhman
looked into my "to do list" to check that I had things to do everyday. Hahaha! Thanks!


Of course I visited Jan Pherson in Röbäck in the sothern outskirts of town. He is now "Mr Simpson
Europe" including WRC - World Rally Championship - after a couple of years dedicated hard work
starting with drag racing in Sweden. Simpson Shop is cooking. More of his Super Stock Viper later.
Here he wonders what he found in one of his bags, "drugs?"


Kenneth "Knego" Lundberg (upper right) is working for the best local icehockey team Björklöven (birch
leaves) so he invited me to see a game vs. Vännäs in Div 1. Ol' cold Isladan where "Bagarn" Bergqvist
and I went to freeze during the games in the beginning of the 80's is now rebuilt and is called
"Umeå Arena" and nowadays they have bars serving alcohol! Wow! They even have sponsor boxes
like this with a separate bar, which we of course occupied. Cheers! I think Björklöven won...


Öhman said "Thursdays 11:30 - you must have your lunch at Bus Stop, then you will meet most drag
racers". Right he was, restaurant owner Anders Holmberg runs a SS/AH Barracuda Hemi and he is
serving other Stock/Super Stock drivers from Umeå, like PA Lindström and Mats Bäckman. More later.


"Kunskapens Hus" (House of Knowledge) is Anders "Brälla" Brändström's ol' firm Maskinkylare.
Decorated by a stuffed hen which is Öhman's contribution. "Brälla" is also one of the guys behind
the widely known club "Nailheads"


Nailheads' enormous garage reveals some twenty projects like this nice 1964 Galaxie which
Christer "Jitte" Bjuhr is putting his time and love into. Paint job by Micael "Mackan" (McKan) Lundh.


Peter "Bullen" Wallin shows that you can put a wide Hemi into a 1939 Plymouth. More later.


Look what a nice thing built in the Umeå river Umeälven. It's at Danielsson's home where they have
built a small harbour. And in the house over there to the left lives Umeå's own Pro Stock hero Magnus
Hansson, who is not racing at the moment, instead concentrating on his company.


Bror Danielsson was excited to show what he bought very cheap on the auction of military surplus
(when they closed down the local Infantry 20 regiment) - a 1947 Wisconsin water pump! However, it
didn't start in many tries. "Strange, it started last time?"


Bror isn't racing for the moment either. But he once raced this exclusive 1974 Pontiac T/A which
he bought new in USA and imported himself, at the time quite a struggle!


In 1974 we all thought that it was over with muscle cars and that this was the very last anything that
could be bought. In the middle of the first oil crisis and the smog engine era it was fantastic to see this
brutal SD-455 engine which actually was built with Pontiac factory NASCAR 366 ci-parts and produced
540 HP before "toned down" to this "official" 371 SAE NET HP... Talk about a real last sigh!!
As Bror said: "Pontiac was first and last in the this muscle car era"
More also from Danielsson's later.


A visit to Stefan "Linkan" Lindqvist was very high on my wish list. Even if he now lives in Bjurholm
which is almost an hour into the country. Last year he just survived a fire that took the house and the
garage. So now it was really fun to meet the Den Vackre which he calls himself (The Beautiful) because
he had built a new fine house and he could show that his first Nova "Linkytoy" survived the fire since
it was parked outside. More later of course.


Party? Yes sir! Almost every evening. When I left Umeå in 1986 there wasn't even a pub in this town!
In 1987 the first one was allowed to open - you could drink a beer during weekdays!!! - Mucky Duck
was the place - and now Umeå have bars and pubs everywhere and suddenly Umeå grows rapidly,
because it has become a nice town to live in. This is from Peppes.


One day Öhman took us up north to Robertsfors to visit "Lekstugan" (The Playhouse) which Lisbeth
Olofsson and her brother Lennart have been collecting to for ten years! It is really a treasury with not
only all of their cars but also things from our social life during the same periods. Incredible.


Lennart shows that Lekstugan is not a museum as he builds this Coronet gasser with yellow flaked
engine. He hope to get a permission to make a couple of exhibition runs at the dragstrips, we do to!
Engine is a GOLD FLAKED Chevy 350 with an exclusive Edelbrock XC8 Cross Ram intake for two
carbs! A honest Muncie 21 gear box and an 11" clutch of course. Chevy 10 bolt rear end and as
you clearly can see the front end is from a 1958 Ford F100 truck!


Of course a visit at Stig "Loppan" Larsson's speedshop Stilservice (Style Service). He is a reseller
of Hansen's Racing and Birgitta Bergqvist's Autoshop in Orlando, FL, USA and he has kept Autoshop's
first catalouge as you can see. It seems that "Loppan" is buying more parts than selling?
At least he is very happy.


It was very nice to meet Mats "Rembrandt" Edvardsson who is a born natural in illustrating and drawing
and took "cutaway view" to the level of art in his firm Teknisk Illustration. When I started to work in the
business of illustrations, ad, art marketing and things, Mats took me under his wings and let me use
his state-of-the-art equipment for a small fee. Thanks for that Mats! And thanks for these sandwiches!


Mats' old love that never will perish, a 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk. With compressor.
He still have the small model...


The treasure I brought back from Umeå was handed over by Mats. Here were all old films that I filmed
at the early dragraces where we had racers from our local chapter SHRA-Umeå! Among them Bror
Danielsson of course and Rais Sandström, Calle Grenholm, Fredde, Ture Östberg and Lennart
"Bagarn" Bergqvist and many more. It will be most interesting to digitalize these films and put
them up on Youtube for the World to enjoy.

And I will be back here with many times more pictures and stories from my week in Umeå.
Stay tuned.





October 25

Dodge Pick up plopped up


It really popped up in traffic! An used Dodge D100 1965-ish. I remember that old late friend Rais
Sandström in Umeå had one in freshly painted condition. It's so groovy! So much nicer than a modern
pickup or van. Personality! Since it's older than 30 years there's no tax either!
It can load 450 kg / 992 lbs. If I had a business it could fit into, I wouldn't think twice.





October 15

Bye bye Taiwanese hood


Finally it had to go. This is the hood that was mounted on my Impala SS when I bought it. It said
"Made in Taiwan" and was too heavy and was probably from a Caprice to begin with but ended up on
my SS after a front collision. Michael Anderbrant - the master creator of Fiber glass and Carbon fiber
products - used this hood for a plug to make the forms of when making me my carbon fiber hood.
I have tried to give it away but no one wanted it. It is gone now. Thanks.




October 5

Marketing on the fly


Agneta has learned from years in dragracing that an appearance in a nice jacket and matching team
clothes is at least half the impression of a proper team - so she ordered one nice jacket for her
small business and suddenly it looks much better when she meet her dealers! It now looks
as professional as it is. (All this explaining text just because I wanted to show this picture!)





October 1

Ground control


Welcome Maria Bengtsdotter and Anna Abelius who started to work for us at Vingaland today!
Smart women who have been working in this business for years and together too. They will take care
of our quick spinning little film production company and staff while we are out playing around with
cameras'n'stuff. The regular visitor to this site blackout.nu can verify that
we have had a lot to do at Vingaland for a long time, since the Impala SS is on hold in the garage...
Check it out: vingaland.se



This is what we need to get Agneta's moped back together. The fan casing which is broken "where they
are used to be broken". Not at all easy to find. Axel will be 15 years in February and legal for moped
so we better have put this classic together.





September 30

Another 50 cc added


Aha, so now we're into mopeds as well!? Axel brought the SACH engine from Agneta's moped she have
at her cottage. It's broken, stuck in one gear or something. Now it's already in pieces at home.


Dont' you remember the time with mopeds and how we took them 50 cc engines apart and then put
them together again and mysteriously managed to have of couple of things left when all was done!?
Axel is there now. I guess we need to buy some new parts for this 3-geared SACH so if you
know the best market for mopeds in Sweden please give us a tip: bostic (at) vingaland.se



Crank up the volume! At least to 396


I have also worked in the garage this weekend. Have begun to clean up and sort things, and throw
away stuff. And stopped at this Callies LT1 crank, a stroker for 396 ci which I used until the snout
broke at European Finals at Santa Pod in 2004. Now I think it would be a shame to thow such a
nice piece away! A perfect crank for the one who line up the snout, grind a V-shape ditch and
weld it back, and grind back to specs. Is it possible? Give me an offer and get it!
I do not want to hand it over to the ungodly zombies at the local scrap yard...


Still making me laugh


When cleaning I found this little paper which I will save for ever. It reminds me of my friend Lennart
"Bagarn" Bergqvist and his quirky humour. It came with the JW cromemoly flywheel he once sent
from Autoshop Racing Engines and it says:
"The crank is zero-balanced so the weight has to be removed.
Nothing else goes. Understand!"



September 17-18

Redeye equation doesn't add up!


Fobbe and me finally in Delft, The Netherlands. Normally an easy trip and within the same time zone.
Not this time! We woke up 04.30 AM and left Gothenburg 05.00 for the airport Landvetter for the
06.20 flight, but it was cancelled! So we booked the 12.10 flight. About 6 hours later! (Goodbye first
planned filmings!) We drove back to Gothenburg to get some lost sleep for 2 hours, then back to
the airport again and this jump to Amsterdam and then the drive here - feeling totally L O S T !
We felt that somewhere in here we had lost about 2 hours and it felt very strongly...for a week!


Wow! Look at the entrance in IKEA Haarlem!

September 16

Agneta is happy under workload!


Lot of action in Undermat's stand at the "Bra Mat Mässan" (Good food exhibition fair) in Gothenburg.
Agneta is selling out her products as soon they're produced! The problem is that she has reached the
limit for how much she can produce at home! A positive problem if you wish, but it needs to be solved!
The autumn is the busy period in her business with the cabbage and all the good vegetables are coming.
September and October are booked with all forms of work - production, courses and lectures.


Agneta in a popular lecture about fermented cabbage like saurcraut. I was so proud of her. She showed
both the historical meaning of fermentation and most importantly the health factor. Since she has a
Degree of Master of Science in Biology she can tell us how well these living bacteria are serving the
modern man and is a keystone in our immunesystem. But personally I eat it because it's so
"kicking" good and nowadays I'm even addicted to it! More info: http://www.undermat.se




September 3

The long foreplay is over!


Janne Norberg in Umeå got his t-shirts at last! The sponsor Kent Edin handed them over in his shop
Norberg Race Cars. And his hard thumb is pointing straight up! We have been talking about making
this logo for a couple of years and finally it was made, without Janne knowing it! Kent printed t-shirts
to surprise him at Scandinavian Internationals in Tierp when the team was all dressed up in them.
But Janne didn't show up, he had to work! Now it is delivered. Please email Janne to order your size
t-shirt, print on both sides, and on black or white: janne (at) norberg-racing.com
Scroll down to August 9 to read the background.




August 31 - September 2

The big surprise!


With a licorice pipe, Axel is on his way to a dragrace. He has not been to any races all summer so he
said he "really needed it". And we made him very happy when we said that we're going - him and
Agneta and me - to Kjula Dragway. A famous dragstrip non of us had been to earlier...


...but we had other plans which we had kept secret since long. He didn't supect anything, not even
when we loaded our Dodge almost with the whole big racing package! We had the big tent, fire
estinguisher, the gas stove, tables and chairs and many more things that you don't need to just watch
the sport. We explained to him that we wanted "stay in the pits among the racers, like racers".
Of course we had to hide my driving clothes and helmet...


However, when we arrived in Lindesberg and saw their fabulous dragstrip, Axel become suspicious...
"Wasn't it Kjula? And why are there no cars here...?"


The truth was revealed - Axel, you will drive a Junior Dragster and take the license this weekend!
We could hire the Standard Junior Dragster from SHRA-Lindesberg! And matching too! Thanks!
Then Axel started to talk continously all the way to Kjula Dragway, from "You are the best parents in
the World!" to "I think I will start on last yellow, no, I'll go on green now in the beginning" and "How fast
does it go?" and "How much gas goes into the tank" and hundreds of more questions which I had
no answers to. "Axel, let's see as we go"
He's been wishing for this as long as he can remember and now was the time!
Agneta and I were as happy as him.


At Kjula Dragway we were instantly welcomed into the Junior Dragster community from both racers and
parents. What a wonderful and helpful family!


From the film I will make from this happy weekend. Axel towards the 1/8 mile finishline and far beyond...
In the slowest dragster on the planet, but it didn't matter at all, it was perfect!


All about this event will show up on this banner below ASAP. Keep your eyes open during the fall.


(Work in progress. Clicking above bar will take you to all bars of 2012)





August 23

The Book
"The Legends That Created The History"



Can you imagine - late "Bagarn" Bergqvist and myself got our own
chapter in Christina Bodéns newest book on Swedish drag racing!
332 pages and 13 chapters of REAL good history! Fun and interesting!

Our chapter is # 10 "From Best in Umeå to Best in the World"

We're in very good company of real legends from the
early years, like Sillarna, Rune Lindholm, Calle Hansen, Olle Löfven,
Inge Ellburg, Ola and Lasse Nigell, Björn Andersson, Tage Hammerman,
Roland Larsson and Åke Ryman - just to be mentioning a few - and all
the way via hundreds of other wellknown profiles up until today and the
last chapter on how Tierp Arena was built!
The book was released on Tierp Arena during the Scandinavian Internationals.
You can click the book above to read some of it, but surely you need to buy
the book because you want to read all the pages about all the people!
And your kids need that too! Think about it! Merry Christmas...
aretsbilsport.se/dragracing_book

This is one of the pictures of "Bagarn" that was published in the book, which I found deep down in my
archive. It's 1979 and 29 year old "Bagarn" curses loudly because he have to weld a roll bar into
the 1966 Nova streetracer he had. It was the rules of drag racing and he wanted a timeslip badly!
But he only found thick wall pipes in Umeå so he had to put on some serious weight in the car!
$=/#"¤%@("¤)&!
At the next race in Piteå he crashed violently! That roll bar saved his life. (More about that in the book!)


Here's a picture only for you. I wish "Bagarn" had lived to read it! Birgitta loves it and says "Bagarn"
would have been so proud. Thanks Christina for thinking of us when making this book
and for all the work you have done with it!




August 22-26

Drag racing web-TV is a messy thing


Smart TV's Robert Karström in his special world. The latest HD video technique, cables and cables
and cables and connectors. I promise that there is no one beating him in this game! This tight room
(luggage compartment) is squeezed in on a middle floor in his double-deck bus Moby Dick, and
it's only him going in there. Too often I may think but it's the heart of his operation.


It takes time and people to place 7-8 cameras all over the arena. The cameras aren't really the problem,
it's all the cables and cables and cables and connectors. These two cameras and a microphone must
have three cables going all the way to the underground tubes and to the white Moby Dick bus (which
rear end you see to far right). And on the building in the background, there's a camera which will have
a cable going all the way to the bus. Then there are of course cameras on 1/8 mile and
1/4 mile, the finishlines. Cables, cables, cables...


Top floor in Moby Dick, the editing suit. All these cables connects to the luggage compartment
and their video and audio ends up here where the staff take care of it, put graphics on it and edit it
and send it away on an internet connection - to your computer.


Hm...no cables? Radio waves!? Janne Jansson (far left) is an old working buddy of mine (from the
Dockhouse days) and is now living in Norrtälje so we decided to meet for the first time in...20 years?
And we planned a demonstration of their "filming helicopter" at Tierp Arena. CopterEffect is a
company Janne have with Johan Schenning and they are providing a service for any film company that
want very special shots. The result of this demo below, note that it is no real ad.


Click on the picture to see the result of our experiment. It plays on Youtube on the Blackout Channel.


This is how they fly it. One controls the helicopter and one controls the camera. And one is a son.
Click to play. Same source.
The whole story will appear here on backout.nu ASAP.


(Work in progress. Clicking above bar will take you to all bars of 2012)






August 11-12

Back to Elvan therapy sessions


Before and after. Instead of letting one of the corners become a place to throw different things, I decided
to build shelves that was fit for IKEA's large plastic boxes which swallows very much junk. I was so
happy for this session when going out to the Elvan shed and to concentrate on a different thing.
And it turned out just fine!

August 10

Out-of-throttlebody experience!


A free hour. I went out in the garage and began poking on the throttle body and instantly found a fault!
Of course this crack has affected the performance! I wonder for how long? So, beside the melted
hole in the head I have found a handful of other things that have affected the performance in a negative
way! And I guess that I hadn't found them all if it wasn't for this sabbatical year giving me more time
with the SS. I'm beginning to feel aroused because when all the these faulty things I've found
are set right it should set off like that whale on acid again!





August 9

Rock hard ancient racing


A secret kept between Kent and I was that he ordered from me a logo for his friend Janne Norberg
in Umeå and his race car workshop. Janne have helped Kent a lot in building his Gentle Giant
Impala SS so the happy customer Kent just wanted to show some appreciation with a logo
and then print some surprise t-shirts!
It should of course stand out...from everything else. Since I had free hands I wanted to experiment with
the name NORBERG (which sounds very north in my ears) and a blend of prehistoric rock carvings
and vikings. Instead of the very fast eight-legged horse Sleipnir in the Norse mythology I thought
Janne " in the north" could own the first (?) eight-legged reindeer. And the suncross was a must.
The logo should work both on white and black with its carving's red marker color. I hope Janne
will be happy because I have done a lot of hard work with it and I'm happy. Kent too.





August 8

Alice Cooper in town


One of my first idols filled Liseberg and put on a good bloody show as he always had done. I have
never seen him live but his songs makes me remember my moped, a 1965 Crescent Husqvarna
"rocket ass" and my first steady girlfriend Lena Marklund. In July we enjoyed ZZ Top on our vacation
in Skåne but this Cooper concert reminded me of one of the reasons I once moved to Gothenburg, to
come closer to all the action. And this year - resting from racing - we found time to enjoy some of the
action: Poision, School's Out, No More Mr Nice Guy, I Love The Dead, Muscle Of Love, Elected,
Billion Dollar Babies and the whole hit parade rolling on gave us the thrills and the smiles!
And he's not a kid anymore, Vincent!





Roaring laughter memories


"Best of Bostic"... Because of its 50th Year Anniversary Bilsport Magazine is looking back all year,
and again mentioned my work as a journalist together with the photographers Christer "Chris Condor"
Ljungaeus and Putte Lundmark in the No 17 issue. All lovingly remembered by Bilsport journalist
Håkan Molin. Thanks "Molle"! (Click to read Swedish)




August 3-4

We're now switching to "High Resolution"


This weekend we could simultaneously (if you had two screens) watch LIVE web-TV from zMAX
Dragway in Charlotte, N.C. USA to follow our Pro Mod-hero Adam Flamholc - and from Sunoco Drag
Challenge at Gardermoen Dragway near Oslo, Norway.
I was glad to find out that the production quality from Gardermoen by Robert Karström's Smart TV
were much better, not only because its reciever quality of 1080P real HD, but also
because of the dynamics of live editing more cameras.
To help promoting Smart TV I have written a lot of press releases and of course here on NEWS at
www.blackout.nu - like in May 19-20 if you wish to have a look at
the first part of the NEWS in 2012.
Well, this headline was a play with words, just meaning that from now on www.blackout.nu will have
600 pix wide layout also on the NEWS-page. That is because people's computers since long are
having bigger screens and are set in High Definition, and the widely spread broadband doesn't
stop for anything either. So the 400 pix layout has become too tiny. This is a small step, I know.
It's only my own web-making program Dreamweaver 8 that have this stone age-setting...and
when it allows me to handle larger pictures, like 800 pix, I will update again.




Hernvall climbing to 3rd


Our friend Michael Hernvall was at Bilsport Action Meet at Mantorp
Park and set a new PB with his 1994 Buick Roadmaster:
60-foot: 1.75
1/8 - 7.83 @ 142.57 km/h / 88.58 mph
1/4 - 12.28 @ 177.14 km/h / 110.06 mph
That was the best of only four runs he got this weekend. So few runs
were due to too many break downs and clean ups from the others.
This 12.28 meant that Michael passed our other friend Per Moe's 12.77
to be the 3rd quickest B-body in Sweden, possibly outside USA.
Michael says:
"I think I have a problem to get up in speed, the car is of course
1900 kg / 4189 lb (That light?! - Ed's note) and the engine
isn't that extreme with little more than 500 hp. But it will sure be
a little bit better with nitrous!"
Adding nitrous to this Golen stroker 396 will sure pull the station
wagon out off the ocean of 12's and into the great lake of 11's.
To begin with. Maybe there is a chance to the small lake of 10's?

Congrats Michael! Now 112:th place in the world - 3:rd in Sweden!
Check it out on this link:
http://www.top-et.com/impalass/

Check his films from Mantorp:
youtube.com/watch/Hernvall_at_Mantorp-1
youtube.com/watch/Hernvall_at_Mantorp-2
youtube.com/watch/Hernvall_at_Mantorp-3




August 1

Tubular A-arms!


Look what I found when moving stuff to our new shed Elvan!
Chris Nickell's tubular A-arms for B-body, constructed of mild steel.
I sure got a set up from Chris, but regrettable never mounted them
on Blackout SS, so many other things had to be done first.
Now I have them for sale, never used, for the same price as
back then - USD 300!
More things you can't be without here >4SALE



July 30

Good site news

* I have now finally moved this entire site to another web hotel.
After all these years I believe it is the only way to ensure stability,
to avoid real blackouts where the site is down for 14 days
or more without anyone trying to solve it. That era is over.

* A recent lightning killed many electronic things at home,
unfortunately also the PC laptop where I worked with this site.
So it took some time before I sorted things out with the
insurance company and bought a new laptop and could
start rebuilding Photoshop, Dreamweaver and stuff
needed to pick up the work again.


* I will soon come back with more updates from August
and September. Like a look inside Smart TV web-production,
seeing Kent racing his Gentle Giant SS and much more
from Scandinavian Internationals.
Also the highlight at Kjula Dragway when we surprised Axel
with a weekend in a Junior Dragster, going for the license!




July 27

Veranda vacation


Why going away on a vacation in the first place, when you can sit on
the veranda and have friends and family on shrimps and drinks?
Sister Inger and her Hans from Stockholm came by together with
Björn and his Birgitta after a wide tour on the West Coast.


This is also a good way of getting gifts. My oldest brother Björn (far
left) now and then brings a selfmade aquarelle like these colorful
flowers! A very Picasso way of giving gifts, so Axel may be
stormingly rich in the future and that'll come in handy if he wants
to keep the Impala SS and continue to dragrace it...
Thanks Björn!


As long there is sun it doesn't matter where you have your vacation.
Here the sun has just set in the sea and it is becoming darker, so
soon you won't be able to see Älvsborgs Fästning to the right,
the famous fortress built for standing against Danish attacks.



July 15-24

Vacation!
Let's have a look on Skåne, Blekinge and Öland?


A ten year old motorhome will do. "Retro" as motorjournalist and
friend Gunnar Ljungstedt described it when he saw a picture of it.
You have to book motorhomes early on the year nowadays since
they are very popular. And you get what you pay for.
The "whole" vacation will later be found on this page:
>VACATIONS SOUTH_OF_SWEDEN


When arriving to Skåne we came first to Åhus which is the home of
Martin Lundqvist and his 6,0-second 400+ kmh Pro Mod Camaro!
We surprised him in his giant workshop where he also have a dyno.
This part of Skåne - The Österlen (The East Route) - is one of the
most beautiful areas in Sweden, and the little picturesque town of
Åhus is wellknown around the world for the - Absolut Vodka!


And we went to the old famous Kiviks Marknad (where I searched
for the strippers that everybody have talked about for decades...)


Astonishing Iron age megalithic monument Ale's Stones close to
Ystad city got a visit from this man - The Medieval Knievel.
We checked out a lot of historical and cultural treasures in the
southernmost state of Sweden. That's vacation too!


A little beauty covertible! Czech car Skoda Felicia 1960 with
50 horsepower! It was released in 1959 and built until 1964. Then
again between 1994 to 2001. The only car I have bought new over
dealer desk was the Felicia 2000 which lasted 11 years.
This car, and many other fun things will be published later on the
vacation page, all found at Autoseum in Simrishamn.


Work on vacation. Smart TV was streaming live dragracing from
Sundsvall Dragway on July 20-22 on the internet. I reported how it
looked and sounded and gave other tips to the production crew on
location. But it was sometimes difficult to work on this set up,
especially when driving. However, the iPhone recieved the net
perfectly, and conveyed HD quality at all times!


To the event that started our idea of our vacation, the ZZ Top concert
in Ystad July 27. The new Texicali t-shirts where everywhere on this
sunny evening, actually the first warm evening of the whole trip!


So cool. More pictures to come!


And some TV-celebrities from Skåne, like Anne Lundberg from
Antikmagasinet in SVT who really loved my provisional
ZZ Top-worshipping beard. I guess.

More later on this page >VACATIONS SOUTH_OF_SWEDEN




July 1-14

Building it in 14 days!


It took a lot of time and power in the hot sun to nail all the floor
planks with the hidden-nails-style and all that jazz.


Paintbox in the tent and the on-site carpenting had to be ongoing
simultaneously to save time.


You see Axel and Agneta on most of the pictures and not me. Does
that make me a lazy dodger, or was I also working hard? Yes I was!


We have never built something like a house before. It was easier
than we thought but still we had to rush to finish it in time.
But first a coffee brake.


Axel were all over and helped out most of the days, in fact a very
good help for a teenager! Here he has carried a couple of electric fans
to our site to get the hot air turning. It helped a lot!


Once the ceiling beams were in place the long nailing process
started. Neighbours didn't complain once, they actually started
to work on their own houses.

Quiz on Facebook


Just to lighten up my own day I suggested a Quiz on Facebook:
"Name all the things you see in this picture that you need to get the
tar paper mounted on the roof, only things in this picture!"
First Prize was to have this shed named after you in some way!
It was a popular quiz and Karl Ellwein in Maryland USA won having
most right answers. So we named the shed "Elvan" meaning "the
eleventh" and it was of course from the story of Karl being called
the "eleventh qualifyer" in Sweden because his name, quickly
pronounced, sounded like that... Congratulations Karl!
Click to get to the results here!


Maybe these were the very best days of this whole summer? It was
hot also in the evenings. Wonderful nights! And Agneta worked
the tar paper like a pro.


We could'nt work every one of these days but still in 14 days it was
done! We had to make it in time, because we had booked the
motorhome for going on vacation the 16th of July...
More later on >The birth of ELVAN - the Garden Shed

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