Have you clicked your REFRESH button? Ever?


What is the truth?


We promise to find out the truth behind this sly picture! Thomas Öhman (on the left with the reining
horse Dun It With Spark) and celebrity Maria Montezami out of LA California and a common friend!
I am sure we will get an explanation. How can I be sure of that? Well, I know that Öhman
loves another of these Swedish Hollywood Ladies - Gunilla Persson.



Please, scroll further down!
You may find new things below here, since your last visit?


Scroll down to May 11-12 to check out a little about SmartTV...



I'm working on the update as soon as I get time for it. Meanwhile, please enjoy this image
from 2011 by Patrik Karlsson - of the Bad, too Heavy, traffic Dirty SS launching!


General plan - Notes below here - and other events - will grow to short stories ASAP:
2014 January - news as it happens...and I get time to write about it...
December - rearranging in the garage etc.
Christmas, New Years...
November - Denmark, new wheels, meeting with Annie Lööf,
Enterprise Minister of Sweden when Vingaland Film was awarded.


December - Christmas and stuff
November - Skagen, New wheels for the Chrysler, Chrysler hit by another car
October - Lifting out Jeezus of the SS, Canned Heat live, Nitro fumes at Vårgårda
new premiere, Smokey article in Bilsport #22, buying a 80 cc Yamaha cross,
classic Bilsport girls Pia & Päivi...
September - Fixing things at home, Texas Longhorn, Fabulous Thunderbirds live.
August 22-25 - Scandinavian Internationals - Tierp Arena
August 4 - Enjoying our sea and archipelago with our friends
August 2 - Deciding to skip trying to race this year. Instead get engine out.
. . .


August 7

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!


Less than a week from the Summer Meet event you could read about it in Bilsport Magazine,
subscribers like myself got it in the mail. And between August 8 and 21 others can find it at the kiosk!
Not that big thing. But kind of fun. Bostic together with Whiplash again. Number 17.


. . .


August 22-25 - Scandinavian Internationals - Tierp Arena (above)
August 4 - Enjoying our sea and archipelago with our friends
August 2 - Deciding to skip trying to race this year. Instead get engine out.
July 26-27 - Summer Meet Mantorp Park (below)
. . .



July 26

The Ageless Whiplash


A lot of funny things will be reported here on the NEWS page, like my own report from Bilsport
Classic Summer Meet at Mantorp on July 26 where we at last could listen to my old Camaro
Whiplash, now with a 406 ci, F2 ProCharged 1200+ hp!
It was also nice to see Chris Condor on duty as a photographer on an event like this! I don't know
anything about the guy in the middle, but I wonder why everyone else have grown so skinny?
Today's Whiplash owner Thomas Hermansson on the far left is not at all an exhibitionist but I think
he likes the hullabaloo this car creates. After all that is why he bought it.
He and his friend pedaled the bikes to Summer Meet as 16 year olds and fell in love with this Camaro
and after four other owners in between us, they drove to Norway and bought it back ...

. . .
July-August - Beginning to put 396 engine back
July 26 - Met Danish artist Tage Andersen
July - Plenty adventures in Bengtsfors cottage


June 26 - Getting the AFR heads back from the Twins in Vargön
Visits at Moppehörnan all summer
June 21 - Midsommer
June 19 - Surprise! I bought a matt black Kreidler moped!


June 13-16 Sweden Internationals - Tierp Arena
. . .








June 5-9

Umeå Fast Forward
Thunderbird Tour


Skolgatan in early warm June from Öhmans Thunderbird. Windows down, arms out. After the reunion I
stayed a couple of days in Umeå, just to hang around and meet old friends. It does not happen a lot.


Thomas Öhman offered to be my private chauffeur in his Fabulous Thunderbird during my stay.


Nice to stay at a hotel in the middle of Umeå. I have never stayed here before, old Hotel Blå Aveny, now
rebuilt and named Hotel Aveny. Last time I was in Umeå in nov 2012 I stayed at Hotel Blå Dragonen
also in the middle of Umeå but closer to the heavy thru-traffic. Here's no traffic at all.


Really nice rooms. Training dumbbells on the wall with an instructional DVD.
Thanks, next time, too many people to meet!


I went straight out to surprise long time friends Liessen and Bror Danielsson. You always get a good
laugh and a cup of coffee together with this pair. Who is going write down all of Bror's stories that just
will flabbergast you? They just can't be true...but they are!! Bror always have some new toys to show
and here are two of many small mini mopeds. They also have an electric one.


One special thing I looked forward to was to meet "Mulle" again, Maria Uhlin. We connected on
Facebook but we hadn't met or talked in at least 30 years and now we had a "fika" at classic
Nya Konditoriet. Our life stories were told in Fast Forward.


Mulle in 1975 when we worked together at Umeå Reklam, a sign and screen print agency back in the
days when it really was a handicraft. Rulers, brushes, pencils and knifes etc.
And we kept our work at the highest level.


Peter Norrman and Kenneth "Knego" Lundberg was a good company later in the evening when it was
live football on big screen at Allstar. The match versus Austria was included in the qualification for
World Cup in 2014 and I think we lost this game. Because I remember no cheering.


Instead it was time to go cheering or bar-hopping. There are quite a lot of places to choose between,
at least compared to 1985 when I still was living here, then Umeå had 0 (zero) pubs. You couldn't get
a beer during the week! The pub Mucky Duck opened in 1986 and from there Umeå took off into the
future - the young people coming to Umeå to study at the university and high schools stayed and
settled here and started companies after their education - because Umeå was "a nice town".
That did not happen until a pub was allowed to open...


At Peppes we got rock'n'roll from old friend, ex-69 Camaro 427-owner, and singer Christer Mångsén
in the band Harry's Garage.


Five to 2 AM. It don't get darker than this in june! (However, in December it is almost only darkness)


It is close to this welcoming hotel from everywhere. And no traffic, quiet, easy to sleep.


Always nice with a hotel breakfast. Meanwhile checking the no traffic situation at Västra
Norrlandsgatan on the outside.


Spring Meet 2013


At Umeå Van Service, built up from scratch 26 years ago and still run by old ragger Ingemar Micaelsson,
have a free automotive show every spring where new and old meet. Lucky me it was during my short
stay, I have never been here before. But I didn't see busy Ingemar anywhere.


Ulf "Trike-Uffe" Andersson and Öhman talked to two salesmen about the Camaro. I believe that
Umeå Van Service is a dealer for american brands and a few more. Business looking good!


Crate V8 GM 350 offer (including 25% sales tax) from Umeå VanService this day only:
260 hp 15900 SEK = 2500 USD
290 hp 18900 SEK = 2970 USD
290 hp complete w. intake/carb/chrome kit 26900 SEK = 4222 USD
(Currency value as of March 2014)


Where have I seen Umeå VanService before...? Yea, they are a sponsor for Kent Edin's Impala SS!


Umeå celebrities everywhere. Like here with Mats "Masken" Karlsson (behind Öhman), Öhman,
Camaro Stock/Super Stock Racer Tore Mattsson, behind him Mats "Bäckis" Bäckman, today a guru
engine builder and also Stock/Super Stock racer, Lisbeth HZ Olofsson (girlfriend of Tore) a bright
positive woman, writer and entrepeneur, and star photographer Putte Lundmark
who I worked with a lot for Bilsport.


Lindberg Brothers were earning their sponsorship in 2013 by displaying the Chevrolet Alcohol Funny
Car show all over Sweden, also in Umeå. Their startups were very popular to say the least!


Mats "Masken" Karlsson's nice Super Gas was another example of race cars that were in show.


Old friend Mats Ångman showed his super fine 1965 Impala. He built an engine that is moore than it
looks, a SB 400 gone to 406 ci. Edelbrock RPM kit with aluminium heads/cam/intake. TH 350 trans
and 3.30:1 gears in the 12-bolt.


Mats Impala 1965 was renovated in USA in 1995 for USD 20.000.00 and it shows!


Hamburgers were on sale. Gunnar "Benke" Jonsson and Mikael Lund couldn't resist. Kalle Lindqvist
could (older brother to Stefan "Linkan" Lindqvist). No burger for Håkan "Håkansson" Persson either.


Kalle's 1965 Buick Riviera is in super fine condition! Built and painted at home.


Everywhere nice cars.


A nice thing was to invite everyone on a roller dyno on the location - for free! An award was given to the
"craziest dyno run". A que was building and then it was time for our friend n'Ola Åbergh who lives in
Solna and works in Stockholm, but is visiting his old hometown Umeå a lot since he still owns and runs
the family apartment house were he grew up, and a summer cottage. Ola has not at all left Umeå.


Even if it's the same rollers that Kent Edin ran on a while ago, Ola's SS didn't fit to hook up with the
machine, I guess there were longer adapters somewhere that wasn't here today? Anyway Ola didn't
get his run with his street legal family-equipped 1996 Impala SS with a "kind" always running
Powerdyne blower and a 14.034 @ 154 kmh / 95 mph best performance.
Eventually, July 13, Ola won the Pro ET ladder in SHRA Skellefteå's "Gold Town Summer Nats 2013"
Congratulations Ola!


Mats Alfredsson is the automotive media guy in Umeå. He covers everything that moves on wheels.
Owns a 1989 Camaro IROC-Z himself. And is also one of the moderators on the Nailheads Forum.


A Corvette window is what will be the last image from a really good free event with a couple of
hundred cars and thousands of people!


After some refreshments at the hotel it was time for a evening tour with Öhman and Mats "Masken"
Karlsson.


"Bagarn, come out and fix the idle on the 490" In 1985 was Lennart "Bagarn" Bergqvist here at
"BP Teg". Here was his small shop.


We didn't miss a short visit to the ol' jail.


The old city jail is now renovated and rebuilt to a hotel, The Hotel Gamla Fängelset in Umeå.
I wonder if any of the old guests have come back for a night or two? No, I don't thinks so either.


Here in the courtyard our class and I was actually playing a football game vs. the prisoners! It was in
high school, Östra Gymnasiet, in 1973-1975. One of the girls in our class was the organizer,
because she worked with a nonprofit organzation that tried to help prisoners and criminals to a better
destiny. I think the prisoners won and I know that it was a rough game and that Per "Sicke" Wiklund
got hit by an arm on the throat and was taken to medical.
No one was interested in a re-match.


A tent will help if your garages are filled with other cars...Like Mikael "Mackan" Lund's own 2:nd
generation Mercury Eight which of course awaits a total overhaul. The original flathead V8 will be
replaced with a nailhead V8. Mackan is also one of the members in local Nailhead club.


The tour included a visit in "Mackan's" garage even if he wasn't at home. Öhman and Masken just
brought me inside to show me real orginal Metalflakes !


Next stop was Hans-Åke "Gacken" Säfström who just turned 60 years in 2012. He's been around
in customising and car rebuilding for as long as I can remember and with some early articles in Bilsport
he got well known all over the country. He now runs Adam Text & Reklam and he works with signs
and screen printing just like Mulle and I did at Umeå Reklam. Still much handicraft but now
there are computers too.


There were a lot of nice containers at "Gacken's" place so we took the opportunity to take some shots.
Much bigger pictures than this one of course, if Öhman want to print a poster of his 1962 Thunderbird?


Stilservice - Umeå's classic speedshop, filled with things from floor to ceiling with stuff. Unfortuneately
Stig "Loppan" Larsson wasn't here but his plants were. And Mats "Rembrandt" Edvardsson's
Jeep Cherokee too, once left here for an oil change. Good, then we know that everything's normal.


Known from TV, the "barn dance" evening at "logen" in Täfteå. Öhman and Masken
are as happy as Taxi-Kjell over there with his wellknown Volvo.


The TV documentary series in nationwide TV were shown in 2011 and the success is still felt all over
the place. A new project is born, called "På dans med Kurt" / "At dancing with Kurt" which continues
to document different dance events. And very good service was noted at the hot dog stand
with the right kind of hacked and pickled cucumber.


"Claes Lövgrens" on stage, one of many hundreds of cover bands doing this kind of "Swedish answer to
american country music". Click to see and listen a bit from the infamous Swedish dance music in
a barn! And how Öhman holds two plastic cups of coffee.


Later, back at "Peppes" in Umeå for some rock to clean up the brain a little. Now "Hiwatts" played
with a mix from different local bands (just like "Harry's Garage"). The "Cover Kings" Åhdén twins
alongside John B Edén from "Wolfman Jack" (which drummer you saw in "Harry's Garage"...)
BTW, did you know that Åhdén twin's record guitar collection just became "Guitars" a
world famous museum when opening in 2014?


I just had to make a quick stop at the old Umeå city church where I haven't been in over 40 years.
I wanted to see if I remembered anything, and I did! I remember exactly the three wise men behind the
pulpit. I especially remember their colors. And now I suddenly remembered that Herrey brothers was
dressed in the same colors in 1984 when winning the Melodifestivalen with the song
"Diggi-loo Diggi-ley" and Björn Borg presented the award! What does that mean? Absolutely nothing.


Last time I was here at this church. In the beginning of June 1969. School's out, 6th grade.


Time to go home. Picked up Jörgen and Anki Karlsson and started the 1000 km long trip to Gothenburg.
Here's the first break at the Höga Kustenbron - The High Coast Bridge


SHIIIT!! You see the flash and you know you have lost! "SMILE - because now a picture and your
money is taken" I have never understand that sign of information! Only stupids like myself get trapped
in speed cameras like this because they are clearly announced a half a mile before on big signs!


How can I miss this sign? It even tells you the
distance to the cameras!? I paid 2000 SEK,
313 USD. Thanks stupid me.







June 6

Fortythree years after

Reunion in Umeå


March 1970. We are having a party at the "Gillestugan" - "Social room".
Funky Lady Inga-Lill Björklund to the left, Kenneth "DiDi" Engzell, Nils Malmhäll with stockings over
the face, the indian Bert Blomqvist and me the hippie.
How about a reunion for the-kids-on-the-block? Marléne Sjölund (born: Holmgren) started the campaign.
She could do it because her accident where she hurt her foot and became home sick and then
she enlisted at Facebook and started to look us up one by one.
A tremendous function of Facebook!


On the 6th of June is the National day of Sweden and it was also the date we all could meet in Umeå,
because only three still lives around Umeå - Nils Malmhäll, Bert Blomqvist and Marléne Sjölund.
It was the first time we all were gathered in the same place in at least 40 years! And we met in our
classic "Gillestugan" and the wall paintings from the 50's were still left! These Gillestugor are common
in older houses and for all the renters in the house / block to borrow free for meetings and socializing.


Marléne and I. We where a couple without really knowing. Together a lot in these years.
We thought about it and said that these snap shots may have been taken the SAME DAY but 50 years
apart! Because we are dressed for school's ending in 1963.


First we walked around the Hackan block and looked at all our former staircases, and changes.


Here is from where we came! Click it to check it out. Nils to the far right shows how he flew through
the window when he - as usual - ran and pushed the door open. But this time the caretaker
had taken out the window for some reason...so it became a long flight!


Barbro, Marléne and me on the way to school in 1963, and us in the same place 50 years later.


We remembered a lot of things together. Someone remembers the beginning of a story and the
next one the end. We talked and talked and laughed and laughed.
This street is Lundavägen where all our moped/motorcycle/EPA Tractor drag racing was arranged.


1971. I made a wheelie with my Crescent Husqvarna 50 cc Raketarsle and I told Lennart Järvenby
to immortalize it with a picture! We walked bye this famous spot...


-Here was the steep slope that only the strongest mopeds could conquer, said Nils.


What is Jörgen doing? Click for short clip.


Time to enjoy the tranquility in the Fågellund park. (Bird's grove)


Marléne had prepared a fantastic lunch pack! And lot's of it too!


Decided beforehand, to buy TT mellanöl. This is the beer we drank as teenagers and we could buy it at
the crocery store!


Barbro Essebro (Karlsson), Nils Malmhäll, Marléne Sjölund (Holmgren), Bert Blomqvist, Jörgen
Blomqvist, Inga-Lill Hörnqvist (Björklund) and Anders Blirro Bandadodero Bostic Bolero Envall (Batman)


I took a lot of photos already in the 70's. I brought my old albums so they could see pictures of
themselves which they haven't seen before! There are so many things to look at and discuss etc. so
one day meet was too short for us.


More food from generous hostess Marléne Sjölund. Jörgen and Barbro, they have always laughed
with me. Marléne had also put together two CD's with songs that were designed for this evening!


Anders, Marléne, Jörgen and Nils.


Hours rushing bye with tears and laughters.


This is how light it is in Norrland in the middle of the night at 01.30 AM. Over there is the house I grow
up in seen from the Gillestugan basement. This block was good for us all I think, thank you all of you!
And thanks Facebook for being a prerequisite for this thing to happen.
And the biggest hug to Marléne who actually made it happen!
See you all in 40 years again...








May 29 - July 17

I was ashamed for seven weeks...


The film clip above show the domestic popularity of our newly bought 2010 Chrysler & Country.
All its electrical features is a highlight not only for young Axel. However, I love the foldable seats
absolute most, to just fold them into the floor! Instead of carrying them somewhere else, if needed.
Importantly - I have to remind us all - that not to run the sliding doors and rear gate too often, without
the engine running, just not to risk emptying the battery... (Click it!)


Quack?
BAD KEY? It doesn't start! What the #¤%&)=


It's totally embarrassing to not be able to start the newly bought car in front of your neighbours
after all the bragging about it!
"What's the fault with your new car Anders? Can we help?"
"Eh...nah...it must be a drained battery, since we have played with all the electrical features..."
But it wasn't that! I had to call a tow car to bring it to the "authorized dealer" DAMN!


I couldn't go to my favourite auto garage Abo Bilservice with that super helpful Irakian family. They are
very skilful but they can't take this. These type of keys force the owners to go to the only ones that
can fix them or get new ones - the "authorized dealer".


More panic, when the tow truck arrived I couldn't release the gear! I had to read the manual under
the sweat dripping forehead, and finally found it! Released the gear with a pen.


"Now Anders seems to tow away is new car. That was a short happiness..."
I was grateful to Sören "Fixarn" Fjellstedt who came back with my old Dodge Grand Caravan (right)
so I could borrow it until the new one was fixed. More shame. And, it took seven weeks!! Ultra shame!


At the dealer 20 minutes later the "shame campaign" continued! Now, the override didn't work a
second time! Not even when a pro mechanic came out and tried! So my newly bought Chrysler was
dragged off the truck bed with locked and slamming wheels...and it doesn't have a hitch in the back...
Oh dear!


I was very happy that my neighbours and friends didn't see all of this! The new Chrysler had to be left
on the spot overnight so I took my ol' reliable Dodge and drove home.


Next day I went back to be helpful in getting my car rolling (and to ensure it wasn't dragged all the
way inside...). I went into their scrap and looked for such a gear apparatus so we could see how it
was designed and to see how this little fxxxer should work. Their mechanic managed to fix it.


At last, inside Hedin Bil, american cars department.


This guy was a pro, and he had done this before.


They told me I had to order three things to make it run again.
1. A new key.
2. A new key console matching the key.
3. A new steering lock.
Unfortunately, all these things were at the manufacturer in USA, Chrysler, but unfortunately-2 the parts
where out-of-stock and we had to wait for Chrysler to start the manufacturing again!
I have never heard such a fairytale before! And it was crowned with the price, more than 18.000 SEK!
Fortunately my insurance covered most of it. Nevertheless, I felt silly and ashamed. Not a good start.
After 7 long weeks I got it back, July 17!






May - June

New entrance roof. Finally.


Ever since we had the garage rebuilt in 2008 I have been worried over not having any protecting
entrance roof on the front of entrance and garage. It's been raining and snowing on the doors and the
port much more than before, since we didn't get the go-ahead on rebuilding it the way we wanted,
with a built entrance roof. So I have always said that I would buy an aftermarket entrance roof.
And suddenly after only five years it happened! Ha!
Anyway, a new front had to be built first, that can hold the weight of the roof. And rain, wind, snow...


Hello Karin Petersson! Can you help me to get some good wood? Went to her at XL Bygg a couple
of times. Thanks Karin!


It was fun to work in wood again after years of Impala SS metal. But I didn't adopt the change so quick.


These 90 x 90 mm cubes are the beginning of the strength. Glued and bolted to the existing beams.


Yea, this should do it.


It was so elevating to work with such manly screws like Jumbo Jetting! No fiddling about..just do it!


Cranked them with my impact wrench used for the SS lugnuts, with a 30 kg / 66 lbs torque.
Yes. Will hold forever.


Time to paint the front beams. Ground and white. Back there, in the Elvan Bierstube built in 2012, it
was warm so I had to sit down for a while. Many times. Painting is never a quick job,
you gotta be careful.


Half done. Front beams are also bolted with those Jumbo Jettings into the cubes.


Full length. Leveled at the seam with that clamp.


More of difficult, time consuming work. Painting the beam supports.

v
After years of planning and all that work and all that money - it wasn't fun to put up the first part of the
roof from Jula! "Hard Head" brand. Or was it "Block Head"? It was the same in all packages, the
left and right bars wasn't equally bent! I had no problem to return the scrap and get the money back.


I went straight to K-Rauta and bought their Stratus model. First I had to modify in a corner for
clearence to the drain-pipe.


It was three times as expensive as the junk from
Jula, but I guess it is worth it since the ad promise "good behavior in wind and rain"


First rain. I admit that I hurried to go out and stand underneath to just enjoy this five year old dream!


This is the looks from here.


And this is the looks from our veranda.




May 25

Ossian's Swedish built Mustang


Wow! Axel's neighbour friend Ossian got this sporty Swedish built Mustang moped with Zündapp
engine! It is nice to be a couple of friends in the same club. They look terrific together!





May 22

Polish and Proud


We must do some promotion for Orda Bygg in Gothenburg. A "Polish" construction company which we
earlier only had heard the rumors about. When I saw one of their vans I called them directly and asked
them to give us an offer for changing the floor on our veranda. The boss came by at 1.00 PM (it seems
that he is the only one talking English?) - and before we knew it, it was already on the go the same day!


At 4.00 PM a van arrived with three skilled carpenters who only nodded. And grunted in polish. No
talking, the boss had already informed them so they brought everything they needed. They only worked
and worked, didn't seem to take a break. I almost didn't dare to ask them if they cared for some coffee.
I'm glad they did. It is a Swedish company but driven by a big Polish team of carpenters who are
here to work hard for a while and eventually go home?


Since Agneta in her Undermat made a very tasty and hot borsjtj, which is polish cuisine, she wanted
to give them this when they left. I made the recipe in an international way and just added a few
polish words that I found on Google.


Swosh! At 8.00 PM they drove away! After only four hours! AND they took all the scrap with them too!
We didn't need to clean up after them and drive to the scrap yard ourselves, just broom a bit!
Same day solution, we loved it! Thanks!
Maybe they aren't better craftsmen, or much less expensive than Swedish carpenters, but they hell
are much quicker! And the quality of the work is just terrific. No sloppiness.





May 19

Black Tulip 2013


This is what it looked like in 2013. The Black Tulip I got in a trade with my Bolero X Tomato seeds,
with my Facebook friend Rigmor Björnerem in Norway. The tulips seem to be active every second year.
Stunning in real life!






May 18

Adventurous Moped Excursion


No it's not Greece, it's the archipelago at the Westcoast! The front side of Sweden.
After leaving Axel at the scout jamboree we took our mopeds on a long excursion of 50 kilometers
(15 miles) back and forth south to Särö for a lunch. We could choose the shoreline bike road which also
is allowed for mopeds. A wonderful trip. Took us at least the 1,5 hours that Google maps approximated
for a bicycle, because we stopped our mopeds quite often to enjoy the environments
and the Greece temperature of 28 Celcius - 82 Fahrenheit.


Early on our trip on the Blue Brick road we found friend Perra's Baotian moped! He had left it outside
his house unlocked a couple of days ago and it got stolen in broad daylight and he couldn't run
after them. Steal and destroy, that's the new spirit.


A nice lunch outdoors, by the sea, tasted especially good after the long drive.


Säröhus is a classic place to visit for a lunch or dinner. But this time the weather changed very quick!
From wonderful to rainy thunder storm, coming from the south! Let's go home quickly before it hits us!


Agneta parried the rain under the trees, when there were any trees! We were chased by the rain all the
way home and came home with wet backs and dry fronts. A wonderful adventure on mopeds! The first
for Agneta and me since we were teenagers. Therefore very special. We love our mopeds.





May 17

Good morning dad...


As mentioned over the years, our family like to serve breakfast in the bed and celebrate on feast-days.
Axel have embraced this tradition and is arranging this whenever he likes, on regular days too.
However, today it was my birthday, on the Norwegian National Day as usual. But I have forgot which
number and in which order. I am sure it is over 40. I think? It was a fine day, beginning with
black coffee in my Vlad "Dracula" Tepes cup. Good morning!



Krom Stockholmare


Birthday continued at Lennart Svensson's Moppehörnan (Moped corner) where he was finished with the
renovation of Agneta's old moped, which we learned is called Krom Stockholmare (Chrome
Stockholmer), I have no idea why. The model is a #1289 from 1969-71 "a Wolf in sheep's clothing"
with a 3-geared Sachs engine. After some tightening of nuts and bolts it now easily makes 50 kmh,
(31 mph) well ahead of the 30 kmh (19 mph) limit stipulated by the law for "legacy mopeds".
And No, you don't need to shave on birthdays...or in the month ahead...


This meant that we now had two mopeds, but we are three in the family...



Overheard...


My old friend and colleague Chris Condor gave me this fine gift on my birthday. He and his family is
now living in Eche, Spain, during the colder season. And one morning on the veranda he heard these
loud spaniards discussing interesting things at Avenida de Libertat below.
Click to get a bigger one, also in English!







Jan - April every winter...

Linkan, what is he doing, really?


Yes, just what I thought! Girls and beers! Every winter Linkan disappears to Thailand. And you
never get a single postcard but thanks to these pictures from "Pelle Lax" we can now see why...
I secretly asked Pelle to send some pics of what "The Best Looking Man on The Planet" is doing.


"Pelle Lax" Andersson to the left is also an infamous Umeraggare just like Linkan. Pelle was well
known at the police station in his youth for being a notorious poacher of salmon (lax) in the Umeå
River and selling to the local restaurants. But we know him most for buying Kines-Thore's
strong Valiant streetracer with Chevy 331.
He came to Thailand on a vacation and got the bright idea of printing swedish newspapers to sell
to the swedes on the beaches! Today he lives here in Phuket and owns several printing shops with
many employees that are printing numerous newspapers and magazines and distributes them,
and not only swedish publications either.
(The sofa is called the V75-sofa where they always follow the horse racing on TV from Sweden.)


"Pelle Lax" soon got the means to buy a Wellcraft Scarab 377 from 1979 and became the Don
Johnson of Phuket, Thailand. You remember Miami Vice?


Scarab had two 468 ci engines, one cracked a cylinder and Linkan was "hired" to fix it.


Water - like any liquid in the cylinder - will cause hydraulicing since liquid can't get compressed like air.
A rod can easily give in... This happens now and then with nitro engines in drag racing, if the engine
doesn't fire allright and the giant fuel pumps just fills a couple of cylinders with nitromethane in a blink!)


So Pelle bought a new pair of long block 454's from Birgitta at Autoshop in Orlando, Florida. Pelle
and Birgitta also know each other from the streetrace times in the 80's in Umeå. And Pelle again hired
Linkan to install them in the Scarab. Click to watch Linkan checking out the engines during first start.


But it looks like it's more vacation than work for him. Here F1 on TV. Always beer. Pelle's company
of course have ordered their own printed beer coolers.


This is mainly what he do with his days, to make kids around him wet. Or was it a special holiday?
Yes it was the Thailand New Years Eve on April 13.


I see a Göteborg flag in there! What's that? Also further away a sign "Scandinavium Bar" with the
logo of the famous Scandinavium venue in Gothenburg. Hm, it's three persons from Gothenburg that
are in charge of this bar/restaurant/guesthouse in Karon Beach, Phuket, Thailand.






May 11-12

Tierp Arena premiere on a distance


Nice to connect the feed from the computer webcast to the TV screen!
This was the first race of 2013 at Tierp Arena that I couldn't attend in person, but I could enjoy the
web-TV from Robert Karström's Smart TV. Extremely high quality with real 1080 HD and perfect sound
to that, and the skilled event speakers conveyed into the production on a separately sound cable.
This is how it should be. Well...


I couldn't resist sending advices to Robert on how I thought the ultimate frames should look like. If
you have worked with this before, it never leaves you. Robert wants these comments. Even if he is
buried in on-location work in his by-budget-undermanned team, he wants it to be as good as it
possibly can be. And he don't have to ask twice for my support.
1. Zoom in to the interesting scene.


I took a snapshot of the TV-screen with my iPhone and mailed it to my computer, worked quickly in
Photoshop, took a new iPhone-pic on the Photoshopped original (above) and sent it to his iPhone.
2. Show more of the arena without losing the cars.
It's Åke Eliasson coming with a slamming door, perfect for his class Top Doorslammer where he
eventually became the 2013 Champion! The quickest ProCharged car in Europe and in the
absolute top 2-3 in the world! 3.9309 on the 1/8 miler!


Robert is working 30 hrs a day placing and connecting everything all over the place and solving
totally new set problems every time. You can't talk to him, but you can send pictures on the iPhone!
3. No need to show a grass field if you instead can gain a little braking and chutes drama...


Anyway, Robert's web-cast is by far the best in the world! No one meets his quality anywhere even if we
see a bit of progress and copying here and there every year, but Robert sets the standard because
he is also designing the software programming and such. Hard to beat a guy with the whole picture!
Sometimes it's for free, sometimes it's ten Euro, but it is always fantastic!
Thanks Robert & Team and thanks everyone that hires him!






May 11

Cleaning up history


Agneta did a big clean out in the attic and said that she found so much junk to throw away. I am glad
that I asked to have a look at that junk. Because I found - and kept - sweatshirts with historic values,
like from my first win of the streetrace in Umeå in 1981. We printed t-shirts to the winner with the
winner's car on it, and we also printed a sweatshirt and some extra textile
prints for the winners to frame.


I won in 1981 and in 1983 so I have two prints! I designed the prints for the winners as long as I was
involved. It all was financed by the racer's entry pool, typicly 32 drivers x 50 SEK each. Of course
I had good connections with the studio Teknisk Illustration so I could make the originals to a minimum
and also the printing shop Umeå Reklam for making "the most important job" of the year.


After my move to Gothenburg in 1986 the printing continued, but reflecting more the path in my life
as a filmmaker. This is the first print of Chris Condor's and my first company Broadcasters.


The official print of one of our inimitable partys at Dockhouse Film & TV. Different to others, we
throw parties with everybody invited, with lot of surprises (plane attack, police hits...) entertainment
with magicians and comedians and of course performing music artists. At one party we actually
had The Spotnicks! Lot of memories in all these sweatshirts, to keep.





May 9

Lars-Inge's new-old project BAD 66


- Welcome to my garage, says my good ol' friend Lars-Inge Johansson back in his hometown Uddevalla.
When I first met him in the beginning of the 80's he was also living here, and Chris Condor and I made
an article about him in Bilsport, just before his famous win of the "first legal" street race in Sweden.
In that Chevrolet Chevelle 1966!


After that race Lars-Inge sold the Chevelle and moved to Stockholm and began building quick
Chevelle '66 station wagons, both street racers and finally a Pro Mod version which he crashed badly
at Santa Pod in 2003! Luckily he survived and was back at the Pod in 2004. But after that he
stopped racing and stayed in the sport as a official inspector and also as a builder for others.
In 2011 he looked up his first Chevelle 1966 at the owner - who once bought it from Lars-Inge - and
begged him to sell it back and the big nostalgic rebuilt began...
Buick Skylark rear panel was something Lars-Inge made already 30 years ago!


Lars-Inge have over the years become an iconic car customizer and people stand in line to hire him
for his magic. This time he is giving himself and his old Chevelle a part time of the top-notch
treatment! This car is now going back to zero - more zero than 30 years ago - and Lars-Inge is
bringing it up with the latest ideas and equipment. Not Pro Touring, more like Pro Custom.


Lars-Inge in his beloved English wheel where he creates his own pieces. He have a feeling for it.


And you see that he need that English wheel to form small pieces of sheet metal to just get that right
form to support a complety other rear window than original! What? Well you have to wait and see.


Beside working as an inspection official at drag races Lars-Inge is also hired as a Judge on automotive
shows and has an exceptional eye for details. Therefore he only uses black-chromed nuts/bolts/washers
for the entire car! Also brackets and other small pieces are getting the same treatment


He has his library in the garage. Lars-Inge have a good memory of the written word, pictures and
articles and can pick up a special article in an instant.


Some articles are easier to find that others...
This big article in Bilsport # 23 / 1983 was produced by Condor and I from when Lars-Inge
had moved to Stockholm and built the quickest and fastest streetracer in Sweden.





May 9

Workhorse switch


The last duty for our beloved Dodge workhorse, to deliver a lawnmover tractor to the Bengtsfors
cottage. I bought this 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan on a private ad in Orlando in 1999 when good
friend n'Ola Åbergh and I was there checking out many minivans all over the place.
This one have payed off its costs uncountable times. Not least to be the support vehicle during our
racing, both towing caravan trailers and being loaded with all stuff needed. And then serve as
Dodge Plaza at nighttime.
We couldn't have been racing without a car like this. It have been a pleasure to cruise in a luxurious
way with all these nice leather seats and with the comfort of a strong 3.8 L V6.
But now it was time for something new...


...another Chrysler mini van! Only newer! A 2010 Blackout Chrysler Town And Country!
Last model year before they changed to the Lancia emblems.


It had been direct imported from Florida so it is American built, with a 3.8 L V6 and comfy seats as
we are used to. We are the second driving owners in Sweden. And we hope this vehicle in deep black
metallic will serve us as good as the first one in Candy Apple metallic did.


We let Sören "Fixarn" Fjellstedt take care of the Dodge. He has been helpful in every car deal we
have had in our family, insurance questions and everything. He's the one to call. It all began in 1999
when he helped us to import and register this Dodge in the smartest way. Now it was his Dodge and
happily he drove away. Until I called him after a short while and said I needed it back...
More about that later!






May 6

Mopeds are good for nuturing kids


A happy sight for the parents. Axel is at home taking care of his Zündapp moped, instead of doing...
...anything else, downtown.






May 5

Absolut spring


Neighbour Helge takes out his fine 1973 BMW CS 3.0 from winter storage for the first wash of the year!
That sound makes us go out on our veranda and listen. It brings feelings of absolut spring.




May 3

V8 Thunder Cars


On the way to Ring Knutstorp we saw this trailer with new Volvos and a 1960 Chevrolet Brookwood
Stationwagon. What feelings do you get when you see this picture? Will we see
these Volvos still running in 50 years from now?


When entering Ring Knutstorp we were charmed by the wonder of springtime - white wood anemones!
And you could hear the engines roar on a short distance...the winter was over!


This was the reason we came here - the roaring class V8 Thunder Cars!
The class was earlier the Camaro Cup but is now also open to the new Ford Mustang and Dodge
Challenger retro bodies. However, Camaro is still totally dominating and - they are not Camaros...


It was the first time for Axel to visit a circuit track race and he took great interest in everything.
It's almost like in the drag racing pits.


"Nice Norwegian Girls" We looked and we looked and couldn't find them? Where were they?


Here we thought of our goodie-good friend Tommy "AGA" Olsson back home in Gothenburg.


This is Micke Kågered Racing two-car entry in V8 Thunder Cars! His Top Fuel dragster was left at
home. Click the picture to see a detailed picture of the trailer art made by artist "Lörs"


Lunch! We were invited to Ring Knutstorp and this team by the man in the middle Christer Abrahamsson
who was representing one of the sponsors - System Edström. Christer is also known as the leading
speaker voice at the dragraces at Tierp Arena and that his hobby is nice old Zündapp mopeds.
And they say that he once drove around Europe on a Kreidler moped!?


Some of the crew of driver Andreas Ahlberg. Looks a bit easy, for the moment at least.


El Clicko...


Let's take a look inside these homologized cars which are all through Performance AutoMotive
Scandinavian AB - PASAB in Jönköping, which means my old friend Tony Bryntesson.


Tube chassis for all! Same interior in all of them. Click to see a big, but jagged iPhone Panorama pic.


All of them have a identical Winters aluminium with 3,50:1 gears and Quaife ATB differential.
Transmission is a 4-speed Richmond Super T10.


It is Ford 9" design and has full floating hollow drive shafts and other slick features.


Chevy 376 on E85 (Ethanol 85% gasoline 15 %) give 510 hp and 600 Nm torque. Effect is controlled
by sealed ECM and restrictor. This power is quite enough to play with in a car with minimum
1215 kg / 2590 lbs weight including driver!



The other Camaro, freshly brought into the team, is Andreas' brother Joakim. Here's one of the
mechanics showing how easy it is to handle this low weight on the jack. In the background the
Crew Daddy of it all, Kent Carlsson, who also is the Mr Everything in Kågered's Top Fuel business.


Joakim is running the "old engine", a carburated 350 GM ZZ4 which leave 450 hp, which is mainly
controlled by the size of the carburator. They say that the control is much easier with the new engine.


Sometimes big Kent's musclepower is needed to conquer difficult tasks.


I overheard this short meeting-on-the-run between Ragnar Segring, Senior Advisor Mantorp Park, and
Tony Bryntesson, CEO of Performance AutoMotive Scandinavian AB and Ragnar Segring said he liked
the action of this new class but thought it maybe was "too loud" !!!
How can anything be too loud on a race track is my first reaction, of course.
Ragnar Segring is working with observing that the terrible "maximum 95 decibel-rule" that have
been laid upon racing in Sweden, really is obeyed! Tony, and I guess all others here want
MUCH MOOOOOORE SOUND!


Here is Tony Bryntesson Racing's own trailer. And it's "Lörs" who have made the graphics again.
Bryntesson's first driver Jens Edman eventually actually won the whole Knutstorp event.


Andreas Ahlberg is chasing the only non-Camaro in the class so far, Bryntesson Racing's Ford
Mustang with driver Anders Brofalk. The Ford have the same everything under the plastic body, even
that Chevy engine! The Dodge Challenger coming 2014 will also have the same specifications!
So really, the real cars are long gone, here are the purpose built homologized race cars.


Well known view of Ring Knutstorp, the natural grand stand "the hill". Let's go there!


It was nice up here in the shadow. A good view over almost the whole track! Christer used his iPhone to
follow the live timing on a page on internet, check it out! www.motorsport-events.se


Full days with many classes.


Our Swedish Prince Carl Philip is doing well in STCC driving the Volvo painted in the Swedish flag!
He was earlier racing in the Porche Carrera class. STCC is the premier class in Swedish track racing
and also these cars are homologized. There are no Volvos, BMW's or Citroëns or other brands here,
there are tubular chassis with mid-mounted Nissan engines. Not long ago there were actual factory
fights between the car manufacturers, just like the pioneer class BTCC in Britain! Why the change?
I have no idea, but I know it has been an loud debate for years that even split this
series and now they're back together again.


Guess who we met as a mechanic on this Audi in the Swedish GT class? Do you remember
"The Laserman"? Hasse Boström was smiling as they won! Congratulations!


Funniest supporter team on site! For Camaro # 48 Magnus "Kroken" Krokström who actually stopped
racing a couple of years ago, and wasn't even here in person!! This supporter team love this racing
so much that they will never give up! They've been around since it was called Camaro Cup and as
the t-shirt in the middle says: "We Love Camaro Cup! King of Classes in Swedish racing!
The hottest cars, the largest starting field and the coolest sound!"


From Axel and me, a big Thank You to Christer Abrahamsson and Micke Kågered Racing for your
hospitality and a fantastic day out at Ring Knutstorp!
Visit System Edström "A Place For Everything" to see what Christer is working with!


Ring Knutstorp 1971


It is easy to recognize that grand stand "the hill". I did remember it from some old Start & Speed
magazine where they showed pictures just like this one above, from some exhibition runs in 1971 by
drag racing cars. This is the classic "Big Bad Green" Mustang and the photographer Roland Larsson
says the car had a Chevy 327 at this time but he doesn't remember any times from that early period.
Roland Larsson:
"Åke Ryman and I took turns driving. I remember when we had got a flame suit including
a face mask, where the eyeglasses got fogged of the excitement when I would run.
We solved the problem by setting a matchbox upon the glasses between them and the
face mask. There is where the fire protection was gone. Savvy guys."




April 15

Funniest stand-up artist


Eddie Izzard! What a character! Completely mad! And he can be funny without being mean to anyone.
A lot of stand up comedians have to learn that - or rather, they don't have it.
His most famous performance must be the Death Star Canteen which now is his extra number
which he continues to build on.


Scandinavium in Gothenburg were filled with laughter for at couple of hours! One of Eddies strengths is
his fantastic improvisation when his crazy mind is taking us on a long and windling road where no one
has been before, and no one knows how it will end. An example was when he talked about the
Dressage with horses during the Olympics, where he ment that it would had been more interesting
if it was to show how to use a horse in a housebreaking, and then he started to show just that...


It was my exgirlfriend Helen Sjöström and old friend Eva Dahlgren thought of me when buying tickets,
we hadn't met in years! And it was as fun as Eddie to meet these two ladies from Umeå. Time was
too short though.





March 29 - April 1

It's getting rougher and rougher!


My absolute favourite was this Volvo Amazon, a symbol for a very strong trend.
But all cars cannot look like this...then the underground rat revolution effect will disappear,
at least on a show like this.


Bilsport Custom Show has been around since the early 80's and is one of the largest custom shows
in Europe. Lines where long but many and they where moving quickly.


Jonas "Impalakungen" Alholt and I went here and got media passes (thanks Stig!) and therefore found
ourselves in the media room now and then where we got coffee and free french rolls with cheese.
Not that good for the "Banta med Bostic" diet concept...but FREE is good!!


Jonas and I where here to fill our folders with hundreds of pictures, like here in the super nice dry lake
display with the A-Bombers (which won best display!) Some of my pictures slipped the folders and are
shown here. If I get more time (go to jail or something) I will make a big Custom Show page here with
a lot of more pictures. Until then, suck on these candies:


We stopped instantly when we arrived at this super nice 1961 Volvo P1800. It is the former 80's race
car of Norwegian Sverre Kars but now in a very nice edition in the fine tuned fingers of Sören Andersson
from Hedekas, aiming for the Competition Eliminator with 16 Valve turboed 1980 cc, Jerico gearbox...


Rough'n'low. Love it! Bengt Davidsson from Vargön put together this 1937 Ford coupe real quick.


So rough that there are even holes in the body! :-) This is the Amazon gasser with Hemi that you saw
in the first picture. It is created at larssoncustomizing.se


We absolutely dig this rough "grind machine style"! Our winner. Reminding about the style of Jonas
Alholt's engine compartment in his Impala '64 (BTW which now is sold!!)
See and hear it start up halfways into this clip: youtube.com/Rods


It was crowded as usual. Almost 80.000 visitors over the weekend! I was glad that Jonas was a head
taller than everyone else so he was easy to find when we lost each other.


Stunning Corvair built in France. The paintjob just hypnotized you to stop. Check it out newride.fr


You must stop running and calm down and take a good look on all the nice cars, motorcycles, mopeds
and things that are displayed. A long day is needed, or two. Here is an Ultima GTR from 2006 which
you probably missed if you were in a hurry.


Jonas suddenly became so happy because he had met a guy that was longer than him! It was Fredrik
Ström, the track manager at Mantorp Park. Anette Jönsson treated all Bilsport subscribers with free
real Swedish "kanelbullar" - cinnamon buns.


The Lysell Rally, an amazing concept car from 1950 by the Swedish born Ralph Lysell, educated in the
USA and then Norwegian. It is the same guy who designed the Ericsson "Cobra" telephone.
They planned 15 cars but this prototype is still the only one.


How do a really quick v-dub look like today?


Standing on empty Husqvarna shells, a moped chopper with a Husqvarna Flinta engine. Same as I had
in my youth. Swedish Husqvarna was of course also a manufacturer of weapons and ammo.


Adam Nestor of Rävlanda (Fox landing) is maybe building the sharpest custom bikes in Sweden today!
Detailing is fantastic on "Sporganic" which also will travel outside Sweden to other shows during year.


Delage II Drago Ruggente - The Roaring Dragon! Rough in another way! It is a custom built car in 30's
style. Chassies comes from a French Delage DI 1924 and 7509 hp / 27 Litre Isotta Fraschini V12
comes from the Italian bomb plane Caproni 313! Engine must be started with the help of air pressure!
CHECK THE FIRST START-UP OF THE ROARING DRAGON BY CLICKING HERE!!!


Glenn Billqvist is the rough rider. Speed record before the war was 595 kmh...but the Roaring Dragon
is only geared for 180 kmh. "I can promise you that it is dangerous at that speed as well..."
I believe you Glenn, the SOOOUUUNNNND is enough for me! (Click it)


Rough by year and condition. Husqvarna 1000 cc from 1936 for side car racing. Frame is from 1933
with some parts from Harley-Davidson, like the front fork. Once owned by Malte Blohms Motor.
It was a winner in road hillclimb and racing. This one won Best Historic Motorcycle!


"Best In Show Performance" Rolls Royce Silver Shadow 1974 in fine condition, built as a Pro Street.
Hope we'll get to see this Finish crazy custom run as well? It wasn't a figure about the engine
or the rest of the equipment to find anywhere...so probably it's all show and no go?


Not so rough Volvo FH500, but what an impact this paint design of The Swedish Pride Ray Hill have!
Wow! The Danish owner Henrik Guldager must create commotion in the traffic wherever he show up
with this Picasso truck! I have never seen anything like it.


Even the Cal Looks are going rough today! And it feels so right!


There is so much time and work spent to get this look of an forgotten Cal looker with these Empi decals
and everything. Congratualtions John Bergman & Co for a cool style and decoration at the show!


Metallica guitarist James Hetfield's Lincoln Zephyr 1937 didn't get my full attention since I've already
was sold on rough styles this time. But of course it was nice! Built by Rick Dore.


MCB Sportmoppen from 1966 with another Husqvarna engine, like I had on my moped in 1970's. MCB
stands for Monark Crescent AB since the beginning of the 60's. This one won Best Historic Moped!


But what the heck was Öhman's 1967 Volvo 144 doing here? Am I so old that it's time for showing
these cars? Well, next year my dear mustard yellow 1970 Volvo 145 will be here?


Is this a moped or a motorcycle? A Monarped from 1956 with a Honda 86 cc with 30 hk. Top speed
is like 150 kmh - 93 mph. The plastic bottle on the left said "Nitro". Rough? What do you think?


Business is cooking on Bilsport Custom Show. Always. A lot of booths with a lot of different things
for sale. Do you want to buy a '57 Sofa? Or a '59?


Jonas shouted and pointed: -Look! A boat with a Thunderbird roof! AristoCraft!
And I shouted - Look Itera, that plastic fiasco bicycle project!


All the subsribers of the Nostalgia magazine (same publishing house as Bilsport) got a free hot dog!
We think taht the hot dog man had the right body language.


A new good idea was to have half of big Hall A in dark for the ones who wanted to show off some
lights and neons and stuff! Good thinking! Here's a BMW something that felt right at home in here!


Here's a fat SAAB convertible which was blinking like a christmas tree.


Jonas! Here is your Impala! No?


Jonas, here is a Danish girl for you! No? She likes cameras...


People's Choice!
Kent Jonsson's Dreamliner! A 30's Dick Tracy hot rod built by Ulf Bolumlid. Wow! This won also the
"Rick Dore Award" and, it won over all the rough entries...


Secret favourite


Suddenly I met my old mistress - Whiplash. A 67 Camaro which I owned and built 1979-1987. I did feel
something...haven't seen it since the mid 80's when I sold it. Now owned by Thomas Hermansson
in Linköping who displayed it here.


Still there on the glow box, my graphics wrote by the silver and gold pen when they appeared on the
market. Slogan is from an old Camaro ad, color of the car in the ad is Bolero Red...


Whiplash driver's seat. It's still rough all right. Biggest difference is that I had a DNE 5-speed and a
Long shifter. Also another safety cage. And wheel...?

Aha! Still the same rear end and suspension and wheeliebars. Are those my Koni coilovers...hm?


What?! Has the rear end housing been painted red?? I had this Ford 9" rearend done by the Kjellin
Brothers in Sundsvall, they were No 1 at that time, building Top Fuel chassies and stuff. This rear
end is made to outlast the human race. They shortened and strengthened it and also made that
nice filling tube and cap. The chrome moly panhard bar is made my Roland "Gäddhultarn" Gingtorp
after a cardboard dummy I sent to him. I guess it's also still the same u-joints under here.

Easter eggs filled with candy - good symbolic of this show which always is arranged at Easter
weekend, in Jönköping in the lower middle of Sweden and hosted by the premium Bilsport Magazine!
Thanks! See you next year!





March 21

First warm rays

March 15

Me and UN you know...


First picture I have had published by United Nations! ;-) It is from our filminghs in India in November 2012.
If you want to read about this fantastic project, here is their web page!
Soon the film we made will be released...



March 8

To Protect and Screenplay


Respectful yet beautiful! And I've been in Eureka in Northern California when filming for Volvo.


Always some hullabaloo going on at Nordgrafik's unloading yard in Gothenburg. Beautiful American
cars in different shapes and qualities arrive to their new country.


And it's often my friend Sören "Fixarn" Fjellstedt (right) who is the man behind the import, or just
working for the importers on the registration of the cars in his company CCV and he is also writing for
Wheels Magazine about all the import issues and statistics. He is The Fixer! Hasse behind the wheel
is working as the Director of unloading at Nordtrafik and is possibly the man who has driven the most
American Cars in Sweden!? Very short and mostly in rear, but still!


Always fun to crank the search light a little.


Aha! This phony slogan give away that this is not a real cop car, just a film car.


But it looks real to me! On it's way to its new happy owner somewhere in Sweden.



March 7

Zürprise Zürprise!


Imagine what a dream! After so many years talking and longing! The day after his license test was
was approved - we took him out for a shopping tour he didn't expect. His grand parents and his
parents agreed on that he could choose "whatever" he wanted and we should split the cost.
Spoiling him - yes!
The choice was quick, this 1977 Zündapp KS50 (with parts from 1976-78) was already completely
overhauled - and too fast! Big numbers in that engine made it as quick as the Klass 1 EU-mopeds,
so we said to Lennart that we wanted it a bit relaxed and geared down before we came to get it -
and by those changes it became the perfect moped!

Fantastic buildings and architecture is everewhere in Barcelona. Like Torre Agbar - this water
company office building! Click here to check it out! You won't believe it!


On the slow stroll down world famous La Rambla we got to see many different offers in many stands.
Aha, the F1 season opened up with test days on the Barcelona track. Hm, we missed it by two days...
No great loss, let's continue...


We visited the old La Boqueria market which we think is the most impressive market we have ever
been to! Agneta was stuck in front of many grocery stands because of their fresh and overwhelming
presentations. I think I heard a mumble sounding something like: "I want to live here!"


One of the best spent vacation days ever was the day trip to experience Salvador Dali's world. It is in
the north of Catalonia, close to the border to France, in Figueres. There we find the fantastic museum
where he also liked to work his last years. The "Rainy Taxi" Cadillac is as surrealistic as expected
with the rain inside, instead of the outside...
Dali and cars


Dali left many unfinished works and this is said to be the last one, in his studio at home in the small
fishing village not far from Figueres. More from his fantastic home in the final report.


This is the picturesque Cadaqués village in Catalonian Costa Brava. Close to the small fishing village
Port Lligat where Dali lived. In between Dali-tours, we had a couple of hours spent here in the warming
sun, with tapas and drinks. It was in middle of February and it was freezing back home in Sweden
so more than 20 degrees centigrade felt wonderful.


The Mediterranian Sea wasn't for swimming yet, but Axel checked it out with his feet.


Remember my report from India in November last year, and the Royal Enfield story?
Well, this must be a new one? Found in the middle of Barcelona.


How to cross a marathon run? We were late to the airport going home, because the whole city of
Barcelona was blocked by this run and there were no passing places!!! Taxi and buses were useless.
We needed to get over on the other side and the Police watched us for not doing so...
We - the parents - trespassed, but our son didn't. Because we have taught him to always do what
a police may order. We forgot to tell him that the parents orders are more important...
If it hadn't been for angry Agneta we would have missed the flight...
I filmed how she did it - the frame above is from the film - and I'll put up the film later, when (and if)
it has been run in Sveriges Roligaste Klipp in TV4 which is the Swedish counterpart to
Americas Funniest Homemovies, the funniest TV in the world we think!
The next season of Sveriges Roligaste Klipp starts in the autumn.
And I think this clip fits right in. :-)


Final Barcelona report to be published here one day >VACATIONS






February 12

A Moonlight Serenade...


I thought my old faces on Facebook were boring after a while. Luckily I found Chris Condor's picture
from our filming session with Bojan Larsson in 1987 (?) where we filmed our dance to the tune of
Glenn Miller's Moonlight Serenade from 1939.
I have no memory telling me why we did this, I guess we just were playing around being creative rather
than sitting in front of a computer? There was no Internet back then. I do remember a lot of laughing,
every single day. Condor and I started the company called Broadcasters and started to serve Bilsport
Magazine and the FABAS publishing house with filmed articles. They were ahead of times!
I had just moved from Umeå to Gothenburg to have my hands in this business.
I still have, but where is Bojan Larsson?






It has started...


The new valves and springs has arrived from Autoshop. Thanks Birgitta.







February 10

Öhman, get Facebook!


This futuristic Thunderbird I had to save down from Facebook to mail to my friend, the 1962 Thunderbird
owner Thomas Öhman in Umeå. Because he is not on Facebook himself.
But I don't know anybody who talks so much about Facebook as he do. And our common friends in
Umeå confirm that. He says "My children won't let me" but I have asked them both and know they
would welcome him. So what is it? Take the step Thomas, everybody can do it!
And it would save me some time too. ;-)







February 6

Congratulations Axel, you're fifteen!


At last! He has talked about it for years, to become 15 and "be legal" for moped. Big boy. But first he
have to be satisfied with normal boring gifts like underwear and socks. And he also got another thing
he's been wishing for, a gym card with a PT for the first visits. Now, get up! It's time to go to school!


Poor little guy who have to walk in the cold to school every morning!
(Well, we have all done it, and therefore we know how it is!)
But we agreed on waiting for any moped driving until the ice, snow
and cold was gone, so struggle on for a little while more!


A small party for the closest friends after school, Kasandra, Max, Jakob and Kevin.
Agneta's strawberry and rasberry cake was awesome! Summer in your mouth!






February 3

Fire away!

February 2

Schhh! Swedish defence secrets!


Along the red arrow in the upper left corner you'll find the Säve Airfield where we had fabulous drag
racing locally here in Gothenburg between 2002 and 2008 but unfortunaletly not any more. Säve
Airfield consist of two parts, a civil - Göteborg City Airport - which today is busy with Ryan Air
and other flights, and also a former military part - Säve Depå - which now is abolished and gone
since the Swedish politicians have found out that wars will never happen here again...
However, in the former secret Swedish Air Force hangar bunker under the mountain they now
have a very interesting museum - Aeroseum


Built in the 40's, officially secret and in use until 1969, opened up and welcomed visitors in 2005.
The large plane J37 Viggen was built with foldable tail fin so it could fit these underground hangars.


The tunnels have a lot of interesting vehicles on display. Like that SAAB GL5...


This SAAB had a fifth wheel which tested the traction on the strip in a speed of 96 kmh (60 MPH)
with the help of the Swedish "skidometer principle".


It was easier back then when it was clear who was the enemy. The King's letter to all Swedes.


Not only military stuff down here. Here is a beautiful SAAB Safir with Gipsy Major engine. The Triumph
logo sits there because the owner of the plane was the legendary entrepeneur Uno Ranch who was
the importer of Triumph motorcycles in Sweden, among other things. Thanks Mårten Carlsson and
his fantastic source Svammelsurium for all the hard-to-get-facts!


They have a Gubbdagis down here where they are rebuilding this old plane. And having fun while
doing it I presume. Gubbdagis is "Old man day care center" :-)


Of course they have a café. Or else the visit down here would have been shorter.


The English (!) guide told a fun story about the Agusta built Bell Jet Ranger helicopter and polar
missions and polar bears. I thought it was fun that they have used the logo of caravan manufacturer
Polarvagnen. This late polar bear logo was designed by brother Sune Envall back in the 70's.


Fun that they also have a choice of flight simulators. Axel and his grand dad Thore both manuevered
to an immanent crash. Several crashes actually.


I choose the Viggen simulator and was glad it wasn't for real. This seat was only for real heroes...


I took this Viggen from Säve Depå (in the far distance), straight southbound and here had just turned
to go north again to attack our own house at Brandmansgatan 10, so I'm slowly descending...


The first studies and designs for Viggen were made in the 50's, so the idea of instrumentations where
not close to the ideas in the automotive industry at all. A number of 329 SAAB J37 Viggen was
manufactured between 1970 and 1990. Main thought with it was to enter Soviet Union, drop The Bomb
and get out! (A little more about it here!) Viggen was phased out with smaller and smarter J39 Gripen
still in use today and which only will defend Swedish borders (except the West Coast...eh?)


Ok, I guess I don't get a diploma?


Axel tries out the "Dragon", cultified J35 Draken which was the proud SAAB-plane in the Swedish Air
Force before Viggen came along. Some people love the ripping sound of Draken more than the
thunderous Viggen sound. I love them both. Don't miss an airshow where they run Draken and Viggen!
Until then, we can recommend a couple of hours down in the mountain.







New Year's Resolution

Banta med Bostic
(Get Slim with Bostic)


Something like this?
A New Year's Resolution for me was to loose weight. Three years ago I had a resolution to stop
smoking and using snus tobacco, which still works just fine! Have never touched it since.
However, I gained weight so now let's get rid of it.




January 11 and 24

Medieval Calories


There were a couple of daytrips back and forth for meetings at the IKEA HQ in Delft. We managed to
get some free hours to explore the beautiful Middle Ages Delft which became a town already in 1246.


Fobbe and I found a fantastic shop with Netherland cheese so we filled our bags with this Gold!


Wasn't this a great and tasty start to get slim? Cheesus!




January 4 - 2013

Fan-tastic!


A hard-to-get item! The fan cowl for this Sach 50 cc. We know after months of searching. Finally we
were blessed by racer Micke "The Bike" Johansson in Tandsbyn outside Östersund who heard
our trumpet call on Facebook, and today we recieved it in a box! Wowie!


Note how it should look. As you see on our original cowl above, the area is gone and lies somewhere
in the Dalsland woods.


No surprise, we knew it - this cowl was cracked and someone had tried to weld it without any luck,
which also is said by everybody in the moped business: "You can't weld the Sach engine".


Mike The Bike didn't just have one cowl, he had five! He first sent me this picture to let me get a feeling
for the alternatives, together with his explanations. No 2 won, even if it was cracked because it had
all the other good features. And the crack isn't in a sensitive area.


A crack can be fixed with Plastic Padding Chemical Metal in an hour with grinding the magnesium weld
away, blending components, mounting under clamps and hardening (10 minutes) and grinding again.
It's for go - not show. For the moment anyway.


Beside the love for mopeds Micke is racing this 1975 Corvette with an 355 ci. Going 12.36 @ 188 kmh
and he drove it so well so he became the ET Pro Winner in the EDRS Cup North 2012! Congratulations!


Nice service. Nice man. Thanks Micke!

mopedbutiken.se
facebook.com/Mickes-Cykel-Motor
facebook.com/RimVette






January 1 - 2013

Hey!


This was the first person we met in 2013. Is that a good or bad omen?


We had a small cruise on the first day of the year and ended up in Årjäng in the county of Värmland.
All about this nice (we hope) troll here Årjängstrollet




December 31 2012 - 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.

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