Historic Customs USA Road Trip P4

 

HISTORIC CUSTOMS USA Road Trip Part 4

After spending some time with Gene Winfield, the guys are now on their way to Hot Rodding Mecca El Mirage, and the Los Angeles Roadster Show.



In early July 2016 Ronnie Lindblom and Micke Hedberg left Sweden for their dream road trip in the USA. Both guys had bought an historic custom in the month prior to this trip, and along the way the idea had grown to fix up their cars and make a road trip of a life-time. After 11 long days and nights working on their cars, they finally had them ready to hit the road. You can read about the first 11 days of their journey in Part One, about the first time on the road for the cars in Part Two and a their visit to Gene Winfield in Part Three of this series. After spending the night at Dave McCain place the guys are now all ready to go for another trip. One they had been looking forward a lot… having a spin with their historic Customs on the dry lake beds of El Mirage.



After having had a nice breakfast, the guys are ready to hit the road to the El Mirage. 
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They only had a quickly drawn map from Gene Winfield and no GPS to rely on to make it to El Mirage. Ronnie was in front en soon took a wrong turn, they were now going in the wrong direction.
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It took Mike several miles before his ’36 Ford was door to door with Ronnie’s Merc. Now he could tell him that they where going the wrong way! The Merc has a lower rear-end ratio than the Ford, so it moves faster. And as long the engine was cool, Ronnie wanted to go fast!
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After they stopped to check directions it was time to let the pressure out of the Merc in the only shadow they could find in the dessert.
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According the Gene Winfield map they needed to find a T-crossing. Eventually they found it, as well as the fist sign that the Swedes were on the correct road to El Mirage…. Yaheee! While the guys took a brake and some fresh water for both the cars and the guys at this point, they got company from a state police man. He stopped, to check out the cars, and ask if we need anything and if everything was fine. They told him the whole story, which he enjoyed, then, he wish them a good luck on the rest of their journey, and took off again.
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The only sign of life in the dessert was this liquor store. The guys stopped for some water but the owner did not want to give them nothing. So they just hit the road again.
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The sign say it… time to go… see the lake bed.
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Leaving Mr Callaway for a spin on the El Mirage Dry Lake.
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Ronnie took off in his Mercury as soon as they had arrived.
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The guys made it, for the first time, El Mirage, and with two historic customs, that could have driven around here on the lake in the 1940’s, early 1950’s. A real magical moment.
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The guys enjoyed the wide emptiness for a some time and visualize their historic customs surrounded everything that happened during an late 40’s SCTA meeting at this very location.  They took plenty of photos of their customs at this historic Hot Rod scene, and now it is time to take the cars for another spin on the lake bed.
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Ronnie in his ’39 Mercury enjoying the dry lake with the top frame removed.
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Hot Rodder’s dream come true.
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Ronnie with his 1939 Mercury convertible. 
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Time for Micke to take his ’36 ford a spin so that Ronnie can snap some pictures of it.
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Wonderful cracked dry lake bed with Micke in his ’36 Ford going for a spin.
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One last photo, and its time to leave El Mirage and drive up to Los Angeles.
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One more stop to take a last look at the dry bed and snap a picture with the SCTA sign. The guys say goodbye to El Mirage for now… they will be back!!
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Lets cruise down to LA!

On the freeway to Los Angeles and later to Pomona where the Los Angeles Roadster Show will be held the next day.
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O, yes LA traffic.
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The guys checked into a motel for a good night rest, and capture this sweet view from the motel door.
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Some night cruising around town is hard to beat.
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Despite all the troubles they had the guys reached their ultimate goal and made it to Pomona in time for the 2016 Los Angeles Roadster Show. The guys felt really fantastic, and they parked the cars in the parking lot for a few “We made it” photos. Not long after that Kipp Winward Lined up his beautiful full custom ’36 Ford 5-window coupe. He’s a great guy.
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The cars at the spot at the swap meet. They had made some posters telling some history of the cars, and asking the audience tfor help filling in the empty spaces in the history. And Yaheee they did get some new info they had hoped for.
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Cruising at the LA Roadster Show.
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After leaving the LARS the guys needed to get gas one more time to make it to the shipper. Suddenly this fellow (right) shows up. Mr Memo Ortega. Memo had spotted the cars at the gas station, recognized them from the CCC Forum, and managed to make a U turn in to the gas station. Memo was really happy to unexpectedly bump into the Swedes, talk to the guys about the trip, and check out the cars.
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Busy Los Angeles afternoon traffic. Heading down to the shipper in Compton, the final destination in the US.
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After a long trip and very long hours they finally arrived at the gate at the shipping company in Compton. Petter Dahlstöm at So Cal Classics took care of the transport to Sweden. Petter is a really great contact and a great helper and very professional.
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Before the cars would be loaded into the sea-container, the guys made sure all their extra parts, tools and other stuff were packed in the trunk and inside the cars. The, it was time to say goodbye to the cars and get back to the airport for their flight back home to Sweden. 
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After all the paperwork was handled by the shipper, the cars were loaded into the sea-contaier and send off to their boat ride From the US to Sweden. After 6 long weeks the cars arrived in Sweden, save and in great condition at the end of August 2016. Next plan is to get the cars completely restored as closely how they looked when they were first finished in the early 1940’s for Ronnie’s ’39 Mercury, and in the early 1950’s for Micke’s ’36 Ford. We will make sure to cover the restoration of both cars here on the Custom Car Chronicle.

A big thanks for Ronnie Lindblom and Micke Hedberg for sharing their amazing road trip story with us here at the CCC. I hope everybody has enjoyed it was much as we have. 



Go back to Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3






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