2015 Custom Car Line-Up Part 2

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Rik Hoving

CUSTOM CAR LINE UP part 2

The 2015 Custom Car Line-Up at the Old Style Weekend was so spectacular that we need two CCC-Articles to cover it all. Lets take a look at some more photos taken at the little park in Uddevalla, Sweden

In part one we have already told you about how this year Line-Up event had started. The location for the Line-Up was so great that all the photographers most likely took way more photos than they had done in previous years. Photos of the cars in the line up, but also individual shots with perhaps a few of the other cars in the background. The fact that is was possible to walk around the cars and the whole location made this place so much more suitable than the old one. But I guess you have to experience it to find out. Until last year, the old location was as perfect as it could be.

Once everybody had taken enough photos of the actually Line-Up, including the owners posing with the cars in the characteristic Sam Barris pose, it was decided that the location was just to nice not to take the opportunely to shoot each car individual with the opportunely to include the wonderful open water and bridge in the background. One by one each car was called forward to pose on the designated location on the grass.

Wolf Christiansson’s 1951 Mercury parked with the bridge in the background.
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Bert Gustafsson’s 1951 Dodge.
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Anki Carlsson with her Dick Dean built 1951 Mercury. The former Lee and Sue Lucero Merc.
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Andreas Åberg’s 1950 Ford “New Panoramic Ford”.
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Petri Lahti’s 1950 Lincoln.
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Palle Johansen’s 1947 Cadillac convertible with padded top.
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Dan Lindberg’ 1946 Ford Coupe.
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Fredde Östman’s 1947 Ford Coupe.
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Tim Kirkegaard’s 1939 Mercury.
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Tomas’s in-progress 1939 Mercury.
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Lars Kjær’s 1936 Ford 3-window coupe. (the new 32 Ford)
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After the cars had been posed individually for the photographers and other enthusiasts the cars where all lined up in a circle form around a center stone in the park. Another great look and perfect photo opportunity. Regular visitors from the park, who where there to catch some fish, exercise or just enjoyed the wonderful weather with nice breeze coming from the water where all enjoying the spectacle very much as well. But when we asked them to clear the era so the photographers had the chance to take clear pictures they all, but two really cooperated. One of the older guys kept coming back to the cars and kept annoying the photographers, but in the end after some strong Swedish words he finally got it and moved out of view.

Palle Johansen took this photo of the Circle of Custom Cars shortly after all the cars were parked and the owners and friends are about to move away to enjoy the view and let the photographers take their pictures.
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The other person who was not really planning to leave the scene was an orderly lady who came to the park with her nordic walking sticks. And she came towards the lined up cars very determined. We asked her polite to please leave the scene for not so that we could do our work, and she was more than welcome to look at the cars after that. But no, that would not work for here. One of the other local visitors to the park knew the old lady and offered to talk to here. But even that did not help. She had seen the cars arrive to the park from here home a mile or so from the park. And she decided to take a closer look at those wonderful machines, and nothing could stop her now. She took the time to walk up to each of the cars, walk around them and look inside, studying each and every detail. It was actually kind of nice to see here do this and it was obvious she really liked what she saw. I started to take some more close up photos and individual photos of the cars so she did not really bother me all that much. After she had studied all the cars she was ready to leave the scene, and we could take the overview photos. Later she talked a bit to Palle, letting him know she really liked the cars, and especially the interiors with so much metal inside… quite different than all that plastic in todays cars. She hung out in the park for as long as we stayed there, and when we where ready to go, she was at the gate and waved us good-bye… I think we all really made here day.

The old lady arriving at Andreas’ his Shoebox Ford, she made sure that she would not scratch the cars with here Nordic Walking sticks.
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The “volunteer” from the audience walked towards the old Lady to ask here kindly to leave. “No… I came walking all this way, and now I want to look at the cars.”
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Anki overlooking the circle of Custom Cars with her Dick Dean ’51 Mercury in the background.
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Bert’s ’51 Dodge is a spectacular sight no matter from which angle you look at it, but I think the rear 3/4 view is my personal favorite view. This location and parked with some other fine Customs made it even more special.
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The candy purple on the Dick Dean Mercury looked so great in the sun.
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The organizer of the event Wolf had an absolutely blast seeing his ’51 Mercury looking great surrounded with all the other great looking custom cars in this fantastic location.
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The rain we had had the day before had affected the primer on Petri’s Lincoln making it look like an old Custom Car.
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And after everybody had taken enough photos and we all enjoyed looking at the Custom Cars in this great place it was time to go, and get ready for the Hill Climb races. Here Bert Gustafsson is leaving the park in the background.
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Parked outside the park and waiting for all to get ready to leave for a bite to eat. I think this photo of Fredde Östman and Linda Karlsson shows how much everybody had enjoyed this years Line-Up event.
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And on our way to get a bit to eat… this photo was taken thru the mail-slot rear window of Palle Johansen’s 1947 Cadillac.
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Go back to part ONE of the 2015 Custom Car Line-Up photo-shoot…

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(this article is sponsored by)

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2015 Custom Car Line-Up

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Rik Hoving

2015 THE LINE-UP part one

Late July, early August is the time of the year that the A-Bombers Hot Rod Club in Sweden organizes the Old Style Weekend. During this weekend Ulf Christiansson puts together his annual Custom Car Line-Up event. The 2015 edition of the Line-Up was held at a new, really fantastic location.

Several weeks before the Old Style Weekend takes place Ulf “Wolf” Christiansson is starting to look around at the “local” Custom Cars that are planning to visit the Annual A-Bombers show. In his mind Wolf is already starting to build this years Line-Up, but of course some of the cars might not make it to the show, or others will show up. The idea behind the line up is to collect a series of Custom Cars that have the look of a late 1940’s early 1950’s Custom Car. Mandatory features are chopped top, Spotlights, lowered all around, or with speed-boat stance, and an overall period look. Some exceptions to this “rule” can be made by the organizer of the event as long as the overall look of the car will fit in with the other selected cars.

Why the Custom Car Line-Up?

Wolf has been fascinated by the famous 1951 Custom Car line-up photo taken by Marcia Campbell from the first time he laid eyes on it. This 1951 series of photo by custom car photographer Marcia Campbell was taken of a selection of 5 Barris custom cars. The owners was asked to drive to a photo location in South Gate, California. At this location Marcia took individual photos of all these 5 Barris Customs, but also took a few photos of all 5 cars parked next to each other. One of them with the owners standing proud next to their cars. Decades later every Custom Car enthusiasts reveres to this photo as: “the Line-Up Photo”. In 1951 Marcia could not have foreseen the impact this photo-shoot would have more than 60 years later. Nor could she have thought this photo would see an Annual remake on the other side of the ocean.

You can read more about Marcia’s original 1951 Line-Up photo-shoot in this CCC article.

The Line-Up is always held on Saturday morning before the Hill Climb that is organized by the A-Bombers. And it is organized in such way that the cars and people involved in the Line-Up will be able to attend the Hill Climb. This years Line-Up was forced to find a new location compared to the first two years. The original location could not be prepared enough due to the bead weather that summer. But fortunately one of the people who would be invited to the Line-Up, Andreas Åberg, found a new location close to the water and with a nice grass field to park on. The only problem with this location was, that we needed a key to get in, and due to a broken cell phone the whole deal of making an appointment to get the key seamed to fall apart leaving us with no location to park at all.

Lars Kjær and Tomas shortly after they were given the Line-Up handout knowing their car was invited for the Line-Up.
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But fortunately Wolf and Andreas managed to make it work after all. Friday, the first official day of the Old Style Weekend event Wolf made his round around the event place and hand picked a number of cars. Some needed a bit of discussion, but most of them were easy to pick. We were fortunate to have several great looking new cars that fitted the “theme” for this years Line up. In the end eleven cars were selected and all owners were given an handout to let them know they were invited to the Line Up event. It was great to hear that some of the owners with the new customs had already hoped they would be picked for this years line up. So it looks like Wolf has created a real prestigious event with the Line-Up.

Saturday morning ten-o-clock sharp all the invited car owners gathered at the A-Bombers event gate, and soon were were off to the new location in an industrial section of the nearby town of Uddevalla. We drove off in a convoy of the 11 selected Customs, plus two more with some friends. We always try to keep the number of people visiting the Line-Up as low as possible so that is is easier for the photographers to make the photos without having to wait for the visitors to leave the scene.

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The cars selected for the 2015 Custom Car Line Up photo are:

Wolf Christiansson, 1951 Mercury
Bert Gustafsson, 1951 Dodge
Anki & Roger Carlsson, 1951 Mercury
Andreas Åberg, 1950 Ford
Petri Lahti’s, 1950 Lincoln
Palle Johansen, 1947 Cadillac
Fredde Östman, 1947 Ford
Dan Lindberg, 1946 Ford
Tim Kirkegaard, 1939 Mercury
Tomas, 1939 Mercury
Lars Kjær, 1936 Ford

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In convoy to the the Line-Up Location in Uddevalla. The unchopped 1956 Mercury and 1948 Buick were not invited, but joined the party to take photos.
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The location was actually rather big, and after some discussion the perfect location was pointed and the invited cars drove slowly to the other side. The short grass an young trees reminded me at some park locations George Barris used to take some photos in the early 1950’s.
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Lars with his freshly “finished” 1936 Ford is having a great time. He also visited the event the two previous years, but this was the first time with an invited Custom Car.
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Organizer Wolf (on the right with hat on) is having the time of his life and all the cars are now as good as lined up. Some of the owners take their time to do some final polishing at this time.
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Andreas is just finished polishing his New Panoramic Ford as a period steam-boat passes in the background.
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One of the photographers present at the event is Gasoline Magazine photographer Per Webb who will be using the photos in an feature in an upcoming issue of the Swedish magazine Gasoline.
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The cars are all lined up at the front in a very slight oval shape. The location with the water and the Uddevalla bridge in the background is absolutely perfect.
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Several sea-gull’s came by to take a look what was going on in their backyard.
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Palle Johansen took this photo of some of the car owners enjoying the view and some of the photographers working hard to get every photo they wanted to make.
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The owners of the car took place on a small hill on the side of the location and had a wonderful overview on this wonderful selection of fine Custom Cars.
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Time for the Sam Barris pose of the owners with their Custom Cars. This photo shows that 11 cars for this set-up is perhaps a bit to much. The cars get rather small. So at this point it was agreed that for the next years the max number of cars to attend will be 10.
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Ulf “Wolf” Christiansson with his home build 1951 Mercury, a work in progress.
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Bert Gustafsson with his home build heavily restyled 1951 Dodge. Also a work in progress, but with at least a wonderful paint job and nice chrome for a perfect look.
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Last year it was Lars Friborg who drove Palle Johansen’s Dick Dean build 1951 Mercury. Anki Carlsson is the new owner of the Mercury together with here husband roger. She was thrilled to be part of this event.
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Andreas Åberg with his 1950 Ford the New Panoramic Ford restyled after the famous Barris/Cerny Panoramic Ford for Buster Litton.
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Petri Lahti’s 1950 Lincoln is based on a four door sedan and converted to a two door hard-top model. Most of the rear portion of the roof is home made by Petri.
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Palle Johansen made some changes to his 1947 Cadillac this winter, including stainless trim around the windshield, and an all new dash-board with a center positioned 1948 Cadillac gauge cluster.
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Fredde Östman had finished his 1947 Ford just weekend before the show and was very thrilled to be part of the line-Up.
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Dan Lindberg with his 1946 Ford long door coupe in an mid 1940’s style. Dan has plans to re-chop the top and change the grille… perhaps next year?
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Tim Kirkegaard with his Kevan Sledge Customs created 1939 Mercury.
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Tomas was also invited to last years event, but could not make it at the gat at ten in the morning then. Now he made sure he was plenty on time to be part of this event. Tomas recently added a set of bubble skirts… which will need some work to looks right. But it was already really great to see the skirts on the car.
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And the last in the line was Lars Kjær with his 1936 Ford chopped by Kenneth Kristiansson. Lars also finished his car only weeks/days before the vent. Last year his car broke own in Denmark, before he had made it to the ferry to Sweden. This year was a perfect revenge making it with a “finished” Customs on the Line-Up photoshoot.
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The Line-Up with the owners in the Sam Barris position as seen the the camera of Palle Johansen.
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The perfect photo location for this years Line-Up event was so good that we still have plenty of photos we would like to share with you. Click HERE to go to part TWO of the 2015 Custom Car Line-Up photo-shoot.

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The Line-Up 2014

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Rik Hoving

CUSTOM CAR LINE-UP 2014

8 period styled Custom Cars gathered at two wonderful locations, lined up to show off their beautiful lines. It was a spectacular sight, and great photo opportunity. This article shows a few of my favorite photos taken at the event.

[dropcap]U[/dropcap]lf “Wolf” Christiansson organized for the second year in a row the Custom Car Line-Up at the A-Bombers Old Style Weekend. Unique for the 2014 version was that there were two locations for the Line-Up. One, the same as last year, “Riksväg 2, Vägminne” a very nice looking restored cobblestone road, for the traditional Line-Up of Custom Cars. And the other for a Circle of Custom Cars, as well as a semi 1951 Ayala Magazine Cover re-make was held at a small airfield in Backamo, right across the A-Bombers Camp-Site. Another new thing for this year was that I myself was there to witness it all and take my own photos, instead of having others take the photos and send to me for the Line-Up article. It was an really nice small event with some amazing custom cars. Most of them the same as last year, but Wolf invited two new cars for this years Line-Up. Sadly one of them could not make it in time, so the only new Custom was Miikka Salminen from Finland (now in Spain) with his great looking 1936 Dodge.

Why the Custom Car Line-Up?

Wolf has always been fascinated by the famous 1951 Custom Car line-up photo. This photo, or actually more than one was taken by custom car photographer Marcia Campbell. She selected 5 Barris custom cars, and asked the owners, to drive to a photo location in South Gate, California. Here she took individual photos of all 5 Barris Customs, but also took a few photos of all 5 cars parked next to each other, one of them with the owners standing proud next to their cars. Today every custom car enthusiasts knows this photo as: “the Line-Up Photo”. In 1951 Marcia could not have foreseen the impact this photo-shoot would have more than 60 years later. Nor could she have thought this photo would see an Annual remake on the other side of the ocean.
You can read more about Marcia’s original 1951 Line-Up photo-shoot in this CCC article.

During the A-Bombers Old Style Weekend Event, Wolf was handing out flyers for the Line-Up photo shoot were. Not just to anybody though. You had to have a period looking Custom car, one that has the looks of a Custom that could come straight form the early 1950’s. Wolf was in charge, and it was up to him to select the candidates. There were some very interesting Customs at the show this year, but quite a lot did not fit the “criteria” for the Line-Up. On Friday evening Wolf had made up his mind and had invited 9 Custom Cars.

The cars selected for the 2014 Custom Car Line Up photo are:

Wolf Christiansson, 1951 Mercury
Palle Johansen, 1951 Mercury
Magnus Karlsson, 1949 Oldsmobile
Andreas Åberg, 1950 Ford
Palle Johansen, 1947 Cadillac
Bert Gustavsson, 1940 Buick convertible
Tim Kirkegaard, 1939 Mercury
Miikka Salminen, 1936 Dodge

The cars arriving at the Riksväg 2, Vägminne Line-Up location. In the back we can see Wolf instructing the car owners how he wants the cars to be parked. He choose to have a little more space between the cars than last year, so that each car would stand out a bit more.
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Once the cars were all lines up at the front and parked at the same angle all the car owners, friends and photographers were asked to leave the scene for a clear view on the lined-up cars. Wolf on the far right is clearly having a great time.

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Palle Johansen took this great photo, they almost look like toy cars in this photo.
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Seen from the cobblestone road. All the cars were sort of lined up at the front…
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With the front aligned the rears of the cars were far from that.
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This nice low angle view shows of the white wall tires and hubcaps really well. Such a great sight!
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Then the owners or drivers were asked to go to their cars and take on the “Sam Barris” position, for another round of photos.
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When every body had taken enough photos of the Line-Up, we packed our stuff and headed back to the Old Style Weekend Camp-Site. However when we got there we turned right were we should have turned left to get on theA-Bombers. The right turn brought us to the second photo-location. A large section of grass in the corner of a small airfield. Wolf once again took control and directed the car owners to park in a circle. Wolf also brought a ladder for the photographers to stand on, and especially for this location that came in very handy and made sure we could make some really great high angle photos of this collection of fine Custom Cars.

Janne Lepola from Finland took this photo when the last cars were just put into position. We were about to leave the scene so that the photos-shoot could start.
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The high point of view, using the ladder showed these cars from an rarely seen very attractive perspective.
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However the on the ground angle also created some spectacular photos.
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After the Circle photo-shoot was finished Wolf drove his ’51 Mercury into the center of the circle, and jumped onto the cowl of his Merc. He then asked all the other owner to stand next to their cars. This way we sort of recreated the 1951 Motor Trend magazine Ayala Shop cover photo. It was never meant to be an exact duplicate of the original photo.. but just inspired by it, and all for fun. And fun we sure had.

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2014 A-Bombers Road-trip Part 4

Posted on August 19, 2014 by Rik Hoving

A-BOMBERS ROAD-TRIP 4

In 2007 my wife organized my best birthday gift ever… a trip to the A-Bombers show in Sweden. In 2014 my good friends Palle Johansen and Tim Kirkegaard thought they would try and top this gift. They invited me to join them on their trip to the A-Bombers show in their 1939 and 1947 Custom Cars with matching tear-drop trailers! This is Part 4, the last part, of the 2014 A-Bombers Road-trip story.

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]ts Saturday night, our last night at the A-Bombers Old Style Weekend, and we are all having a great time. I took a few more night photos of some of the cars and the people having fun. We walked around the camp-site some more, looking at the cars and people, talking about a lot of stuff with the people we came across. Later I went back and sat with some of the other guys at our place. Over the years this spot has become the Custom Place at the Old Style Weekend. Everybody wanting to talk custom would come by and take a seat. It was really great listening to all these stories.

The people at this show came from several different countries. In our group we had people from Sweden, Denmark and myself from the Netherlands. But there were also a few people from Finland, Norway and Germany that hung out with us. The languages spoken in these countries are all quite different although Swedish and Danish is some what similar and Norwegian also has similarities. These three languages could be spoken and understand by all three of them. However Finish, Dutch and German is quite different so most of the discussion/talks were done in English. But so every now and then some stories were told in Swedish, or Danish, which was a bit hard to understand for me, but after spending some time here and if there were enough car related terms used in the conversation I was able to understand most of it. Dutch, the language I speak, has some similarities with Danish, although still completely different, it does make me understand some of it, when spoken slowly. It was fun though, to just listen to this strange combined and mixed languages and trying to figure out what they were saying.

Saturday-evening… time for a few more long exposure photos on the tripod.
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Long exposure photo taken next to the entrance of the music tent, people walking in and out, dancing and having a good time.
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After we had gone to sleep, the wonderful weather it had been most of the weekend, changed. Temperatures dropped a bit more than usual, and during the night several small rain clouds passed the site, making sure the whole place looked different in the morning. It was a little colder and all the cars were covered in a wonderful blanket of raindrops mixed with falling leaves… On the floor of the site there were empty beer cans and other trash evidence from a wild last night of the OSW weekend. The bands had played musing till early in the morning, but we had to get up early to make sure we would catch the ferry to Denmark. We sort of forgot to buy breakfast stuff the day before so all there was were some left over sausages and small Swedish meatballs, which we put on the grille… they tasted great. We all went busy taking down our tents, and packing our stuff. It was sad to see our camp place being dismantled, but it also felt good to go on the road again. I was looking forward to the drive in the Caddy back to Denmark, as well as getting home and take a nice long warm shower. But that last would take almost another day from then.

The next morning it looked like Autumn has started… Rain had fallen during the night leaving raindrops and fallen leaves on Andrea’s his New Panoramic Ford.
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Early start… packing all our stuff, and getting ready to leave…
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Even thought Palle’s trailer was now much lighter than on the way up, it still dropped the back of the Caddy.
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Strange things had happened during the last party night…
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After we had packed everything in the cars and trailers we took off to the gate and left for an half hour trip to Wolf’s place. Wolf leading the way in his ’51 Mercury with SMV trailer and the three Danish Customs behind it, followed by Stefan in his ’48 Buick. The sunny sky’s had made place for gray clouds, and when we arrived at Wolf’s place we could hear the distant thunder coming closer. We had looked at the weather forecast all weekend and knew it was going to rain, but had hoped it would not start until we got on the ferry.

Off we go…
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In line to leave the gate at the A-Bombers camp-site… Thank you for the hospitality and great times.
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We had about an hour to spend with Wolf, and he showed us around on the projects he was working on, his personal 1941 Cadillac Custom Custom, which possibly will be transferred to a padded topped convertible at one point. Wolf also showed us his Spartan trailer which he imported from the US. An amazing huge and luxurious trailer which will look amazing behind his ’51 Merc, or ’41 Caddy. The trailer is completely covered with wood panels inside, has a wonderful living room with wrap around windows, a huge kitchen and separate bedroom. It is in need a a full restoration first though… but Wolf loves to work on projects like that. Then there was time for some coffee and a little bite to eat before we went on the road again. We said good bye to Wolf and Stefan, it had been really great to Wolf again and met with Stefan for the first time. It would take us 45 minutes Göteborg, and soon after we left the first rain drops started to fall. We knew that both the Caddy and the ’39 Merc would not be water-tight, so we took some paper towels and other absorbing stuff with us.

Parking at Wolf’s place for a quick stop to check out some of the stuff Wolf was working on.
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Wolf’s 1950 Spartan Royal Mansion which he imported from the US. Plans are to fully restore this amazing trailer and use it for camping in and around Sweden in the future.
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Tim’s Merc looking good and looking forward to the drive home.
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Then is was time for some well appreciated coffee and a bite to eat on the deck before we headed to the ferry in Göteborg.
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Palle’s Caddy is an in progress project and the windshield is one thing that still needs to be finished. On these Cadillacs the windshield is made up of two sections. The outside has a rubber moulding to which the stainless trim mounts to, and then the glass mounts from the inside in another piece of rubber moulding and this all is kept in place by the windshield garnish molding. This also makes sure that the windshield is completely waterproof, but Palle’s Caddy has only a temporally windshield installed with only one pice of rubber… which was not even sealing properly… oh well. The windshield wipers on the Caddy were also not working properly. The rubber ends on the arms was hitting the rubber on the windshield frame and besides that the vacuum was not working properly and Palle had to release the gas pedal to make it work, so that was far from ideal. Before we had left Palle had treated the windshield with rain-x or a similar product that would help keep with the visibility during the rain.
Besides the rain it was a fun drive on the quite Sunday morning roads. The car ran well, and it was great that despite the rain we could keep the side windows down most of the time since no rain came in. We enjoyed the last scenery in Sweden and arrive well in time in the harbor of Göteborg.

It was nearly dry when we got to the harbor in Göteborg to line-up for our ferry ride back to Denmark.
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Driving onto the Ferry… the sky was clearing up again.
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Parked inside the ferry for the 3.5 hour ride back to Denmark.
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Good-bye Sweden, thank you for a wonderful time.
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The ferry would spend quite a bit of time close to the beautiful Swedish coast before it reached open ocean.
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Open ocean… Denmark, here we come…
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When the center lanes on the ferry had unloaded we spotted this nice 60’s style ’65 Buick parked on the other side. They were also at the A-Bombers… but the campsite is so large, we had never even spotted them there.
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Back in Denmark the weather looked very nice, but Palle had received a phone call from a friend that there were very heavy rainstorm on their way. There was no way around it, so we just had to go, and hope it would not be to bad. The first part of the drive was still very nice with sun and nice sky’s, but in the distance we could see the rain clouds coming. We talked about the weekend and what a great experience it had been and how well the cars had done it, despite some minor stuff as the heating problem on Palle’s Merc, and the failing light problem on Tim’s Mercury. The failing lights on Palle’s trailer from day one had been solved. Palle’s car runs an 6 volt system, but for some reason the 6 volt bulbs on the trailer lasted only a few minutes. He had now put 12 volt bulbs in it and they worked fine. Something else to look into during those long Scandinavian winters. Tim was still driving without working lights. Then the first rain was coming down, not really too bad and apart from a few drops coming from the windshield center post holes and the gap from the A-pillar to the vent window on my side of the car there was no problem at all.

It dried up, the sun was out again before we saw it turning really black in front of us, we thought about stopping, but there was no exit’s nearby and also no bridges to hide under so there was no other option that let it come. We were prepared for some rain, but the huge amount that was starting to fall right then, was just a little more than we had anticipated. The only fear we had, was that the water coming inside was leaking into the dash and would affect the electrical system. The water was now coming in from the top of the windshield header, the center windshield post and from the A-Pillars to the vent windows. After a while we did not have any paper towels or other fabric stuff handy to stop the water from coming in… but around that time the rain stopped, and it would stay dry all the way to Palle’s home. I wiped off most of the water and then we could just relax and enjoy the rest of our trip in Denmark. Around the city of Århus Tim and Tore passed us in the ’39 Merc and waved good-bye. They would take the next exit which would bring them to their homes. Lars and Lars, who drove Palle’s ’51 Mercury took shelter somewhere during one of the heavy rain storms, but they had called to say they and the car were okay. We had about another hour to go.

Back in Denmark the weather was nice, but we knew rain was coming, the distant clouds tell what was coming.
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Not too long after we hit the highway the first drops started to fall. Not long after that it was raining, and the windshield was starting to leak.
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The sealing of the padded top to the windshield header turned out to be, not totally waterproof, fortunately it was mostly on the passenger side, so I could make sure the dash stayed as dry as possible while Palle drove the car.
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When we got home we unpacked the Caddy and trailer and I stuff all my belongings in my own car, and then it was time to say goodbye to Palle who had arranged the best ever birthday present and road-trip ever. I had a 6 and a half hour drive back to home in the Netherlands ahead of me and it was soon starting to get dark. It was quite a different experience to drive home in my everyday driver, but in my mind I was still driving in Palle’s Caddy which made the drive home nice, comfortable and quick. I got home at around 2 in the morning… what a trip.

Thank you so much Palle Johansen, Tim Kirkegaard the rest of the road-trip gang and of course my wife for make this happen.

Go to: Part ONE, of the 2014 A-Bombers Road-trip Story.

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2014 A-Bombers Road-trip Part 3

Posted on August 17, 2014 by Rik Hoving

A-BOMBERS ROAD-TRIP 3

In 2007 my wife organized my best birthday gift ever… a trip to the A-Bombers show in Sweden. In 2014 my good friends Palle Johansen and Tim Kirkegaard thought they would try and top this gift. They invited me to join them on their trip to the A-Bombers show in their 1939 and 1947 Custom Cars with matching tear-drop trailers! This is Part 3 of the A-Bombers Road-trip story.

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]ts Friday night, we made it back to the camp-site from the best ever road trip, with six fantastic Custom Car. The image of these beauties floating the curvy Swedish West Coast roads, is still on my mind… and I know these will never fade in my memories. But we are back now, and the camp-site has been filled up completely by now. Hot Rods, semi stocks and Custom Cars from Scandinavia, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands have gathered… and the party is on. The bands have started to play music in the large tent, and wonderful smells rise from the burger – wrap – noodle -stand next to it. Period dressed-up people are walking the site, just to enjoy the cars, the people, or to parade and enjoyed to be looked at and photographed. People are drinking, eating, and gather around with old friends, creating new friends, and just having a good time.

Darren Chapman originally from Australia, now from Norway brought his in progress ’49 Buick Chopped Sedanette. Darren explained that the car will have restyled front and rear fenders as well as some other changes for the next season. It was already great to be able to walk around it and see the flow of the chopped top.
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I met up with some old friends, Per Webb, Janne Kutja, Klaus Gardan, Christer Ehrling, and had great time talking with them and a lot of other people. We ate some grilled Swedish sausages on toasted bread with loads of Swedish mustard and ketchup and discussed with Wolf which cars he would pick for the Custom Car Line up this year. It is the second year Wolf is organizing the Custom Car Line-Up with the CCC, at the A-Bombers Show. Wolf is trying to get a series of period perfect Customs at a photo-shoot. The cars can only be chosen by Wolf, and to be a candidate they have to have a period look, preferably with fender skirts, chopped top and Appleton Spotlights. But there are exceptions to these rules as long as the overall look is period, and Wolf likes it enough. We will do a separate CCC-Article on the Line-Up soon, stay tuned.

The 2014 Custom Car Line-Up flyer Wolf was handing out to the owners of the Customs he thought might look good on the Lin-Up. Only period looking Customs make a change of being chosen by Wolf.
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Wolf also invited Tomas and his white primered in progress 1939 Mercury. Sadly Tomas could no be found early the next morning at the agreed meeting time when we headed out to the Line-Up Location.
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Wolf (center) asked Miikka Salminen (right) if he and his ’36 Dodge Coupe would like to be part of this years Custom Car Line-Up… Miikka was thrilled to be part of it.
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People having a good time, enjoying some food, drinks, the cars and their friends.
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When it got dark I took a few night time photos with long exposure time on my tripod.
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When we where out on our road trip some really great Custom Cars had arrived so together with the guys we went wandering around looking for the new cars, taking photos and talking to the owners. When the sun was setting I went back to my tent, took my tripod and took some long exposure car, people and overall photos. They are always fun to do, with all the nice lights and people walking around looking like ghosts.

Early Saturday morning… if you want a shower, you have to get up very early, since there are only three showers on the whole camp-site. The good thing is you have a very long day ahead of you. Palle is heating up the grille to have some toast made and boiling the water for some fresh coffee.
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Early morning dewdrops cover the Oldsmobile taillights on Andrea’s Åberg’s New Panoramic Ford.
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After breakfast Palle downloaded the photos from his camera from the days before to his laptop. He now could check them out full size… and was very happy with the result.
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Saturday morning we had an early rise again… the Line-Up photo-shoot candidates would gather at the gate at half past 9, and some of the guys wanted to give their car a quick wash to clean off the dirt from the drive the day before. I was pretty excited about the Line-Up thing. Last year I had to wait for the guys to get back home again to see the photos, but this year I would be there in person.. and help out Wolf getting the car lined up etc. The weather was absolutely perfect, nice blue skies with a few clouds here and there, and nice and warm. The nicest day so far. There would be two Line-Up photo sessions today. Wolf had scout two locations, the first one, was the same as last year. A nice restored old cobble stone road with a nice hill in front of it for perfect photo opportunities. The only disadvantage this location has is the that the sun comes from behind early in the morning. But it worked out fine anyway. The second location was a wonderful simple grass airfield across the street from the A-Bombers camp-site. It was the first time Wolf was going to use this, and for this he planned to have the cars sit in a circle and also do a semi Ayala 1951 Motor Trend cover redo.

At around half past 9 we left to the gate were we would meet with all the Custom Car guys that Wolf invited for this years Custom Car Line-Up.
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We had to wait for a little bit… some of the guys were not quite ready after staying up late for the big party last night.
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We were on a tight schedule, since there were two locations for a Line-Up this year, and most of us wanted to go to the hill-climb early in the afternoon. So we ended up leaving with 8 period looking Customs. Here we just arrived at the old road, location number one.
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The last three cars patiently waiting before they were called to park their Customs next in line.
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Wolf made sure all the cars are parked at the same angle, and with the front end on one line. The cars were parked with a bit more space in between them than last year. This way more of the cars would show up in the photos.
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When all the cars were parked, the owners and helpers climbed up the hill for the perfect view, and to allow the photographers to take as many photos of the Customs with no people around them as they wanted.
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Camera turned 180 degrees from the previous photo. This is the hill where we could all look down to the Customs and take photos.
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View from the top of the hill at the moment the owners of the cars were “ordered” to take place next to their Customs and take on the Sam Barris position.
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Another behind the scenes photo. Palle is taking some photos using the ladder Wolf brought. There is a small hill in the middle just next to the road and you have to stand tall to be able to shoot the photos over that small hill. Lars and Stefan made sure the ladder is not falling over… teamwork.
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When everybody had taken enough photos we all got back into our cars and headed to the second location.
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And there we go again, back to the A-Bombers camp-site where the second location was at the small airfield across the street from the show.
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I just cannot get enough of these wonderful custom cars on the roads. This u-turn leaving the Line-Up location, was perfect for getting the best view of the cars as well as hear the engines while taking off.
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Wolf was the first one to get to the second location. Wonderful colored empty space background… perfect for the Circle of Custom Cars Wolf has planned next.
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It took some effort to get all the cars in the right position for this photo-shoot, but in the end it was all worth it. The Circle of Custom Cars looked amazing.
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It then was time to sort of re-create the famous Ayala Shop Motor Trend magazine cover from October 1951. Wolf drove his ’51 Merc into the center of the circle, and the car owners were asked to take place next to their cars again.
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Wolf sat on the cowl of his Merc, just as Al Ayala did in the Motor Trend Cover and the others stood with their own cars. It was not intended to duplicate the scene exactly… just inspired by it.
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Then it was time to hurry back to the camp-site to have a bite to eat and get ready for the hill climb which was another 20 minute or so drive from there.
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After the Line-Up photo-sessions we went back to the camp-site for a quite bite to eat, and then it was off to the hill-climb. The location for this is about a 20-min drive from there. We were a bit late and it was already very crouded there, as well as on the parking space reserved for it. So we parked our Customs a little further and walked back to the race track. Palle wanted to shoot some action photos from the cars at the starting grid. We arrived a little late at the race, and by then the hill road sides were filled with spectators already. So instead of getting back in line hoping to see some action on the road we went to the parking lot to look at the cars and shoot some more photos. After the race we went back to the camp-site, walked around and went to the food place at the site for a really tasty burger. Its now Saturday night… the biggest party night of the weekend, with many bands performing in the music tent.

On our way up to the hill climb we stopped for gas. The gas-station was filled with Hot Rods and Custom Cars… so many that I saw several regular cars who wanted some gas leave the place looking for a more quite station.
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Custom Car Parking close to the hill-climb. Palle ended up being the only one going to the actual race, the rest of us hung out on the larger parking-lot down at the hill, to check out the cars there.
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We had to get up a bit early on Sunday, I think the camp-site has to be left by ten in the morning or so. And we had to be at the ferry back to Denmark at eleven. But we also wanted to make a quick visit to Wolf’s place which is on the way to the Ferry. I tried to wrap up the trip in this third part… but there is still so much to tell and show that there will be a part four.

Go to Part ONE, or continue to part Four of the 2014 A-Bombers Road-trip Story

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2014 A-Bombers Road-trip part 2

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Rik Hoving

A-BOMBERS ROAD-TRIP 2

In 2007 my wife organized my best birthday gift ever… a trip to the A-Bombers show in Sweden. In 2014 my good friends Palle Johansen and Tim Kirkegaard thought they would try and top this gift. They invited me to join them on their trip to the A-Bombers show in their ’39 and ’47 Custom Cars with tear drop trailers! This is Part 2 of the A-Bombers Road-trip story.

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]ts Thursday morning July 31, 2014, we have arrived at the A-Bombers Old Style Weekend show in Backamo, nearby Udevalla in Sweden. The day before I had left my home in the Northern part of the Netherlands and drove to my friend Palle Johansen in Assens, Denmark. From there we took Palle’s 1947 Cadillac Custom Car with matching 1947 teardrop trailer and drove to Frederikshavn in north Denmark. On our way Lars Friborg joined us driving Palle’s 1951 Mercury, Lars Kjær driving his 1936 Ford Coupe and Tim kirkegaard driving his 1939 Mercury with passenger Tore Vogh. Check out part one of this trip.

We had made it to the camp-site. Wolf’s SMV trailer is all the way to the left, followed with Tim’s teardrop with matching old tent, the red and white trailer is Stefan’s and the other SMV traler in white and yellow is Benny’s, a Custom guy belonging to the Hammers club. Tim’s Merc and Palle’s Caddy are parked here with Wolf’s 51 Merc and Stefan’s ’48 Buick.
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When we arrived at the Backamo Old Style Weekend location early Thursday morning we were welcomed by Stefan Elebrink (’48 Buick). He had spend the night at the campsite and “guarded” the Customs spot on the capsite together with our friend Wolf. Wolf had brought his nice old SMV trailer, and Stefan had borrowed another nice old trailer to sleep in. We put Tim’s and Palle’s teardrop trailers on each side of Wolf’s SMV trailer, to make a nice set and got some water on the fire, in the small kitchen in back of Tim’s trailer, for some much needed coffee. We had spend the night on the ferry-boat, and there was no real comfortable chairs to sleep on, so we where all kind of tired.

It was really great to meet Stefan, we had spend a lot of time on the email discussing several Digital Restyling projects on his ’48 Buick, but we had never met before. After having some coffee and unpacking some of the stuff, we wandered around the camp site a bit. All the A-Bomber members had also spend the night there in their special VIP building, which is located next to the section we stayed at. We checked out their cars talked a little here and there, and then it was time to check out the Line-Up location Wolf and Stefan had prepped for this year’s Custom Car line-up. The weather was perfect, a bit windy, but sunny and a nice temperature, absolutely perfect. We had received a phone call from the two Larses who where now on the ferry to Sweden in the ’51 Mercury. We all looked forward to be reunited, and especially me, since my tent and some other belongings were packed in the ’51 Merc.

Early Thursday morning, the A-Bombers staff cars parked on an otherwise still empty camp-site.
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The camp-site is located next to this wonderful lake.
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Thursday is not an official Old Style Weekend day, but the campsite is open, and when we got back, for a little trip, more cars and people had arrived. It was really great to see the campsite fill up with great looking cars, and nice people. Some I recognized from 2007, others from Facebook, or the CCC. We were at the gate looking at the cars checking in, when Andreas Åberg arived in his 1950 Ford Custom. Andreas was another guy I had emailed a lot with about his New Panoramic Ford, but I had never met him in person. I knew he was going to park with us at the Customs section, so hurried over to shake hands and check out his car in person. Wow, what a nice guy, and what a fantastic Custom. I spend many hours looking over every little detail on that car. There is so much work done on the body to make it look at its very best.

Andreas Åberg ariving with his amazing New Panoramic Ford. Adreas built this near clone of the early 1950’s Barris/Cerny built Buster Litton Ford and included a lot of his own refinements to improve on the design of the original Custom.
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In the meantime Lars and Lars had arrived in the ’51 merc, and I put up my vintage tent, one I already had when I was a little boy of 12 years old. Later that day Andreas took me for a a ride in his car to go do some shopping with the others. We needed to get some supplies, and Palle had offered to cook a nice birthday dinner for me… and the rest of the gang. Due to the lack of sleep I had forgotten it was actually my birthday that day. It was an real pleasure to sit down in the New Panoramic Ford and see the amazing attention for details Andreas put into this car, inside and out. The seating position was quite different than what I was used to for the last day and a half in Palle’s ’47 Cadillac. I have to admit that the Cadillac does drive a lot more comfortable than the Ford… especially the seating is far more superior in the Cadillac which is really comfortable and soft, while the ford interior looks very nice, the seats are much stiffer. I got used to it fast though and enjoyed every minute in the car talking with Andreas about his car and all kinds of other things.

The guys doing shopping for the birthday dinner.
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New cars arrived at the camp-site center location.
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We took Palle’s ’47 Cadillac and Wolf’s ’51 Mercury to check out the location(s) for this years Custom Car Line-Up photo-shoot.
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When we drove to the village to do some shopping, Lars called to let us know the ’51 Merc was having problems again. It turned out to be a bold on the alternator getting loose all the time. This caused the alternator to loosen up and the belt starting to slip badly. Eventually two guys went with Wolf to a local garage, where a friend worked, and there they modified the bold in such a way it would fix the problem. Back at the campsite Palle made a wonderful diner for all of us, and for desert the guys surprised me with an amazing cake they had ordered from a local bakery. I could not stop smiling.

Lars having problems with a loose alternator bold and slipping belt. Soon after this photo was taken the bolt was removed and modified at a local garage to fix the problem.
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Palle (and the other guys) preparing the groceries for perfect diner.
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The birthday cake they had ordered… it was gooooood!
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That night we all went to bed a bit early… to make up a bit for the lack of sleep the night before, knowing the next couple of days were going to be very busy and long. The next day, Friday, was the first of the official Old Style Weekend days. We took it easy in the morning walking around to check out the new arrivals, and decided to go on a nice little trip at the end of the morning. We all washed the cars and off we went to a trip to the West-Coast of Sweden… to see the ocean.

The trip we took on Friday afternoon. The green dot on the bottom right side is the A-Bombers camp-site.
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Filling up the cars with gas before the trip. Wolf had found out over the years that V-Power from Shell worked the best with his Flathead powered ’51 Mercury. So thats what we all used while in Sweden.
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I had never really been to this part of the country other than close to the A-Bombers camp site. The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful. And the closer we got to the coast the more rocks and the rougher the terrain. There is something really special about driving together with 6 amazing period looking customs. Most of the time Palle and me were the last car in the row, and it was just amazing to see all these rolling sculptured float over the curvy Swedish roads, see their reflections in windows and watch people turn their heads, put on a huge smile and start waving, pointing their fingers or put their thumbs up. There is just nothing that can compare to see these great looking Custom Cars driving on the road in front of you.

On the road, and looking good.
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Stefan and Ulrika crossing the bridge close to Uddevalla, Lars drives Palle’s ’51 Mercury in front of them.
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We would drive about the same speed as the big trucks on the four lane high ways. Its great to see Stefan’s 48 Buick in motion. A chop and new grille are planned for the next season.
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This was my favorite sight. All custom cars lined up on the curvy smaller country side roads.
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And the extra bonus came at the stop sign’s when the cars got close again and the engines could be heard as well.
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More rocks, trees, nice houses and the wonderful shape of Tim’s ’39 Mercury.
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We now had gotten close to the ocean, the water in this picture is actually the ocean with some small rock islands behind it.
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Last year Palle had major heating problems when he drove the Caddy to the A-Bombers show from Denmark to Sweden, even so much it had to be trailered back home. But after the radiator was cleaned and other issues fixed the car had been driven flawlessly for a few weeks before the show. The trip from Denmark to Sweden the day before showed perfect engine temps, but somehow the engine was running hot again during this road-trip. We could not figure out what was going on. When Palle shut the engine off for a few seconds while driving, it would cool down real fast, after it had just been marked as cooking. Later Palle discovered when he would put the lights on, while driving, there was no heating problem at all. So more than likely there was no real engine heating problem at all, just an electrical problem, or at least an indication problem. It was a huge relieve, to find out there was no real engine heating problem, since we had now been about an hour and half from our camp-site. After a nice long drive we arrived at Kungshamn a small harbor village. Here we all ate a nice burger and looked at some of the boats in the harbor.

Driving the caravan of period Customs thru some of the small wonderful villages on the coastline, sure got the attention of the locals and tourists. Perhaps some of these people will remember this sight for ever, or perhaps even get a little inspired by it.
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At one of the quick stops to discuss the designation plan I snapped this photo thru the mail-slot window in Palle’s Cadillac Padded top.
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Arrival at Kungshamn. Here we parked the cars in the harbor an walked to a nearby restaurant for a nice burger and fries.
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We thought it would be a great idea to find a nice location for sa photo-shoot of the customs. However none of the better known spots, with a nice view on the ocean, had enough space that allowed for a photo-shoot with all 6 cars. It was tourist season and most parking lots were filled with tourist cars. In the end we found a parking lot at a local factory, that we used to shoot some pictures with the ocean somewhere in the background. Again it was great to see the look on the faces of people coming by, some stopped and took some photos with their cell phones, while others simply put the thumbs up and probably could not really believe what they just saw.

After our late lunch, we drove up to some of the small streets of Kungshamn where the cars fitted in very well. While driving we kept looking for a nice location to shoot some photos.
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We eventually found this abandoned parking lot (it was summer vacation for the workers) were we parked the car. The rock-hill in front of the parking lot gave the perfect elevation for some nice photos with the ocean in the background.
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Then it was time to take the hour and a half drive back to the camp-site again… we took a slightly different road on the way back home. We even hit some rain, but nothing really bad, and on our way home we did some more grocery shopping for the days to come. 6 Customs parking in the parking lot of a local small village supermarket… it was a great sight. This road-trip was one of my personal highlights of the whole weekend. I had loved every minute of it.

More amazing scenery on the way back to the camp-site.
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Andreas needed gas, the others waited for the next Shell pump.
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Shopping for the rest of the weekend in Uddevalla, close to the campsite. Again we had many people stare at the cars.
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This is part two of the 2014 A-Bombers Road-Trip, check out part one.
Or continue with in part Three.

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2014 A-Bombers Road-trip Part 1

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Rik Hoving

A-BOMBERS ROAD-TRIP 1

In 2007 my wife organized my best birthday gift ever… a trip to the A-Bombers show. In 2014 my good friends Palle Johansen and Tim Kirkegaard thought they would try and top this gift, so they invited me to join them on their trip to the A-Bombers show in their ’39 and ’47 Custom Cars with tear drop trailers!

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his 2014 trip is done, and I’m back home now, and I have to say Palle and Tim were actual able to top the best ever birthday present from my wife. Driving to the show in Sweden from Denmark in a period perfect custom, with teardrop was an AMAZING experience. Many thanks to my friends Palle and Tim for making this happen. It all started about a week before the annual A-Bombers Old Style Weekend in Udevalla, Sweden which was held on August the first and second of 2014. Palle asked me if I wanted to join him in his ’47 Caddy, Tim with his ’39 Mercury and Lars, who would drive Palle’s ’51 Mercury to the show in Sweden… as a birthday gift. I did not have to think long about this, and fortunately my wife and son thought it was a great idea. I started packing, and on Wednesday July 30, day before my birthday, I drove to Palle’s home in Assens, Denmark, a 6 hour drive. I got there around 3 in the afternoon, Palle was putting the last gear into the trailer and then we took the car to a local gas-station to check tire pressure and made sure the tires were ready for the trip to Sweden. We load up my stuff in the car and trailer and off we went to Frederikshavn in the northern part of Denmark, were we would take the ferry to Sweden. On our way we would meet up with Lars in Palle’s ’51 Mercury, and later with Tim in his ’39 Mercury and Lars in his ’36 Ford.

The trip from Palle’s home in Assens, Denmark to Frederikshavn in the Northern part of the country, then with the ferry to Sweden and up to Udevalla where the A-Bombers held their Annual Old Style Weekend. (Map from Google)
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Before we left we filled up the tires with some air and made sure the pressure was the same on all four tires.
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The last time I had seen Palle’s Cadillac was on our GNRS trip in early 2013, then the car was at David Martinez his shop in California, getting ready or the chopped windshield and Padded top. I had seen many photos after the car had returned in Denmark. But nothing beats being able to walk around it, and even better sitting in it knowing the next couple of days would be spend in this car. The seat in this Cadillac is absolutely perfect, its soft, has the perfect seating position and the leather upholstery has the perfect patina. The chopped windshield is still unfinished with no trim on the out- or inside, and even has some holes for the stainless trim were now the open air could be seen outside. This could be fun if we get rain on our trip I thought to myself. The view outside, thru the chopped windshield is amazing, the tail dragging stance puts the nose up in the air, with the chrome hood trim and Cadillac hood ornament showing which direction it wants… forward!

On our way, leaving the street where Palle lives, with a view over the ocean.
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The side windows, temporarily plexiglass units made for the trip were rolled down, and would stay that way most of the trip. The view back is mostly blocked by the heavy padded top, the mail-slot rear window, which is actually the original ’47 Cadillac convertible unit, gives a bit of a view outside rear, but was now blocked by the teardrop trailer.

We both had a smile on our face the whole trip. The Cadillac drove fantastic, we both felt like a King in a Cadillac.
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We drove off around 6 a clock, the wonderful original Cadillac flathead engine roar was only noticeable when it was bouncing off a building or structure close to the car, all we could hear in the car was a soft hum of the engine and the air blowing around the chopped windshield and padded top. The weather could not be any better, with nice temps and a wonderful selection of clouds which would shift colors in the next coming hours. The Caddy drove fantastic, like a “modern” car, strong, and even with the trailer behind it did not show any vibrations and Palle could let go of the steering and the car would still go straight ahead. The Northern part of Denmark is always very nice, with soft flowing hills and nice little villages. But this time of year it is even more special because of the large grain fields being ready for harvesting or which have just been harvested. Wonderful deep yellow fields marked with colorful green trees and bushes. And it seams like it even looks better from a chopped padded topped custom. Our first stop was an parking lot at some fast food restaurants, were we would meet with Lars who was driving Palle’s ’51 Mercury. Lars had picked up the Merc the day before and took it home to load with stuff we would need in Sweden. We ate a sandwich and burger an when Lars arrived, did some repacking to take off some of the weight in the Caddy. Some of the heavy stuff was packed in the Merc, which has airbags in the rear. The Caddy has been lowered, but the frame still has to be c-notched. On the way up the heavy load and the trailer caused the rear axle to get in contact with the frame on bad portions of the road. Nothing major, but the repacking raised the rear a little.

First stop was to get together with Lars who would drive Palle’s ’51 Mercury. Palle making a call to Lars… where are you?
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Wonderful scenery of Northern Denmark with nice villages, and farm land ready to be harvested, or just being harvested.
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Holding my camera out of the side window created some interesting shots.
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Next stop was an offramp close to the city of Aarhus, where Tim with his ’39 mercury live. Here we would also meet up with Lars Kjær who would drive his ’36 Ford un-chopped, two tone, 3-w coupe up to Sweden. When everybody had arrived we took some photos of the line up on the bridge crossing the highway and off we went, to catch the midnight ferry to Sweden. Now four great looking customs in a row on the highway… what a sight!

When we arrived at the meeting point Lars Kjær had just arrived with his in progress ’36 Ford 3-window.
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Soon followed by Lars Friborg in Palle’s ’51 Mercury and Tim with his Sledge Customs built ’39 Mercury. The guys are glad to see each other and exited about the trip to come. Everybody took some photos, which would soon be followed by many more.
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Palle took this great photo of the line up at the meeting point on the bridge over the high way. Amazing clouds predicted a wonderful sunset.
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In the meantime it was getting dark and disaster stroke on Tim’s Mercury. Most likely some fluids leaked on the electrical wires caused the lighting on the merc and the trailer, both front and rear to fail completely. There was still electricity in the car, but just nothing for the lights. So Tim had to drive to the ferry with no lights, and it was getting dark fast. Tim and his Merc was ‘”sandwiched” in between the ’51 Merc and us in the Caddy, this way the traffic from behind would not drive up to the non lighted car.

Shortly after take off Lars overtakes us with his healthy sounding flathead powered ’36 Ford.
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Appleton spotlight and a setting sun.
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We had to make one more stop on our way to the ferry, one for gas. When we left the gas-station Lars with the ’36 Ford had some electrical problems, which at the time looked an easy fix. Lars with the ’51 Merc decided to stay and help and Tim with his friend Tore in the passenger seat and Palle and me decided to go ahead to catch the ferry, time was getting short, and both the ’36 and 51 had no trailers and would be able to catch us later. The Lights on our trailer now also failed for 90%, and produced only very little light. But fortunately the trailer also had side markers which still worked. After a while Lars called, to tell the problems were a little more severe than first thought, an that it would take more time to repair. Shortly after that the other Lars called in to report the ’51 had its drive belt broken, and that there was no way he could repair that on the spot right there. It was now completely dark and Tim and Tore drive the Merc behind us, completely in the dark with no lights or marking lights. We tried to go at about the same speed as everybody else on the road so that people would not bump into the trailer. Lots of flashing lights and blowing horns tried to warn us for things we already knew. We know it was not quite save, but we wanted to make it to Frederikshavn to catch the ferry, since we did not know if we would miss it we could go on the next one the next morning. We got at the harbor at 5 minuted before eleven, 5 minutes before the final boarding time…. pfffff.

Both Palle’s cars were in for some gas, the others took a change to get a burger and coffee.
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By then Tim and Lars noticed the failing lights on the ’39 Mercury and trailer. They tried to fix it, but nothing worked.
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By now it had become sure both Larses would not be able to make it there in time. Phone calls were made and arrangements made to repair both cars left behind at the gas-station, so they could make it for the 8 o-clock ferry the next morning. Before we actually entered the boat a little after midnight Lars called that it turned out to be a loose alternator that had caused the belt to loosen and looked broken. He had found the bold that was missing and he was able to fix the merc. The news on Lars his ’36 Ford was not so good. After he had driven the car to a German show earlier that month, a 1,300 plus round trip with no problems, an electrical fire now made sure his car would not make it to Sweden. His car was towed and the Both Larses took the ’51 Merc and drove to the Ferry, where they would catch the next one at 8 in the morning.

While waiting for the ferry Tore and Tim were able to get the light on Tim’s Mercury working again. Arriving in Sweden the car had lights again.
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But the working lights did not last long…
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It was early in the morning, and we had time enough, so at this point we decided to park the cars and wait for the sun to come up a little more.
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Palle took this photo of the two customs pared at the McDonald’s waiting for the light of day.
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Our ferry took off at around 30 min past midnight, and we got in Sweden around 4 in the morning. It was already getting light, but to be on the save side we parked our cars at a nearby Mc Donald’s and waited for the sun to rise so Tim would not have to drive in the dark with no lights on. Its actually mandatory in Denmark and Sweden to have your driving lights on, even during the day. But the police has never stopped us for not having them on the ’39 Merc. Somewhere around 5 it was light enough to hit the road, about an hour and a half more to the A-Bombers site close to Uddevalla in Sweden.

When it was light enough we drove off to the A-Bombers site… another hour and half or so to go.
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While it was still very quite on the Swedish early morning roads Palle decided he wanted to have some riding photos of his Cadillac with the teardrop trailer. So I switched seats with Tore and joined Tim in his ’39 Merc so I could photograph Palle driving his Caddy.
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What an amazing sight it was… is.
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Early morning warm sun light creating long shadows make up for an amazing image.
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Arrival at the A-Bombers Old Style Weekend site.
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And at the Customs camp site, where Wolf and Stefan had already put up their caravan’s.
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When we arrived at the show area it was still very early and only very few people were there. our good friend Ulf “Wolf” Christiansson was there with his nicely shaped trailer and his trusty ’51 Mercury and so was our good friend Stefan Elbrink with his ’48 Buick. Wolf had been at the camp site for a day and a half making sure the Customs favorite camping spot could be reserved. It was a perfect spot!

More in part two of the 2014 A-Bombers Road-Trip

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Period Custom Car Line-Up

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Rik Hoving

THE 2013 CUSTOM CAR LINE-UP

In 1951, custom car photographer Marcia Campbell, set out with 5 Barris custom cars, and their owners, to a photo location in South Gate, California, about 3.5 miles from the Barris Shop. Nowadays every custom car enthousiasts knows this photo as: “the Line-Up Photo”. But in 1951 Marcia could not have foreseen the impact this photo-shoot had. 62 Years later her line up photo would see an Annual remake.

The photo above, taken in 1951 by Marcia Campbell was the inspiration for the Line-Up Photo from 2013. The inset on the left shows the flyer Wolf used to get custom car owners interested in his project. The inset on the right shows Marcia’s photo in the Dan Post Blue book from 1951.

During the A-Bombers Old Style Weekend Event, close to Uddevalla on the Swedish westcoast, flyers for a Line-Up photo shoot were handed out to a number of custom cars that fit the period look of the early 1950’s. The goal was to recreate a Line-Up of custom cars with their owners, in a similar way to what Marcia Campbell did back in 1951, when she gathered with Nick Matranga, Bill Taylor, Carl Abajian, Richard Ruiz, and Gordon Andersson, for a photo shoot for the Dan Post Blue book of Custom restyling. You can read about Marcia’s original Line-Up photo-shoot in this CCC article.

Ulf ‘Wolf” Christiansson has been inspired by this Line-Up photo, when he first saw it in one of the Barris Kustom Technique books, and later in a copy of the Dan Post book he bought. Wolf is a die hard, early 1950’s custom car enthusiast from Sweden. He has lived in California for some time, were he worked with Art Christman and Gene Winfield. His passion for early Custom Cars only grew in those years. And ever since, he is trying to promote the look and feel of the period custom’s from the early 1950’s. An engineer by profession, Wolf is building custom cars in his spare time, and his 1951 Mercury – with one of the best ever hard-topped chopped tops -, is world famous. For many years Wolf has tried to recreate Marcia’s Famous Line-Up photos with a number of Scandinavian custom cars.

When the A-Bombers event was getting closer, it became evident that a nice number of early style Custom cars would attend the event. The perfect opportunity for the recreation of the Line-Up photo. To be able to participate in the Annual Line-Up the custom cars need to fit certain requirements. The car needs to look and feel like and 1940’s, or early 1950’s custom car. It needs to be chopped, needs to sit at a real custom car stance (level or speed boat style), and preferably need a set of Spotlights. New, 2013 edition, flyers were copied, and handed out to a few selected custom car owners at the event.
This little event is not part of the actual Old Style Weekend organized by the A-Bombers. it just uses the fact that there are many custom cars in the same location at the same time.

The plan was to gather, and drive in convoy on the Saturday morning of the Old Style Weekend, to the photo shoot location. Unfortunately one of the cars, the 1947 Cadillac of Palle Johansen had an overheated engine. So he had to wait a while to let it cool down. In the meantime, a few of the other cars already took of to the location. What was planned as “a nice driving line up to the location, so people could take some photos”, ended up in “everybody on their own to the location”. Something to improve on for next year.

The cars selected for this Line Up photo are:

Bert Gustavsson, 1940 Buick convertible
Tim Kirkegaard, 1939 Mercury
Magnus Karlsson, 1949 Oldsmobile
Andreas Åberg, 1950 Ford
Palle Johansen, 1951 Mercury
Palle Johansen, 1947 Cadillac
Wolf Christiansson, 1951 Mercury
Dan Lindberg, 1946 Ford

The location picked for the line up photo shoot was: “Riksväg 2, Vägminne” A very nice looking restored cobblestone road. It took some time to get the cars all lined up perfectly on this old road, and once the line up was realized, they came to the conclusion that the grass on the road side was to long. It covered up the lower sections of the cars in the photos. So, all the car owners, friends, and photographers were cutting the grass close to the road – by hand! – until they had a free shot.
Photographers were running around in the grass field to be able to get the best positions. And to be able to shoot the Line-Up of wonderful custom cars from every possible angle. Wolf Christiansson had organized the event, he made sure the cars were all properly lined up, was taking photos, and was glowing like a kid in a candy store. This was, by far, the best ever attempt he made, to gather a bunch of: fine early style custom cars for a line up photo shoot.

The owners of the cars were all looking at the line up with huge smiles on their faces. It was a wonderful sight. Seeing these, period perfect, wonderful colored custom cars, sitting in a perfect location side by site. Once the cars where photographed, Wolf ordered all the car owners to step beside their car, hold one arm on the drivers side belt line, and then it was time to take the ultimate photo. The recreation of Marcia Campbell’s world famous Line Up photo, with the owners.
All in all, the photo shoot took less than an hour, and when everybody was done taking photos the cars, went off back to the event terrain, or go to the Hill Climb event that was held close by at noon.

The 2013 Scandinavian Custom Car Line-Up was a big success and a fantastic photo opportunity. Plans are already in the making for the next Line-Up. Which, again, will be invitation only. Ideas are to gather even more period custom cars, and park them in a different way, at an even better location. The only “problem” from the Line-Up, is that it only works if there are just the cars, a few photographers, and the owners of the cars. Just like a proper photo set: everybody out of view when the photo shoot is started: cars, and drivers/owners only.

This article shows some of the best photos taken by Christer Ehrling, and Palle Johansen. More photos of this Photo Shoot can be found on the CCC-Forum.

Bert Gustavsson, 1940 Buick convertible

Tim Kirkegaard, 1939 Mercury Coupe

Magnus Karlsson, 1949 Oldsmobile

Andreas Åberg, 1950 Ford “The New Panoramic Ford”

Palle Johansen, 1951 Mercury (Dick Dean Custom)

Palle Johansen, 1947 Cadillac Convertible

Ulf “Wolf” Christiansson, 1951 Mercury

Dan Lindberg, 1946 Ford Coupe

Custom Car Chronicle

Tag Archives: A-Bombers

2015 Custom Car Line-Up Part 2

CUSTOM CAR LINE UP part 2

The 2015 Custom Car Line-Up at the Old Style Weekend was so spectacular that we need two CCC-Articles to cover it all. Lets take a look at some more photos taken at the little park in Uddevalla, Sweden

2015 Custom Car Line-Up

2015 THE LINE-UP part one

Late July, early August is the time of the year that the A-Bombers Hot Rod Club in Sweden organizes the Old Style Weekend. During this weekend Ulf Christiansson puts together his annual Custom Car Line-Up event. The 2015 edition of the Line-Up was held at a new, really fantastic location.

Why the Custom Car Line-Up?

The Line-Up 2014

CUSTOM CAR LINE-UP 2014

8 period styled Custom Cars gathered at two wonderful locations, lined up to show off their beautiful lines. It was a spectacular sight, and great photo opportunity. This article shows a few of my favorite photos taken at the event.

Why the Custom Car Line-Up?

2014 A-Bombers Road-trip Part 4

A-BOMBERS ROAD-TRIP 4

2014 A-Bombers Road-trip Part 3

A-BOMBERS ROAD-TRIP 3

2014 A-Bombers Road-trip part 2

A-BOMBERS ROAD-TRIP 2

2014 A-Bombers Road-trip Part 1

A-BOMBERS ROAD-TRIP 1

Period Custom Car Line-Up

THE 2013 CUSTOM CAR LINE-UP