Hjalle’s 32 Ford.

Worldkustom drives through the country of  the great forests and wide rivers. The empire of the big  wilderness  and the small towns. Sweden. Jamed down between dense trees is Jarvso  located like a sparkling jewel in the bay water  of the river  Ljusnan with its  bridges now serving a supercharged Ford 32. by Krantz

It was ten o’clock in the morning. Pines keep their magnificent canopy against a blue sky with white clouds  and their reflections spilling across my windshield  mile after mile  where I serpentine the asphalt strip in the valley floor.

The windows are down  and there is a smell of grass, timber, soil and fertilizer.

Krantz driving for hours through the vast, open, generous Sweden as it looks everywhere with the exception of a few places counted on one hands fingers  where it’s bombed with asphalt and where ninety percent of our “news” are from. One could almost believe that it would be the big Sweden.

From these urban enclaves we’re fed  with “news” by the telly in the evening. This after we stepped in from the large, quiet, friendly,  reality  we live in thru the day. What is news? I can tell a scoop that never reaches the headlines.Hjalle purchased a rod!
-Mikael Hjalmarsson in Järvsö have worked for a lifetime and now he has indulged in a hotrod.
He pours the coffee in the large kitchen and says:

-Nah,  it was the forest that applied for Dad and me. It started right after school. We hauled timber. It was nothing else. When Dad tagged down with the forest I  did likewise but we bought a gravel truck to like  have in the yard. Then the phone started to ring again.

You’ve got a truck, can you come  with 20 tons of  single rocks?
Then it was full speed again. We purchased several trucks and worked long days and. . . Suddenly I turned 50!?
– What happened?

Hjalle  was able to sum up 35 years behind the wheel in service to others. First, in the woods and then on the road .

It had been fun but now , damn it , it  was time for what he always dreamed of.

He sat down at the  PC.

-I’m no greaser, but I’ve always liked big American cars and big engines and I think I’ll  go for  a beefy hotrod for starters , he said to him self , and surfed the Swedish similarity to Craigs list.

It took 20 minutes.
-I’ll take it , he shouted into the phone on Sunday morning for the poor Swede at the other end.
-Yeah, But there are many who calls, so come here with bread now at once, ‘said the voice.
-Now !? Hey, it’s Sunday whimpered Hjalle but on Monday morning, he stood in Dalarna with dough in his hand and got the keys. He loaded up the muscle hot rod  on the gravel truck and drove home.

Now,  he was not a total novice at V8s. He had fiddeled with a Pontiac Firebird conv. for ten years on and off.

Changed the engine, soup it up, tweaked and painted and sold. He had read and dreamed and visited the Classic Car Week – most recently the whole  week.

The US car network was well established. Once home, he picked up the phone and rang Stefan Bohlin in Färlia, a guy who is  a mech for  a lot of power both on the street and strip.
-Hey, I have bought a Ford five window  32 with 383 stroker chevy and 8:71 blower.
-You did what!
Stefan was there before the coffee water flowed through the filter.

I have bought my deam rod so to speak l, said Hjalle , throwing his arm at it.

Well, I can see that , murmured Stefan and fingered the accelerator linkage for sticking or rattle.

 

He knew that nothing must  go wrong here. Full throttle sticking with 700 horses is slightly different than on a Zundapp moped  with five and a half horse.

On top of the blower throned  double Holley carbs. They fired it up and the time stopped. Actually, it was enough to just stand outside and enjoy. The sounds, the smells, the vibrations in the ground , the looks, everything.

Engine package was ordered complete from the US. The car was built in Arvika 2005. Now it was 2015 and the car did not have a scratch.
-Lets take it for a spinn, said Hjalle  and heard how unreal it sounded.
They would go for a ride in the chromed, black monster. Feel the dream. Living the good  life on a dirt road in the middle of the week.    

Klonk!  It went in to drive very exact.

Brake pedal up and they were off.

Hard suspension but no rattling. Firm steering . Good brakes.

Down on the asphalt, hang a right  and no cars as usual.

Up north you get a lot of asphalt for the road tax. A little more gas and the second gear jumpes in striving for more. The engine is varm now , cheeks rosy and … whaaa   the throttles  open and ….. whaaa …. the asphalt turns to ice and …… whaaaa  …  the tires smoke and …… wahhh again . .. and pedal  up and they roll idling.

It was over in five seconds. So little was needed for  so much to happenin such a short time. The hot rod  turned  gently and rolled quietly home.
-Dream true.