Bernt in person

Maybe “Burnt” would be more suitable. In the TV-series American Hotrods which takes place at Boyd Coddington’s place “Burnt” was a frequent calling when a body job was to hard, a paint job to complicated or prep work too extensive. Worldkustom met the Swedish TV-star and car oracle Bernt Karlsson. By Lars-Åke Krantz. Translation Ellen Kay Krantz.

Bernt Karlsson from Jonkoping made an early debut in Sweden with his Pink Lady, a VW remodeled with custom doors and a varnish that made it a show stopper wherever it was shown. Read more about Pink Lady at Sunday Slacker It was chosen Sweden’s Prettiest car. In 1988 Bernt brought Pink Lady to the states and opened his own shop.  The years went by and we only got sporadic reports but then he showed up in TV whenever Boyd Cuddington had a crisis.

That’s where you got to see how the legendary hot rod pro builder Boyd said he knew a man who could fix anything and everything.

The camera followed Boyd into the office where he picked up the phone and said: – Hi, Burnt, we need your help.

Then he arrived, our own Swedish Bernt Karlsson, into the series like a hero. Like a life saver he rode onto the set of American Hotrods and into our living rooms.

Its early morning at the Elmia exhibit 2008. The place is still empty. In one of the booths a well renowned icon is preparing for the show. It’s Bernt.

– Good morning, he says and greets me with a hand shake. The smile falls in place and you immediately feel it. This is an endearing guy with a generous personality and a regular hard working car guy if even incredible driven in his profession. That he’s a celebrity not just in Sweden but in USA with 300 million people doesn’t seem to become him.

– When did you make Pink Lady, I ask?

– Don’t remember exactly, guess it was during the 80’s, I moved to California 1988 and brought the car with me.

– Have you still got it?
– No, I sold it.

(If you know were Pink Lady might be today. Email Worldkustom at …)

I started working with Boyd when I first arrived in the US. Was in his shop for a year and a half. Then I worked at another company for 15 years before I opened up a shop of my own.

 – What did you do at your company? – Well, it was mostly about cars of course. Anything that had to do with custom, body modifications, damages and paint jobs. At the end I mostly worked on Ferrari’s and other luxury vehicles.

– How come you ended up on TV?

-Duane called. They had a problem with the black Corvette. They couldn’t fit the doors in the opening and asked me for help with adjustments. But it turned out they had bigger issues than that.

Bernt is very open and shares goodies like how the mechanics on the shop overall are fitters. They mocked around in their tool boxes and ran around but when it came to professional body work there

were slim pickings.  I measured an original body and it turned out that “our” body, which originally was meant for racing, had been chopped at one point.

Not by much but it probably been sitting in the sun after that and sunk even further because when we hung the doors they were impossible to close. The TV crew was all on set and ready to shoot and the body was just impossible to assemble. That’s when they called Bernt. Bernt’s shop was just further down the street so it was easy to pop over and take a look.

– I had to saw the openings, he simply said. The floor had to be adjusted as well as the top. I was at it 24/7 from Friday to Sunday. When Boyd’s team showed up Monday morning the entire thing was done.

Bernt tells me about bike riding with Duane.
– I like Duane, he’s always been there for me, he says.
– One week after Boyd passed Duane was asked to leave the shop, Bernt adds.

– That yellow top chopped 1959 Cadillac with Impala interior that you built, is it still here? – Nah, it runs in Australia now.

The doors are open to the exhibition at Elmia and people are heading straight towards Bernt where he is showing his mc project.
– After I fixed the Corvette Boyd gave me an offer to start working for him again and when I had some time over I started bending pipes and built a chassis for a new bike.

Dan and Duane knew about at it and walked around the shop, grinning to the corner where I kept my parts. Eventually all parts were done. When the bike was painted and close to being completely assembled, I showed it to Boyd’s wife, Jo.

After a while, Boyd came sauntering in. He just looked at it without saying a word. Sometime after that they had an exhibit in the garage and they had rolled my finished project into the show case area. I didn’t mention it and Boyd shook my hand.

Standing in the show case is also a blonde woman. She chit chats in American with people passing by and helps customers.

– Tell me about your Charise, Bernt smiles shyly.
-Ehh, yes, I was just about to order a new Ford Mustang GT 500 to myself and when I called the company a woman answered and she sounded so nice and her name was Charise. When I called back later she remembered me and later on when the car was ready for delivery she called me again, and well, we decided to meet up.

Charise over hear us talking and comes over. With a happy smile she pats Bernt on the cheek

– Having a blonde by my side that also knows everything about cars isn’t wrong, not wrong at all, he says before he gets back to signing books and magazines in the bright light of cameras flashing.