Jonny Burger's 1931 Ford Roadster

Photo from Colorod 4 1974

From Hot Rod Show 1975. Photo Spoca.se

Photo from Colorod 11 1976

As early as 1962, Jonny Burger from Stockholm grew plans for a Hot Rod. He went to junkyards in Denmark and found a complete -31 Ford Roadster body together with a frame from a -32 Ford sedan. For everything he paid 250 Danish cronas.

After a couple of years the built started. Instead of a flathead a 283" Chevy with M/T valve covers and 3 2-port carbs was installed. The transmission is from Ford Comet (4-gear). ear end is Chevy -58 with 4.11:1. The solid front axle is lowered 2". Brakes from -47 Ford and wheels 14" Rader. The car passed inspection in 1968 and has been used frequently in trips to southern Europe. It proves a good quality work from Jonny.

In 1974, the car was sold to Richard Berlin. Richard immediately let Frittes billack paint the car in a brickstone pattern to promote his record store Skivfabriken. The car was shown at Hot Rod Show 1975.

After that, with help from Ronnie Haglund the car was facelifted with a handmade Pinewood dashboard with S/W gauges, new seat in with leather upholstery by Sadelbagaren and a louvered hood. The brickstone design was not so popular among other hotrodders, so Frittes billack re-painted the car in black and flames by Jarmo Pulkkinen at Skurk & Flytlack. The 3 carb manifold was exchanged with an Edelbrock and 4-port Holley carb. Transmission changed to a Muncie M20.

It is unclear what happened to the car. Probably it was exported to USA.

Jonny Burger tragically died in November 1997 in an accident while walking home from Lustikulla restaurant in Liljeholmen.

From Bengt Wennergren :

Johnny byggde sin Rod i vår gemensamma "Hot Rod lada" i Huddinge. Jag tror att han byggde klart den när Richard, Junken, Crille och jag emigrerade till US, -66. Vi blev uppspårade av en gammal FBI gubbe som vi hade smitit från "The Draftboard", med förpassning till Vietnam. Vi smet hem. Nu till Johnnys öde. Flyttade från Loftvägen, köpte en kåk vid Svartlösavägen i Älvsjö. Vi var ett gäng som träffades på lördagarna och hade fest. Det pågick under många år. Sedan tappade vi kontakten och Johnny och Rigmor flyttade isär. Johnny flyttade till en lägenhet i Västberga. En dag fick vi en chock då vi fick höra att Johnny hittats död en natt under en viadukt i Västberga. Johnny hade varit på fest på Lustigkulla på Liljeholmen. Där brukade lite Rod folk träffas, vi blev inbjudna flera ggr. av LångGurra, men det blev aldrig av. Det sägs att Johnny hade lämnat festen för att gå hem. På viadukten måste han blivit påkörd av ett tungt fordon och föll ner. Jag har svårt att tro att Johnny var påverkad, då han var ytterst skötsam. Hans tillhörigheter fanns kvar, så rån var uteslutet. RiP.

Translated:

Johnny built his Rod in our common "Hot Rod barn" in Huddinge. I think he finished building it when Richard, Junken, Crille and I emigrated to the US, -66. We were tracked down by an old FBI guy who we had snuck out of "The Draftboard", with extradition to Vietnam. We went home. Now to Johnny's fate. Moved from Loftvägen, bought a house at Svartlösavägen in Älvsjö. We were a group that met on Saturdays and had a party. It went on for many years. Then we lost touch and Johnny and Rigmor moved apart. Johnny moved to an apartment in Västberga. One day we got a shock when we were told that Johnny had been found dead one night under a viaduct in Västberga. Johnny had been to a party at Lustigkulla on Liljeholmen. A few Rod people used to meet there, we were invited several times. by LångGurra, but it never happened. It is said that Johnny had left the party to go home. On the viaduct he must have been hit by a heavy vehicle and fell down. I find it hard to believe that Johnny was under the influence, as he was extremely tidy. His belongings were still there, so robbery was out of the question. RiP.