Roland Larsson's 1932 Ford

The roadster as it looked in 1950. This photo was taken in Värmland before Torsten Manby of Karlstad bought the car. Leif Hultdin who bought the historic hot rod in 1996 got this photo from an older man who recognized the car from an old photo he had. The car had belonged to some relatives of him before Torsten bought it. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

When Leif Hultdin bought the roadster in 1996, it came with a lot of paperwork and old receipts dating back to when Rustan Haeger owned it. Haeger owned the car from 1953 to 1958. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

An old receipt from September 1954, from when Haeger upgraded the car with hydraulic brakes from a 1948 Ford. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

19 years old Roland with the newly acquired roadster in the summer of 1958. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

The engine as it looked when Roland bought the roadster. This version was fit with a dual-carburetor intake manifold supposedly made by Gunnar Berger of Norway, two Stromberg carburetors and a Scintila magneto distributor. With this set-up, the roadster was raced by Torsten Manby and Folke Carlen in Nordiska Specialvagnsklassen in 1952. The chromed air-cleaners where purchased by Roland during his short stay in San Francisco in 1958. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

A group of early Swedish hot rods on their way to Kanonloppet in Karlskoga in 1959. The cars in the front row, from right to left, are Lennart Djurberg's 1932 Ford roadster, Janne Eriksson's 1932 Ford roadster and Roland's roadster. The cars in the back row, from right to left, are Peter Billing's brother's 1930 Ford Model A Roadster, Peder Lundgren's Ford Model A Roadster and Peter Billing's 1932 Ford Cabriolet. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Roland's roadster next to Peter Billing's 1932 Ford Cabriolet and Peder Lundgren's Ford Model A Roadster. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Roland's roadster as it looked in the summer of 1959. By now Roland has removed the running-boards and front fenders, and the rear-fenders have been bobbed. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Later on in the summer of 1959, Roland installed motorcycle-type fenders up front and Moon discs. The Moon discs were purchased in San Francisco in the summer of 1958. Notice the Moon and Mobil flying horse sticker on the firewall. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Roland's roadster at "Kanonloppet" in Karlskoga in 1959. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

In the autumn of 1959, Roland tore the roadster down in order to convert it into a "real" hot rod. Much of Roland's inspiration came from reading Hot Rod Magazine. In this photo Roland is cutting out the floor, preparing it for the channeling job. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

In this photo Ronald is trying to figure how much he is going to take out off the firewall. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

The body was channeled 8 inches over the frame. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Roland's roadster next to Peder Lundgren's channeled Model A roadster. Roland and Peder's roadsters were probably the first channeled hot rods in Sweden. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

The rear of the car was fit with a rolled pan that the exhaust was routed through. The license-plate was recessed and a pair of 1954 Ford installed. The big reflectors were a legal requirement. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Another Swedish hot rod pioneer, Bo "Gamen" Sandberg, admiring Roland's roadster. Bo is the one to the right in the picture. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Roland with the roadster during a vacation on the west-coast of Sweden. The roadster has now been fit with a hood. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Mats Lindahl with the roadster in the summer of 1965, after Roland had sold it to Hans-Erik Larsson. Photo courtesy of Norrlands Motorhistoriker.

The roadster as it appeared when it was featured in the "Axat & Saxat" section of Wheels Magazine Oktober 1982. According to the story, Hans Erik Larsson, who still lived in Stockholm took the car out for a little spin each summer. It had been 12 years since it last was driven legally though. Notice the blackwall-tires and 1947 Ford steelies. Photo courtesy of Wheels Magazine.

Photo courtesy of Wheels Magazine.

Roland's old roadster as it sat while Hans-Erik Larsson owned it. These photos were taken by Leif Hultdin before he bought the car. Notice the whitewall-tires and wire wheels, Leif sold these to Hans-Erik. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

After buying the roadster in 1996, Leif Hutdin went over the engine and replaced a rod-bearing. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Roland's old roadster back on the road again in 1996. Leif decided to swap Roland's old Moon discs with a set of 1947 Ford hubcaps. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

In 1998, Lennart Djurberg built a new engine for the roadster. The new engine was fit with Eddie Meyer heads and intake, bigger valves and an Iskenderian camshaft. The old Scintilla magneto distributor was kept. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Roland reunited with his old roadster in 1999, 35 years after he sold it. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

After visiting Roland with the roadster, Hultdin got boxes of old Hot Rod Magazines from Roland. Amongst those magazines was an old Moon catalog from Brödrerna Kasby Bilversktad in Älvsjö. These two brothers, Bosse and Ove were amongst the first in Sweden to import parts from the United States. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Amongst the magazines were also some Ardun OHV sales brochures. Maybe Roland was playing around with the idea of installing a set of Ardun heads on the roadster? Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Leif's roadster on the cover of Gasoline Magazine September/Oktober 2011.

This rare intake, was bought from Gunnar Berger of Norway was installed on the car when Roland bought the car from Rustan Haeger. It is believed that Gunnar made the intake himself. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Roland installed a 1954 Ford steering wheel in the roadster. The gauges were taken from a 1946 Mercury. Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

Photo courtesy of Leif Hultdin.

1932 Ford Roadster owned and built by Roland Larsson of Hammarö, Sweden. Roland's Roadster was sold new in Sweden in 1933, so it is listed as a 1933 Ford in the registration-title. In 1958, Roland bought the 25 years old roadster from a man named Rustan Haeger. Haeger lived in Karlstad and Stockholm, and used the roadster all year round, driving around in a wolf fur coat during the winter. Another Swedish hot rod pioneer, Lennart Djurberg, remembers seeing the roadster in 1953. He remembers how impressed he became by the two Stromberg carburetors and the Scintilla magneto he could glimpse through the vents in the hood. Haeger bought the car in 1953, but according to old paperwork that came with the car when Leif Hultdin bought it in 1996, the engine had already been hopped up to 130 horsepowers in 1950. In the spring of 1952, Torsten Manby of Karlstad, Sweden bought the roadster. With help from Folke Carlen, Manby prepared the car for racing in the open car class in the Nordiska Specialvagner race. Manby bought a rare homemade dual-carb intake manifold from Gunnar Berger of Norway, and it is believed that the intake was made by Gunnar in Norway. Torsten and Folke did also install shaved heads and increased the compression to 10:1. They drove on Bentyl, and the car was supposedly good for 150 horsepowers at 5000 rpm's. In August 1954, Haeger took the roadster to Bilfirma Harry Est in Karlstad where he had them install hydraulic brakes from a 1948 Ford. At the same time the transmission was overhauled, the front axle straightened and a new windshield installed. September 23, 1954 Haeger's roadster was ready for delivery. Later on, Haeger returned to the local Ford dealer in Karlstad to install a set of NOS fenders on the car. After this, the car was painted light-grey with dark-grey fenders. Paperwork from when Haeger owned the car shows that by then the car still had its original engine, but it had been fit with a 1936 Ford camshaft, a Scintilla magneto, aluminum heads, hydraulic brakes from a 1948 Ford, a 1948 Ford transmission, hydraulic Gabriel shocks, Marshall lights, 3 signal-horns and more.

November 6, 1958, after buying the roadster from Haeger, Roland went to San Francisco with HMS Älvsnabben. During his stay in San Francisco he bought two chromed air-cleaners and a set of Moon discs for his roadster project. He returned to Sweden April 4, 1959. After returning from the trip, Roland drove the car around for a while in the same configuration as it looked before he left Sweden. It didn't take long though before the front fenders and running-boards were gone, and photos taken during the summer of 1959 shows Roland's roadster without front fenders and running-boards with bobbed rear fenders. Later on the same summer, motorcycle-type fenders made from 1936 Ford spare-tire rings were installed up front. After enjoying the summer in the roadster, Roland tore the car down In the autumn of 1959. His plan was to turn it into a fully channeled roadster like the ones he had seen in Hot Rod Magazine. After lifting the body off the frame, Roland cut out the floor and dropped the body 8 inches over the frame.The gas tank was placed in the trunk, and a rolled-rear pan was installed where the tank used to be. The exhaust was routed through the new rolled pan and the bobbed rear-fenders were molded to the body. The license-plate was recessed and a pair of 1954 Ford taillights installed. The windshield was chopped about the height of a matchstick-box. Inside, Roland installed a 1954 Ford steering wheel along with a set of 1946 Mercury gauges. The build was completed during the spring of 1960, and Roland had now entered the history books with one of the first, if not THE first channeled hot rod of Sweden.

In 1964 Roland sold the roadster to Hans-Erik Larsson of Stockholm, Sweden. In 1965 Larrson brought the roadster to Skellefteå, Sweden in order to attend Guldruschen. He left the car in Skellefteå, stored away in a warm garage at his grandparents place. In 1978 Leif Hultdin of Skellefteå, Sweden saw a photo of the old Swedish hot rod. He contacted Hans-Erik Larsson who still owned the car, and asked if he wanted to sell it. The car was still stored away in Skellefteå, and Larsson refused to sell it. he told Hultdin that he was going to give it to his son. Hultdin couldn't get the car out of his head, and called Larsson about twice a year asking about the car. They became friends, and in 1996 Larsson called Hultdin and asked if he was still interested in the old car. It turned out that his son had other interests. Larsson didn't have to ask Hultdin twice, and in 1996 Leif became the proud owner of one of the first Swedish hot rods. He picked it up May 27, 1996. July 16, the same year, after replacing the brakes, tires and a rod-bearing, the old roadster passed inspection and was again graced with a set of Swedish license plates. Leif replaced the red wire-wheels with the 1947 Ford steel wheels that came with the car. He did also replace Roland's Moon discs with a set of 1947 Ford hubcaps. In 1998, the old engine needed a rebuild, so Leif had Roland's old friend Lennart Djurberg build a new engine for the roadster. The new engine, based on a 1936 Ford block, was fit with Eddie Meyer heads and intake, bigger valves and an Iskenderian camshaft. The old Scintilla magneto distributor was kept. In 2011, Leif's roadster was featured on the cover of Gasoline Magazine September/Oktober 2011. By then, the car rolled on 5.50x16 whitewall-tires up front, and 6.00x16 whitewall tires in the rear.

October 31, 2011, Leif advertised Roland's old roadster for sale at the SSRA Forum, the asking price was 400 000 SEK.

Since 2014 the car belongs to Jan-Olof Ödahl in Höganäs.

Magazine Features

Wheels Magazine Oktober 1982
Gasoline Magazine September/Oktober 2011