Lars 'Larre' Andersson

Lars 'Larre' Andersson (b. 1943-10-29, d. 2022-09-27) , from Sundbyberg north of Stockholm, Sweden,
was a true Hot rodder, skilled craftman and almost an inventor in technology.

In the young years - Cars and music

Larre was born in 1943, grew up and lived his whole life in the house on Furuvägen which his father built in the 1930s.

His father was interested in mechanics and this rubbed off on his son. Bicycles and mopeds were tinkered with of course, model airplanes and cars were built.

At the age of 17 he had already dragged a rusty Studebaker -51 home to the yard. His parents weren't too happy about it, so for his 18th birthday in 1961 he was woken up in bed with cake and singing and a pair of car keys as a present! Out in the yard stood a 1956 Ford Crown Victoria, only 5 years old, shining!

The car was quite rusty but Larre and his father helped to fix it up in the garage which was then in the basement of the house.
Larre has always been interested in music and the Ford was used as a tow truck for the orchestra trailer for the band "Blackbirds" where Lelle Hegland, among others, played.
After military service in 1963, the band split up and Lelle Hegland instead helped form the not-so-unknown Hep Stars!

There were a lot of runs with the guys down on Kungsgatan and the Crown Victoria probably helped pick up the future wife Kicki.
Suddenly, things got busy with work and starting a family. Both daughters (born -66 and -70) were driven home from the hospital in the Ford, which was used all year round.

Around 1966, Larre heard about a nice 30s Ford in Stockholm. Hot rod interest had begun to spread properly in the city and among friends.
The Hot Rod Show in Marmorhallarna was of course visited and new contacts were made.

So in 1938 the Ford cab was brought home and a large-scale renovation/rebuilding began. To begin with, to original condition as a registered and inspected base for future modifications.
The condition was nothing special with old fake repairs and putty. Larre, who was a mechanical engineer, had the tools at home to do almost all the work himself.
From the beginning, the car was made to look like the original with the side valve seat remaining. The body was lifted from the frame, which was blasted and primed. Larre re-sewn the entire interior, including bucket seats, in red artificial leather. The convertible model has a mother-in-law hatch, so here too the sofa was reupholstered. The sewing machine is still in the garage today!

A home-made cab frame was made and the cab itself was of course also sewn by Larre. The paint was also sprayed by Larre at home in the garage. It was a combination of white and red. When it came to the engine, Larre couldn't resist. A side valve seat 59A from 1946 was used, drilled and stroked to 4 inches with a Mercury crankshaft.
An Offenhauser intake with 3 two-port carburetors supplied the car with soup. Headers and Scintilla magneto made an estimated 170 horsepower! The car was completed in this condition in the spring of 1968 and was driven on an interim basis. The car was sold in Sweden and all the papers were on the car.
In 1970 the car was repainted in blue and fitted with chrome 14” Cragar S/S mags with F70 tyres in the rear. However, it took until 1970 when a new registration and inspection was made.

In the 1970s

In 1972 the car was taken down for an overhaul and that was when the car was really revved up. A sharpened 312 ci Ford Thunderbird Y-block replaced the side vent, automatic transmission and rear axle from -57 Ford. Front disc brakes were mounted on the lowered axle. The engine was heavily pre-drilled with bores, 11.5 pistons, 280 degree cam and ported heads. Here too 3 two-port Holleys and home-built headers. The car did a nice 14.2 sec. E.T. at Mantorp. Larre was now busy with two hobby cars, family, house and a job that took a lot of time and travel. Many friends got help with their Yankees and the house on Furuvägen (with a newly built garage) became a meeting point for motor enthusiasts in the vicinity. So there was a big gang that stuck together and helped each other. He brought home a 4-door A-Ford that was rebuilt into a 5-window coupe. However, it was sold on to an unknown person. The nice chrome waggon was displayed for a while in the entrance to the Technical Museum in Stockholm.

A close friend in Sundbyberg was Hasse 'Z' Zetterqvist who rebuilt a 1937 Ford Tudor into a three-window coupe! This car then had several owners over the years, including Gregge Ekholm who rebuilt it into a cab. Both of them played in the dance band "Bällsta Rivers". (The Bällsta River runs nearby). Larre on guitar and Hasse on drums! So there was quite a crowd at gigs with the band. The Ford Crown Victoria also had to act as a tow truck for the orchestra wagon for this band!

Hasse 'Z' was a well-known car dealer and chairman of SHRA Stockholm, so there was a lot of contact with others in drag racing, such as Hasse Fromm, Tage Hammerman, Anders Lantz, Inge Ellburg and several others and their respective families. Many of them lived in northwest Stockholm.
It was probably Larre who arranged the Hot Rod parades at Mantorp Park during the 70s.

The Hot rod was used extensively on holiday trips with the family. Over time, however, it may not have been so much fun for the daughters in the mother-in-law's house on rainy summer days.
One destination was Enviken in Dalarna where the family had a cottage. Ingvar Hagman lived there, who had a nice Ford -46 cab. He was good friends with Hasse Hägglöf and helped with his Ford 1946 coupe.

There were many evening trips into Stockholm city to go on the old raggar-round and meet friends. Now the whole family got to go along! At the beginning of the 70s, the “Bullfords” were popular and many were converted into Hot Rods. Ivve Hallberg, Bosse Kjellner and Janne Linderholm were some names with nice cars. Anders Lantz had a -47 Bullford that they often raced against both on the street and on the strip.

The family treated themselves to a trip to America almost every year. With a limited budget, the rental car was always a convertible from ’Rent-a-wreck’, preferably an old 60s Ford. If the car broke down, Larre could always fix it. Susanne remembers that the automatic transmission collapsed in San Francisco, and with Larre under the car, the horrible red automatic transmission fluid flowed out along the gutter. But everything worked out and they were able to move on!

1980s – 1990s

Larre gained a reputation as a skilled Ford mechanic and serviced many celebrities' Mustangs. Stefan Sauk, Tomas Ledin, Steffo Törnqvist were some of the customers who also became good friends. For those of you who remember the "Lorry gang" from TV, you wonder if the inspiration for Peter Dalle's character "The Inventor of Sundbyberg" came from Larre via Stefan Sauk?? During the filming of a Hamilton movie (with Sauk in the lead role), Larre had to stand by with his car to record the sound of various tire screeching and engine noises that were then added to the film's car chases!

Larre belonged to the generation that, if a certain part could not be obtained, he manufactured the part himself. If there was no suitable tool, he had to manufacture the tool too! Much was manufactured in fiberglass with molds that he made himself. Larre was good at most things and almost a perfectionist. Incredibly well-educated, which was because he always had the radio on in the garage and listened to science programs. A mathematical genius who made advanced calculations and drawings on prototypes In his professional life as a self-employed person, he invented a backstop system for trucks based on, among other things, hockey pucks! He had to travel around the world and install this. He manufactured, among other things, sleds that were used for crash tests with vehicles and advanced level sensors for industry. Most of it was manufactured at home in the workshop/garage in Sundbyberg. During the 80s, he started building a Ford 1932 Roadster. A new radiator mask was too expensive, so he created his own with polished stainless steel pipes. Unfortunately, we do not know what happened to the car when it was sold before it was completely finished.

In the 80s, both daughters also practiced driving for their driver's licenses in the -38 with their father as their supervisor. An important point to learn was being able to do a burnout the right way! Larre, who was a gas-happy guy, had won the prize for best burnout at Mantorp in 1974! The girls' drive-ins fortunately went well without any burnouts! In 1994, Larre received an assignment from Electrolux in connection with the group's 75th anniversary, to build a copy of the cars that were used in the 1920s to market their vacuum cleaners in far-off countries. Larre started from a Volvo Amazon and created a spectacular fully drivable build that today stands in a museum in Sweden.

Later years

As mentioned, the Ford -38 cab was put away on the property in the early 1990s. The intention was to fix it up, but unfortunately a lot of other things got in the way. It is worth noting that Larre never sold any parts, but everything was stowed away around the house.

When Larre passed away in September 2022, his daughters had to handle everything he left behind on behalf of their mother Kicki, who still lives in the house. I had the opportunity to look around the fantastic house. The garage was intact with all the tools and machines still there. Behind a hidden panel wall in the living room was a small scrub with a workbench and a pillar drill! Out on the plot was a large cast pool whose water was pumped around and heated via a wood-burning stove that was next to it in an outdoor kitchen! Unfortunately, during the last time there was not really any energy left and the maintenance of the house was neglected over time. However, Larre was stubborn to the last and insisted that "I will fix that soon", "that must not be thrown away!" (Do you recognize it?) The fine -38 cab was not a pretty sight to behold after it had been outside for over 30 years. There were many speculators but the car finally ended up in Bålsta. The new owner, Björn Aurell, was an acquaintance of Susanne's husband and he had wanted to buy the car for many years.

Now a very extensive and serious renovation has begun and we hope the car will be restored to its glory days!
I really think Larre would have liked that! ^[1]