Mats Eriksson's workshop and the Rättvik Cruise
Photos ©Simon Groves
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Mats' spacious shop is located in Borlänge, about 225km from Stockholm. |
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In the reception area, a mural shows the metalworking that is the core part of a business that employs eight workers. |
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Mats works sheet metal for a variety of applications. This shows part of his stock |
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Computer-controlled machines such as this enhance the precision of the process of transforming sheet metal into components. |
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An example of the output is this light bracket for Dodge Ram trucks as an after-market part. |
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The car fabrication part of the business is at the far end. This '33 Ford Coupe was constructed out of a pair of bodies. A part of the roof is from a Volvo Amazon and fits amazingly well. |
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A junior dragster chassis sits atop a Top Fuel chassis jig, divided into three parts for storage. |
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This is probably the largest stock of chrome moly tubing in Scandinavia... |
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...and, as Mats' son L-G shows, there is more chrome moly around the corner. |
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Mats has a 1970 302 Boss Mustang. This car is being rebuilt in its original style. |
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In the meantime a Mach 1 is being prepped for L-G to drive in the bracket class at the drags. |
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Mats' wife Lena Perés shows the Green Goblin already disassembled only a day after returning from Mantorp Park. |
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The old Green Goblin chassis alongside Ludwig Perés' Junior Dragster. |
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As the family home is only a few minutes from the shop, Mats had a special bike made up for the commute, with matching paint. |
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One naked Pro Modified. Mats was pleased to have got past Tami Brander with a 6.26 and Patrik Wikström with a 6.33, before losing to Andy Robinson by 0.017s at the Veidec Nitro Nationals. |
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Lena stands in front of the '66 Ford Fairlane that has been resprayed by ace auto artist Ray Hill in a 'distressed' mid-60s Super Stock theme. |
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The car is a tribute to Carl Ruth as well as the far-from-grumpy Lena. |
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It was quite a surprise to see the 'plugs' for Carl Ruth's '56 Crown Victoria Funny Car residing in the grounds of the ME Racing shop. As the F/C was stretched for a 125" chassis, Mats had to reduce the length at the scuttle for the Pro Mod chassis of 115". |
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The story of the building of the Green Goblin is told in this fascinating photo montage. |
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Photos on the wall also document Mats' first race car and Leif Helander's Starkotter. |
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A selection of Mats' trophies and a model of friend Victor Bray's Australian T/D championship-winning car. |
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Mats still has his '62 Ford Falcon in his storage facility 40km from Borläge. |
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Also in storage are the moulds Mats made for the '56 Crown Victoria Pro Mod. |
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A spare front has been constructed from the moulds. |
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Well-known for his devotion to Fords, here's another example waiting for attention. |
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We picked up the '56 Ford Station Wagon that Mats used as a pit vehicle. He's owned this since 1992 having imported it from Portland, Oregon and the colour was the inspiration for the Green Goblin. |
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Mats took us to the cruise at the Classic Car Week at Rättvik, which is attended by over 1,000 vehicles. Here's an original '56 Crown Victoria Coupe... |
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...and a '58 Ford. Many U.S. cars were imported to Sweden in the 1950s and examples can be seen frequently. Storage and maintenance have resulted in many being immaculate. |
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If you thought one original '56 Crown Victoria was an rarity, here's a second. |
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The cruise lasted most of the evening and was rammed. For more shots of the events in the Classic Car week, go to http://www.classiccarweek.se |
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Another '56 Ford resting from the cruise. |
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After the cruise, Mats and Lena caught up with some friends and then we headed back to Stockholm. |
