Anders Reinli's 1939 Chevrolet - Prinsen

Centerfold from Start&Speed 4/1972

Photo by Hasse Biörck

Photo by Hasse Biörck

Mantorp park in the 1970s

At Kinnekulle ring 25/9 1971

Photo from Start&Speed 4/1972

Photo from Start&Speed 4/1972

Photo from Start&Speed 4/1972

Photo from Start&Speed 4/1972

A photo of "Prinsen från Vårgårda" taken in 1974. Photo courtesy of Christer Esered.

Another photo of Prinsen from 1974. Photo courtesy of Christer Esered.

Photo from FB, Year unknown

Stored in Denmark 2017

Gothenburg in Sweden is not the first city you think of when it comes to Hot Rods.
However, this is an early Hot Rod/Drag racer built in the beginning of 1970s by two brothers, Anders and Yngve Reinli.

The story tells that this car initially was owned by Prins Bertil of Sweden. Bertil was son of king Gustav VI Adolf and had a big interrest in cars.
Anders heard that there were two 1939 Chevys on a junkyard in northern Sweden, one coupe and one sedan. Anders and Yngve went and bought both cars.

The idea was first to built a street-driven Hot Rod but as new rules were introduced around 1970 the focus went to built a car for racing. So much of the original car wasn't used.
Anders built a completely new frame from square pipes, installed a dropped front axle with coil-overs.
In rear a Chevy axle from 1959 with 4.56 ratio was used.
As the plan was to dragrace in the Street Altered (SA) class, a 283" Chevy engine was fully prepared and tuned for approx. 375 hp.

The body was kept intact but Anders made it flip-able! Not unusual with a flip-front but even the rear section can be flipped back!
It was painted in red candy with "Prinsen" ("the Prince") texted on the sides as a tribute to the original owner.
The wheels are from JP with GoodYear rubber.

The car was tested on the strip only once at Kinnekulle park in 1971. After that, Anders got an offer to work in Australia and left the car to his brother Yngve to maintain.

According to an article in Start&Speed, Anders took the engine down to Australia for use in a dragster he had built down-there.

The car itself found new owners in dragracers Tommy Larsson, Peter Norder, Krister johansson and Roger Andersson, all from Gothenburg.
A Pontiac engine from a Tempest was installed in the coupe. They attempted to race at Vårgårda in 1974 but didn't pass scrutinization as the car was not finished.

The team split due to some disagreements and the car became later in the hands of Peter Norder and Jan-Erik Nyman for the 1975 drag season.
They installed a Chrysler 446" engine in the car and did some racing on different strips. The engine was later lifted out and used in a T-23 altered that Jan-Erik built. "What happened to Prinsen I don't remember".

We are not sure of the next period but there a Facebook photos of the car from dragracing events at Mantorp park and Hudiksvall.

The car have also been on display on shows in late 1970s, mostly on the west-coast. The owners were "Bronco" and "Gomez" (!) .

Today the car is owned by Per Demant Hansen in Denmark. It has unfortunately been stored there for 35 years.
We really hope it soon will be restored, hit the street and see the sun again!