PO Gustafsson's Ford 1957 - "The Saint"

At the Hot Rod Show in 1965

The story of a Ford 300-57 2-d at the Hot Rod Show 1965

P-O (Per-Olof) Gustafsson grew up in Sorunda and has lived in various places around Nynäshamn, but now lives in his parents' home in Sorunda.
At this time, in the early 50s, you saw custom cars from time to time according to P-O.
-"Rodders mostly stayed in Stockholm", P-O says.

Inspired by customs in magazines like Hot Rod, P-O naturally wanted to build his own, preferably a 2-d HT or Cabriolet.
4-door cars were considered as taxi cars, P-O says and laughs.
The wage was then only 4-5 SEK an hour. A Ford Fairlane with a V8 could be expensive.

After his first car, a Ford-54 4-d, he found his custom object in an ad in Dagens Nyheter.
A Ford 300-57 2-d with a 6-cyl and 3-speed manual transmission at a small car dealership on Norrtullsgatan, Stockholm.
The Ford had a km speedometer, which indicated that it should have been sold as new in Sweden.

The car was bought and after a refresh of the bodywork, the actual customization began. The taillights were recessed considerably in the rear fenders and the headlight glass was sawed down in circumference to fit.
The bumper was removed and headlight pots from two Husqvarna Silverpil MC, were welded on each side in the lower corners of the rear wings.
In the front, the grill and bumper were removed and a substantial tube grill was built.
It was made of a classic material in Swedish custom history, armored tubes for electrical wiring.
-"They have the right diameter, are easy to bend with a coil spring and there are no creases, absolutely perfect", says P-O.

A cleaning of the front, chromed headlight bezels and the original turn signals that were attached at the bottom under the grill.
-"If there was chrome, it was removed, if there was none, they put it there", describes P-O's attitude to rebuilding at the time.

Foxcraft fender skirts were purchased from Bo and Ove Kasby's company BoMac Racing. The choice of hubcaps fell on Ford-59 with three-armed spinners in the center.
The front and rear sofas were allowed to keep their fabric, but the door sides and dashboard were reupholstered.
P-O's mother sewed white vinyl over piped foam that was purchased from BoMac Racing. The white vinyl on the dashboard made it reflect and lit up the entire windshield.
-"It was not a very good choice", says P-O.

The Ford was allowed to keep its original height above the ground. Lowering your car was not common at that time.
Solenoids were mounted in the doors and trunk. No relays, just wires straight on, sockets where there were and a contact in the grill, the simplest possible.
The magnets were so strong that the sheet metal in the doors bent when they were opened!
The stainless steel louvers on the hood were fixed by P-O at his job at Alfa Laval.

With the help of a friend, holes were cut in the hood and plates were punched underneath for the louvers to rest on.
The louvers were in turn punched onto the pieces of plate.
P-O built a floor shifter himself after some fiddling. There was no question of keeping the steering wheel shifter.
Not many in the workshop thought P-O would be able to do it, but he got it working!

The reason it was exhibited at the Hot Rod Show was probably because it was recommended by the well-known Hot Rod builder Björn Wallman, who had a garage in the same area of ​​Viksberg as P-O.
Before the exhibition at the Hot Rod Show, a co-worker at Alfa Laval, whose daughter was working in advertising, fixed the sign for P-O's The Saint.
The name came from the popular british TV series, which in Swedish was called "Helgonet".

-"Exhibiting at the Hot Rod Show was great, to be with the big guys, the ones who had been around for a while, were big things back then," says P-O.
He drove into town every night for a whole week and was there until they closed at 9-10pm.

The Ford was driven during the summer of 1965 and then sold to a car dealership. The car's history after that is unfortunately unknown.

The above interview was conducted by Lars Enström for Lead News (Customs of Sweden) and slightly edited by Björn Ramsten.

All photos by kind courtesy of P-O Gustafsson.