Palle Eriksson's trip to South Africa 1966

While working in Monaco, Palle met some folks from South Africa. A couple followed Palle home to Sweden and lived at his place for a while.
They saw his Hot rod and his Chrysler 300 and said: -"In South Africa we have Hot rods and car racing. Why don't you come down and bring the Hot Rod with you?"
They wrote to a guy named Buddy Fuller, who ran Sprint car racing in Cape Town. He said:
- "You are very welcome down here, we can host you. Unfortunately we cannot finance your journey but I have shipping contacts to bring your car and yourself by boat."

Preparing

So Palle sold a small cottage house he owned and bought the ticket.
As the car wasn't registered in Sweden, Palle had to create his own registration papers by setting a unique license number B117 on the car.
At this time you could by the figures and letters for the license plate on the local gas station.
By copying and scratching, he made the round certificate for the windshield, and a proof of registration paper including car specs.
A chassies number (VIN) was stamped on the frame. It was called 'Chrysler Special'.

The car was loaded in Gothenburg and Palle got a cabin on the same ship. The journey took almost a month to reach Cape Town.

First time in Cape Town

In January 1966 they reached the port in Cape Town, and made customs declaration and a claret for the car with residence permit for one year.
Palle settled down near the race track in Killarney where there was a workshop for the sprint cars racing.
The shop also made repair and paint work on vintage cars, and even built cars from scratch. It was called "Saffy's - Panel Beaters".
They made a sticker with a T-bucket rod - "Saffy's - For T's in kit form".
So, to support his living, Palle worked in the shop with welding and building frames for racers and other customers.

His own Hot rod draw of course a lot of attention. He was invited to participate in the racing with his own rod as well as others Sprint cars.
The local press wrote several articles (In Africaan language), impressed by the Swede and his car!

All images kind courtesy of Palle Eriksson.
A shipping transport magazine put Palles rod on the cover while loading!
Landed on the Cape Town Clifton Beach with a surfing board on top!
Probably the Table Mountains in the background.
Racing at Killarney International Raceway https://wpmc.co.za/
There were some improvised Drag racing on the track.
Sprint car racing was very popular with much action!
The shop where Palle worked.
The mechanics were very skilled and did quality job on all sorts of cars.
The no. 6 car - 'Lucky Strike', was driven by Palle on the tracks.
The shop crew.
Press clip from a newspaper (in Africaan language)!
Beautiful model Elaine Bruins is posing.

The crash

The days went on and Palle was having a great time in Cape Town

In July 1966, during a fast ( > 150 km/h ) ride with a friend beside, one of the link-arm mountings on the front axle suddenly broke!
The car went down in front, causing the wires for the handbrake to the rear wheels tensed.
So the rear end got locked, the car spun around and down in a ditch. The rear axle went loose and blew away from the car in one direction together with Palles friend!
He was hit by the axle on his lower leg and foot. The rest of the car crashed in the ditch but Palle was luckily relatively unharmed!

The crash was never reported and no one dared to touch anything until Palle came back and could fetch the remaining parts some days later.

All images kind courtesy of Palle Eriksson.
Not a pretty sight, the guys were lucky to be alive!
Many things could of course be saved, as the engine and drivetrain.
The passenger friend in hospital. Helmet on! He was one of the best Tennis players in South Africa at the time! Later career unknown!

New car built and return home

Since there was a customs carnet stating that the car brought in also must be brought out of the country, Palle needed to build a new similar car!
Luckily, he was a handy man and definately in the right place to manage that.
A new frame was welded from 50x100 mm steel. A body mould was made from a customer car that needed repainting.
It didn't take long until the new T-bucket car was ready for the road, many items were of course useable from the old car.

The car and Palle went home to Sweden from the Durban port in the fall of 1966.

All images kind courtesy of Palle Eriksson.
The customer car that Palle used to fabricate a mould for the T-body.
Palle welded a completely new frame prepared for a rigid front axle and the Chrysler engine.
The new T-bucket body painted.
At the same time, the shop produced several similar complete T-buckets for local customer.
This one with a Buick nailhead engine.
The interior and top could be re-used.
First test-run on the streets!
Some decals for the shop, Palles own plate on the radiator top, and the registration plate.