I dare say that Björn “Björne” Carlström’s 1971 Dodge D100 is one of Sweden’s most detailed custom builds, in any category. You could easily dedicate an entire book to this pickup truck. To summarize this thematic artwork, which partly draws inspiration from Francis Ford Coppola’s epic film Apocalypse Now, in just a few words feels unfair. But someone has to be bold enough to try…
The first time I stumbled across Carlström and his pickup, complete with the world’s first combat board over the roof and truck bed, was around twelve years ago. It was at the end of 2012 when I wandered into his workshop and got acquainted with this clever artist and innovator. This meeting led to several smaller reports about Carlström’s art and inventions created under the artist name Airballs, featured in Gasoline Magazine during 2013.
The reason I call Carlström an artist and innovator is because the Dodge is a study in detailed neo-brutalism, not least through the use of raw concrete. Looking at and absorbing the truck is like listening to progressive heavy metal while eating pancakes with ice cream. The best of multiple worlds come together in harmony. It makes you want to create — create a lot!
“Many people have asked me where I get my ideas from. It’s not easy to explain. They’re just there, and I pick them up. Maybe it has something to do with my broad interest in a lot of things. Design, interior decorating, military history… I guess most of it comes through a slow process. Yeah, that’s the right word. Some ideas just sneak up on you. I usually sketch and think for hours,” says Carlström.
One factor that has influenced the creation is, of course, money. In more ways than one.
“If you don’t care about resale value, you are immediately free to create whatever you want. If you take resale into account, you can’t go all in and all out. Then it’s just your kids who will suffer when they have to sell the damn thing. My relationship with money and creativity? I have no financial muscle to flex. It would certainly go faster if I could outsource some of the work. But at the same time, you’d miss out on the joy of creating. The endorphin boost you get when playing air guitar late at night after you’ve succeeded at something,” Carlström explains.
He doesn’t have much interest in what’s trendy at the moment. Not at all.
“So carbon fiber is in? Well then, my stuff will definitely be made in concrete instead. I tend to get a bit
rebellious. As for cars, it’s not a lifestyle for me. It’s a hobby. I don’t have the clothes or the tattoos,”
Carlström adds.
He bought the pickup in 1985, and at first, he had plans for a “sport truck”. Low and fast. Silver metallic in
three layers, some BMW color. The working name at the time was Dodge EXNATO, since the truck had previously been stationed at a U.S. Nato base in Germany.
“That idea passed, luckily. I went for a Gunnebo fence instead,” Carlström says and then smiles.
In his box of ideas, concrete, casting epoxy and reinforcing bars soon made their way in. A little barbed wire, too. All tastefully combined in a way that isn’t easy to imagine when these materials and construction components are mentioned. Luckily, the photographs here can tell the story.
Rest your eyes on all the details until part 2 of this story is out on DodgeGarage in about a month. Stay tuned!
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