Hampus Granstrom is quite the shade tree mechanic. He’s apparently based in northern Sweden, so the shade trees are really tall, and throw as much snow as shade. Additional information about him is not easy to find, and what I could discover was in gorny gorny umlauty lingo, so I’ll give it a pass. Let’s just agree that the fellow is a wonder, and leave it at that. I especially liked the long-winded, extensive explanation of his background and worldview he offered on his YouTube page:
Description: I like cars.
I guess so. Me, I liked watching a video of him restoring a ’66 Volvo, start to finish, and found it to be some brand of awesome. I’m fairly familiar with ’66 cars, having owned a couple of them back in the day. Unlike Hampus, mine were at least running when I got a hold of them. I had to make all sorts of repairs to them to keep them running, but nothing major like his videos. I was an auto dermatologist, maybe a bit of a chiropractor. Hampus is both a thoracic and a plastic surgeon. I dunno, maybe a psychiatrist, too. Here’s that video:
Having fixed the same vintage car helped me to understand what a fantastic worker Hampus is. I’ve done the bondo repairs and paint and drum brakes and seat covers and suspension and I don’t know what-all besides. Watching him do it, I felt like a guy who painted the walls in a room while Valasquez worked on a canvas in the middle of it. We both owned brushes. That’s about where the similarity ends.
The first video, the one with the abandoned Saab, really killed me though. Whenever the first tool you select to start an automotive restoration is a chainsaw, you’ve entered another dimension. The molecules of that Saab were barely holding each other’s hands, and he ended up driving it through the primeval forest with the unpaved road scrolling past under his clutch foot like some Scandi Fred Flintstone.
On top of everything else, Hampus simply points the camera at the thing that is happening, says nothing, and doesn’t seem to own a radio. If you notice anything wrong with his videos, his general approach, or his particular skills, feel free to point it out. Forgive me if I won’t stand on one leg and hold my breath while waiting for you to do it, however.
2 Responses
> Hampus simply points the camera at the thing that is happening, says nothing
And that’s a welcome change from all the computer-generated voice-over, and AI crap that’s becoming more and more common on YouTube. Finding quality stuff is getting more difficult. A channel I enjoy, employing a similar mode, is “AT Restoration”. Guy is a woodworker in Estonia, doing furniture restorations, and he’s very good.
I find it interesting that he didn’t do more with the engine, and apparently, nothing with the drive train other than freeing up the clutch pedal. Maybe he edited out a lot of stuff. But then, you can find a lot of videos of folks starting up old tractors and such, apparently doing little other than getting things loosened up again. At the least, I’d be wondering about dry bearings.
The combo generator and water pump is a nifty feature.
Hi Jed- Thanks for reading and commenting.
Hampus has different kinds of videos. The Saab is centered on getting it going, and not much else. If you watch the second one, the one with the Volvo, he really goes to town on the thing. Complete overhaul of everything. Really good body work, too.