Arne Sandström in Umeå, born in 1918 - dead in 1991, started his carreer as a carpenter at Gösta Nyström. After second world war Arne together with Karl Birger Lindström started the manufacturing of child furnitures in a modest basement facility in Umeå. The name KABO came from the initials Karl Birger and Olof Arne. The buisness was later moved to facilities at Teg near the butchers in an earlier hen house. The direction was the manufactoring of bodyworks for ambulances, busses, fire trucks, combined busses and milkvans and pickups. In the early 50:s there was a lady from U.S.A. who wanted to discuss the possibilties of a house van built on a Volvo PV 445 chassis. She was shown a newly built bakery van that had just been delivered to Kerstins Bakery in Umeå. In 1948 Arne Sandström overtook Lindströms share in the company and ran the buisness for him himself from there. In 1974 the buisness moved to new facilities at Lärlingsgatan in Öst-Teg. The son Bo overtook the buisness and ran it until his death in 1994. From there on there were new owners who changed the company name to Kabo Nya Karosseri ( The New Kabo Bodywork Factory).

During the 50:s the labor were set to five carpenters, three metal workers and two assemblers. They used the same technik as other manufacturers: First the carpenters made the wooden frame, then the metal workers put the metal sheets on top.

After second world war there was a big request for different types of vehicles in Sweden. There was a strong belief in the future. The Jeeps from Willys were popular and useful as commercial vehicles and they became even more useful with a cabin. Tractors also needed to be updated and different types of cabins were manufactured. There were a big request for removal vans and KABO manufactured them on chosen chassis.

In the beginning of the 50;s there was an odd Volvo PV running the streets of Umeå. It was built on a Volvo PV 445 chassis and had a fancy 2 dr coupé bodywork. Where ever it was seen it made an excitement. Historikern Åke Boström tells Veteran Aktuellt, the members paper of the clubs Norrlands Motorhistoriker and Sundsvalls Motorveteraner, following:

" In year 1951 KABO karosseri got the assignment by tractors salesman Gösta Juteborn Umeå Bilkompani to build a Volvo with a coupé design. I remember we got impressed when we saw the drawings made by Juteborn. My brother Alex Boström and his room mate Rune Johansson was assigned the task to build the car. There were lots of trips to KABO for Gösta who followed the progress with great interest."

Information about KABO is fetched from the members paper Veteran Aktuellt nr. 1 2004 published by Norrlands Motorhistoriker and Sundsvalls Motorveteraner. Some information is collected from the members paper PV-entusiasten nr. 4 -82 of the Swedish Volvo PV club. A big thanks to Björn-Åke Danielsson and to Olle Dahlrot.

Published 2004-10-27