Thanks Ray! And thanks Peter, for your hospitality as always.
Right after these photos were taken, I dropped off my wife and son at the Hilversum train station and headed off to our second home in France, some 400+ miles south via Antwerp, Brussels, Luxemburgh, Metz and Nancy. The Camino was carrying its first payload: around 100 gallons (400 liters) of special enamel paint that the missus uses for her paintings, picked up earlier that (Fri-) day elsewhere in Holland.
The trip went off without a hitch. Although it was clear that this car had not been driven for quite some time. Someone had pulled the number 1 spark plug lead and forgot to put it back on. Trouble with a powerful V8 is that you don't notice right away when one cylinder is out to lunch. But after about 30 miles I pulled over to check and found this first little problem. Other little problems:
- the turn signal indicators did not work
- neither did the brake lights, reverse lights, horn, and windshield wipers - and it was raining on and off
- the battery cables were very loose, so neither of the two (?) batteries was really charging
- the distributor was also very loose, easily turnable by hand
- the outside rearview mirrors were all so loose that adjusting them to have proper vision would only gave an effect for 1 mile at a time; the inside mirror fell off when we went over a speedbump loaded down with the 100 gallons of paint
- of course, the dashboard lights were also not working, but I was using my GPS system so at least I knew what speed I was going
In fact, the only things that did work were the engine, brakes, ventilator and most of the running lights.
Over the weekend, I was able to fix everything (mostly just corroded fuses in their fittings) except the reverse lights (pobably something with the switch) and the distributor. There must be a mile of unused wiring under the dash and hood. I also fixed a million small things in the interior and under the hood: missing small screws, bolts, misaligned or loose stuff. Vacuuming and general cleaning. The car is now still looking very ratty but it's at least clean.
Then, today, I drove the car from France to Geneva, another 200-some miles. Now that most everything functions, the car runs like a dream, really effortless due to the 454 CI, 7-something liter V8 with 245 HP and lots of torque. Strangely enough, it only consumes a shade more than the Pagoda! (7.2 km per liter as opposed to 7.5 for the Pagoda), with an old-fashioned carburetor. Go figure.
I got thumbs up and the douaniers (customs officers) were 'amused'. You very rarely see US-registered cars driving around here, and of course even fewer that look as tattered as this one.
Will try to post a few pictures next .... and more updates if adventures call for them ...
