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DorianL Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2013 Posts: 717 Location: Belgium
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 12:29 am Post subject: "Racing" for a charity |
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My goal was to have the 1971 Ghia ready for this classic car rally across Belgium. To the benefit of five charities, we raced for points to allocate a share of the $$$ to one or the other. These were less well-known charities (which was the point of the race.) I picked Engineers Without Borders.
http://www.lespilotesducoeur.be/
https://www.facebook.com/lespilotesducoeur
The additional motivation was to test the durability, reliability and road-worthiness of the KG and to effectively convey to the Missus the genuine fun factor of her new toy; after all, I built it for her.
The Silver Bullet held out and actually performed extremely well... less than a year ago it was the below: a barely roadworthy rattling wreck - well, not entirely. the foundation seemed sound... and it was. October 19, 2013
So without further ado, it all started on Sept 20 at 0730... first one needs to gas up. I'm always (pleasantly?) surprised how little fuel it takes to fills the tank
Sun rising
0830, arrival at the Cinquantenaire - the monument commemorating Belgium's fiftieth anniversary was built in 1881... Belgium was created a neutral country as sort of a buffer between the regional powers (French/Germans/English/Dutch) after the Napoleonic wars.
Some of the other participants:
A Triumph TR4 ...I think
Volvo
My breakfast.
Another Volvo
END PART ONE
Last edited by DorianL on Mon Sep 22, 2014 5:35 am; edited 7 times in total |
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DorianL Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2013 Posts: 717 Location: Belgium
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 12:50 am Post subject: |
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PART TWO
The Cinquantenaire is also home to the Royal War Museum and "Autoworld" A first briefing was held there... I could not resist sneaking around. I'll need to come back and see more.
This is a Minerva. A Belgian luxury brand that no longer exists. IT was quite the car at the time. 4 liter engine. 40 HP
I love the horn. No relay needed.
Elwood, where's the Caddie???
Mmmm this has soul Bugatti's 1927 Type 35??? "ancestor" of the Veyron. Max speed of Type 35, 120 KPH, I think? For 1927!!! Rough same size/weight/power as the Karman Ghia I'm driving
Don't ask: no clue... but it's trippin' tho!
A true blue boat-tail
We'll call it: Chitty-chitty Bang-bang. Did you know that Chitty-chitty Bang-bang was written by Ian Fleming? Neither did I till five minutes ago...
END PART TWO
Last edited by DorianL on Mon Sep 22, 2014 3:12 am; edited 2 times in total |
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DorianL Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2013 Posts: 717 Location: Belgium
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 1:10 am Post subject: |
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PART THREE
Stickers on the door - it's about time to go...
A few Jag E-types, ready to go
A Citroën 2CV (two horsepower) Not participating... but I like it anyway.
Aston Martin
And off we go. I started out 34th. Chasing down a Jag E-type. I have you now, Green Baron. I found that most people participating were sedate drivers. Or are not used to driving their Classic cars hard. The Missus instructed me to be less "zippy" as well.
Another Jag.
And after about 100 miles of getting lost following a roadbook we got to a Castle in time for lunch. I climbed up from 34th to 21st. Not bad.
I love Belgium. The cuisine here is outstanding...
Clearly former stables. Nice stables!
Ah - my nemesis we meet again. Trying to sneak away, are we??? Perhaps a few bananas up the tail pipe!
END OF PART THREE
Last edited by DorianL on Mon Sep 22, 2014 1:58 am; edited 3 times in total |
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DorianL Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2013 Posts: 717 Location: Belgium
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 1:27 am Post subject: |
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PART FOUR
Off we go... behind and Austin Healey. I spoke to some of the other drivers and found out that a good 25% of the 50 cars are rentals. The competitors' seem to have cars that are in somewhat shoddy handling condition. Slop in steering. Engine out of tune. Not to mention drum brakes that have a tough time keeping up.
The KG on the other hand has undergone a full rebuild and has several. performance enhancements. (Shocks, sway bars, urethane, etc.) I think for this reason as well it was seriously hunting down and out performing many of the other vehicles without breaking a sweat.
The fellow in front of us had quite a few of these issues including brakes squeaking to wake up the dead. Gorgeous car tho'!
What's behind, remains behind.
"Racing" again - tough to take pics... Gorgeous weather tho!
Finally, we get to Spa Francorchamps, the finalk destination.
Visiting other cars
A Peugeot of some kind. Looks more comfortable than the KG for 200 miles.
Then the sky fell out on us... This was not such a great thing (fortunate that it happened after the rally -weather was great then!) as a lot of the rental folks were NOT instructed on how to deploy the rage top.
At Spa Francorchamps, the Six Hours were taking place - classic cars only. I saw mustangs (60s), GT40s (replicas I suppose?), Porsches, E-types, etc. No db limit. We had paddock passes. The Missus had no idea how loud these things can get.
The above is a video - should see an E-type zipping by
END OF PART FOUR
Last edited by DorianL on Mon Sep 22, 2014 2:23 am; edited 2 times in total |
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DorianL Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2013 Posts: 717 Location: Belgium
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 2:09 am Post subject: |
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PART FIVE
Fortunately, the weather recovered for another hour or so for the race to continue...
Not very visible but a 65-67 Mustang wiped out mildly
Reception and dinner. Unfortunately, due to the sudden storm. No one tracked the final order. On other hand, Engineers Without Borders came out as the top charity.
Then the weather REALLY crapped out on us...
Time to bail - of course something had to go somewhat wrong. The rain was so bad that visibility dropped to 100 yards and, adding insult to injury, we were nearly out of gas and the data network was iffy because of the storm. So finding a station was tough! We had to pull over quite a few times and shutdown. It was just too dangerous. The GPS kept on telling us that the closest station was 15 miles away. That a long way in a storm and I wasn't even sure we had enough in the tank.
I was also quite worried that the rain might take out the electronics. (I found the next morning that water did seep in - the carpet was wet. It seemed to come from the front firewall. I'll need to get a look at that and also bullet-proof the wiring.) My wiring needs more attention.
Finally found a station...
Finally at the hotel, there is only one way to close the day
THE END
Last edited by DorianL on Mon Sep 22, 2014 8:09 am; edited 1 time in total |
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DorianL Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2013 Posts: 717 Location: Belgium
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 2:19 am Post subject: |
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EPILOGUE
Home safe the next day. The Silver Bullet (Quick Silver?) performed VERY well. Handled well. Fast. Reliable start ignition. Good noise control. Very pleased...
There was a problem with some water seeping into the footwells. Not a huge amount considering the storm. But I don't want any... I'll have to try and track this down.
This also needs to be cleaned up...
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John Moxon Samba Moderator
Joined: March 07, 2004 Posts: 13943 Location: Southampton U.K.
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DorianL Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2013 Posts: 717 Location: Belgium
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 4:38 am Post subject: |
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John Moxon wrote: |
Looks like fun. If you want a VW only convoy you are ideally situated for the BBT convoy to Bad Camberg next June. Usually 200+ aircooled VWs run to the town of Bad Camberg in convoy for the Vintage Show. |
Cool! Will you be going?
_________________
Dorian
Posted from my Apple Watch (Omega) |
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CiderGuy Samba Member
Joined: December 23, 2013 Posts: 1351 Location: Bucks County, Pa
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 4:56 am Post subject: |
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Wonderful thread, it brightened my morning.
Thanks ! |
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carl4x4 Samba Member
Joined: March 20, 2012 Posts: 679 Location: United Kingdom
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 5:03 am Post subject: |
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Great to read the car is being used rather than sitting in a garage
If you had a leak in the footwell I had something similar recently and it was the bottom corner of the windscreen rubber not sealing properly, dripping through and off the hood release cable. _________________ 1969 UK Karmann Ghia build http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=518789&highlight= |
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DorianL Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2013 Posts: 717 Location: Belgium
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 7:58 am Post subject: |
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carl4x4 wrote: |
Great to read the car is being used rather than sitting in a garage
If you had a leak in the footwell I had something similar recently and it was the bottom corner of the windscreen rubber not sealing properly, dripping through and off the hood release cable. |
Yes - it is intended to be a daily driver. Deadnuts reliable.
How did you solve your windscreen leak? |
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John Moxon Samba Moderator
Joined: March 07, 2004 Posts: 13943 Location: Southampton U.K.
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mountainkowboy Samba Member
Joined: April 06, 2008 Posts: 951 Location: Socal
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 8:55 am Post subject: |
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Awesome event, I would love to find something like this in my neck of the woods. _________________ Chuck in Socal
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71 Super Convertible...DD
78 Honda CB750K
06 Honda CR-V (wifes)
63 IH Scout 80 "Beater" |
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carl4x4 Samba Member
Joined: March 20, 2012 Posts: 679 Location: United Kingdom
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 9:06 am Post subject: |
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I should really solve it by taking the screen out and refitting paying particular attention to that corner. But considering it looks like it fits perfectly at the moment I squirted a small bit of clear silicon under the window rubber which seems to have done the trick _________________ 1969 UK Karmann Ghia build http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=518789&highlight= |
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mountainkowboy Samba Member
Joined: April 06, 2008 Posts: 951 Location: Socal
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 11:27 am Post subject: |
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My 71 leaks also, I will replace the front and rear window rubbers and hope that that stops it. _________________ Chuck in Socal
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71 Super Convertible...DD
78 Honda CB750K
06 Honda CR-V (wifes)
63 IH Scout 80 "Beater" |
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KGCoupe Samba Member
Joined: July 01, 2005 Posts: 3580 Location: Putting the "ill" and "annoy" in Illinois
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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mountainkowboy wrote: |
My 71 leaks also, I will replace the front and rear window rubbers and hope that that stops it. |
If you truly were someone who enjoys living life on the edge (as you claim), then you'd let the water continue to come in and if the pans rust they rust.
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richardsxfile Samba Member
Joined: June 22, 2005 Posts: 46 Location: Yorba Linda, CA
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 8:32 pm Post subject: |
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Love your post! It sounds like the day was an awesome adventure start to finish. |
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mountainkowboy Samba Member
Joined: April 06, 2008 Posts: 951 Location: Socal
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 8:43 pm Post subject: |
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KGCoupe wrote: |
mountainkowboy wrote: |
My 71 leaks also, I will replace the front and rear window rubbers and hope that that stops it. |
If you truly were someone who enjoys living life on the edge (as you claim), then you'd let the water continue to come in and if the pans rust they rust.
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and an azz is an azz _________________ Chuck in Socal
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71 Super Convertible...DD
78 Honda CB750K
06 Honda CR-V (wifes)
63 IH Scout 80 "Beater" |
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KGCoupe Samba Member
Joined: July 01, 2005 Posts: 3580 Location: Putting the "ill" and "annoy" in Illinois
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Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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DorianL, thanks for taking all that time to upload all of those great pictures and type out all of that story - It was really a fun read.
I have to say that you have REALLY knocked it out of the park with your Ghia project!
Not only did you manage to completely redo the entire car - body, pan, running gear and interior - in a mere 12 months, but then your maiden voyage is nothing less than a charity rally across your entire (albeit small) country.
Well done, sir ... very well done. |
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DorianL Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2013 Posts: 717 Location: Belgium
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Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 6:53 am Post subject: |
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REPLY TO ALL:
Thanks, Gents. Thanks! |
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