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Jul 24, 2009 14:34:50 GMT
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Update time I guess now then 'ey?
Well the visa problem unsuprisingly hasn't gone away. We left Prague and headed straight for Kiev in the hope of sorting it at the Russian Embassy, but no such luck, so now we are in an apartment for a few days in Kiev until Monday, when we shall head for the border. Also unsupringly we've already had trouble with the local plod and we had our first lesson in how much the "appreciate" US dollars. In the change shops over here, the dollar is worth x7 more than the £ too.
We also had some problems at the Ukraine border, which didn't help so Olly and I were really not fans of the Ukraine until.... ....last night we recieved a text from a local who spotted the car and google'd it. He saw Olly's post on the blog suggesting we were in a bit of a pickle and he got in touch. He touch us out to a restaurant last night, drove us all around Kiev, took us to the Russian Consulate today and found us a cheap apartment ($50 a night) and has been soooo helpful it's unreal. All because he liked the car and had never seen one before. His name is "Bogdan" which apparently means "from God"... seems pretty apt to us, he's our saviour.
**touchwood** the car appears to be doing alright, a squeaky rear wheel, blowing exhaust and curse word brakes are all that there is to report so far!
UNforunately, we're going to loose a lot of time by not getting into Russia before the 30th, it will also put us behing most of the other teams, which means worringly we will be on our own....!
Massive photo sesh on the way
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bazzateer
Posted a lot
Imping along sans Vogue
Posts: 3,653
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Jul 24, 2009 15:33:27 GMT
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Spend the weekend wisely Frank, get everything sorted on the car, don't fix things that aren't broken though!
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1968 Singer Chamois Sport 1972 Sunbeam Imp Sport 1976 Datsun 260Z 2+2 1998 Peugeot Boxer Pilote motorhome 2003 Rover 75 1.8 Club SE (daily) 2006 MG ZT 190+ (another daily) 2007 BMW 530d Touring M Sport (tow car)
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Jul 24, 2009 15:53:29 GMT
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I'm loving this! Congratulations on having the necessary courage for such a daring mission, and good luck from down under.
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Jul 24, 2009 16:01:53 GMT
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Right, so it's photos you want is it? Well here's a bit of a diary for you: Most of the time, if there's a team member present it's Olly, 'cos I'm behind the lens! The Eiffel Tower: Two bikers, also from Essex (well, they're Polish actually but they live in Essex), who were really nice and gave us the number of someone in Krakow had we needed any help: Good old Maccy D's and it's free internet: The two coolest dudes in the world? Lots of this: Massive thanks to Seth for the video camera mount welding! Autobahn spots: Tony the Tiger (complete with fur tail and ears): Campsite in Czech Republic (we got there a bit early compared to everyone else so didn't get to make a big entrance!): Klenova, the location for the party in the castle: Yup, a party in a castle! The car at the campsite: And a very loud, very drunk, very funny game of post party night cricket: One of the other retros on the rally: Send in the clowns: Spots in Prague: Touristy in Prague: This is a stall in Prague, you pay a small amount and decorate a brick which then gets placed on the "statue." Money goes to charity and short of a bit of abuse, is a really nice idea IMO: Teams catching us up en route: Checking up on our Mascot: Our first wash in a few days at a service station on the Ukraine/Polish border: The car outside a youth hostel in Kiev. Our first bed and proper shower (yesterday) since the day we left (saturday): On the left is Bogdan, right Olly, and the chap in the middle lives in one of the buildings and has ridden a BMW motorbike all around the world pretty much.
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tigran
Club Retro Rides Member
In rust we trust. Amen.
Posts: 6,444
Club RR Member Number: 142
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Jul 24, 2009 18:49:33 GMT
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most excellent thread ma man! Look forward to updates. If you need a place to crash in moscow drop me a pm. The same goes for if you're driving through armenia.
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1964 Rover P5 i6 1987 BMW 525e - The Rusty Streak 1992 Micra K10 2001 BMW E46 316i 2002 BMW E46 330Ci 2013 BMW F31 320d 2018 BMW G31 530d
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bazzateer
Posted a lot
Imping along sans Vogue
Posts: 3,653
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Jul 24, 2009 19:43:46 GMT
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That Polish biker- girl's a very nice looker!
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1968 Singer Chamois Sport 1972 Sunbeam Imp Sport 1976 Datsun 260Z 2+2 1998 Peugeot Boxer Pilote motorhome 2003 Rover 75 1.8 Club SE (daily) 2006 MG ZT 190+ (another daily) 2007 BMW 530d Touring M Sport (tow car)
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Jul 25, 2009 15:53:45 GMT
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Cheers Tig- Certainly won't be going through Armenia, but who knows about Moscow, will bear it in mind thanks! (The journey back perhaps?)
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Jul 25, 2009 16:10:52 GMT
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Looks like immense fun!
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The journey of 1000 miles starts with a single coffee.
I don't like coffee!
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MR TIKI
Posted a lot
TIKI,style from a different angle!
Posts: 1,154
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Jul 25, 2009 22:16:54 GMT
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GO FRANK! you guys look like you're having a blast. ;D
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Boldly driving faster than a tin worm can wiggle.
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Seth
South East
MorrisOxford TriumphMirald HillmanMinx BorgwardIsabellaCombi
Posts: 15,516
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Jul 25, 2009 22:42:30 GMT
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Good going Frank! Hope the video footage comes out OK
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Follow your dreams or you might as well be a vegetable.
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ozzy
Part of things
Posts: 745
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Jul 25, 2009 23:43:41 GMT
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good on you guys for doing it. hope all goes well for you.
I can not wait for the next update
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1985 GMC camper family wagon 1989 nissan sunny 1994 fiat cinq my boys car
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Jul 30, 2009 10:54:14 GMT
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Well, quick update for you guys.
We're STILL in Ukraine, but at least no longer in Kiev. The car is in a garage, hopefully having a UJ replaced. Typical now that my visa has started and we still can't get out of Ukraine!
We're in Lugansk now, very close to the border with Russia. Bogdan has now passed us onto his friends in Lugansk who are just as nice as he and Yuliya. Dima and Victor, they are big blokes, not exactly sure what they do for a living but we have our ideas....!!
They took us around the town trying to find a garage who would have a go at replacing (and sourcing) a UJ for us, which is where the car is now. They then took us to a crazy outdoor restaurant/BBQ type place which was a bit crazy, but very awesome as well. We then went go karting, but the first thing I noticed was that the go kart track was probably better quality than most Ukrainian roads!
Hopefully we'll leave Lugansk today and head for Russia, we're massively behing schedule now, 4 or 5 days and the biggest problem is that now all the other teams are well ahead of us, meaning we may well have to spend some time on our own...
Best of all though....
On our way out of Kiev, about 150kms away, as I dozed off in the passenger seat i saw a flash of what looked like lime green capri go past... Sure enough, 5 or 10 minutes later, along side us appeared a well known capri with one particular American hanging out the window giving me the bird!
By some crazy coincidence we'd crossed paths with Norm, Andy and Larry, who unfortunately had decided to head for home. Crazy stuff 'ey?
More soon, maybe some pics!
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Jul 30, 2009 11:38:35 GMT
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ooooh shame your so behind dude but glad its still on for ya why is the capper heading home? have i missed something?
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Jul 30, 2009 11:46:45 GMT
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ahh just read the 50north website, and they supposedly don't have the time to get to mongolia in allocated time considering road conditions, and cant extend the trip, so are heading home? mid august gonna be back? shame. guess everyone else knew and i missed this?
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Jul 30, 2009 13:40:12 GMT
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No, lol.. thats fresh info just posted up - they didn't even tell me until monday and I've been keeping schtum til it was announced properly. Once I know more I'll update the Mongolia capri MIA thread.
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To get a standard A40 this low, you'd have to dig a hole to put it in
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Jul 30, 2009 16:27:30 GMT
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No, lol.. thats fresh info just posted up - they didn't even tell me until monday and I've been keeping schtum til it was announced properly. Once I know more I'll update the Mongolia capri MIA thread. think they announced it on the site? anyone reading it coulda seen sorry
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I told Scary a few days before posting on 50north - car is fine .. time is not ... No point breaking the car or ourselves chasing our own ass ... I got sick... we lost a week prep, a week on the road after D-Day and a week with the second driver while I recovered as passenger ... TBH I am still not 100% but we did make it across the Don and to the banks of the Volga ... and we are not done yet - which is the same as the mileage or better than a London - UB one way trip undertaken by almost everyone else ... It was great fun chasing down Frank in that Imp though ... I bet he has never been so pleased to see a Capri loom large in his mirror!!!
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bazzateer
Posted a lot
Imping along sans Vogue
Posts: 3,653
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Question is - Where is Frank now?
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1968 Singer Chamois Sport 1972 Sunbeam Imp Sport 1976 Datsun 260Z 2+2 1998 Peugeot Boxer Pilote motorhome 2003 Rover 75 1.8 Club SE (daily) 2006 MG ZT 190+ (another daily) 2007 BMW 530d Touring M Sport (tow car)
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Aug 11, 2009 11:52:58 GMT
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Update from the imp CLub for you all: Hello everybody!!!!!!!! Apologies for the lack of updates of late, internet access has been er.... somewhat limited! We are finally on the move again now, having done about 1000 kilometres in the last two days, since the car was welded back together. As mentioned previously, when we got into Kazakhstan, almost immeadiately the two cars (ours and the pickup we are convoying with) started playing up. The aux/extra water pump on the imp (a heater pump from a jaguar) stopped working and the standard pump was not sufficient to get enough water round the huge front rad and keep the engine cool. Engine got hot, HG went pop. Limped it to the nearest city where we met an ex-pat in the oil industry with a huge workshop space, where I did the HG. Taking the waterpump apart there seemed to be nothing getting to one of the brushes, so a cheeky bodgy with a bit of wire and it appears to be working again! (Good job I bought a soldering iron ey....!?) At this point we were having problems with the rear suspension sinking, which I originally put down the new springs bedding in or something similar. We headed on our way, up what must be the WORST road in the world. Seriously, it was awful. It would have been better if it was just a dirt track or sand, but because there was some attempt at making it a hard surface, it was just a car breaker. By this point we picked up another team in a polski fiat 126, who started having problems and had to be towed by the pick up. The road was so bad that the car basically start to fold up from the rear arches. There's a visible kink in the drivers side and the rear valence was all over the place, about six inches further forward than it should be and tilted to one side. Again, we limped the car to Atyrau back to the ex-pat, who set one of his men on the job whilst we played on the river being towed behind his speedboat on all sorts of inflatables!! When I had a look at the car in the 'shop it was MEEEESSSSSSSSSSSYYYYY. Huge cracks all up the inner arch, around the inner arch and across the floor. Explains why the doors don't shut, side window is falling out and the rear valence is out of place I suppose?! Anyway, lots and lots of welding later and we're back on the road. Rubber spacers from a Merc and some wooden discs have raised the suspension nicely. One of the rear shocks is unfortunately nakered, so it is a bit bouncier! No pics I'm afraid as I don't have the facilities available! Toodlepip!
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Aug 11, 2009 13:45:53 GMT
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Good work there! Keep going the end must be nigh??
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