Thank you very much, kind Sir
Yesterday the Taxi's odometer gained 1515 kilometers (941 miles) in a single day. I crawled out of bed at 5:00 in the morning and headed north at about 5:30, to collect Phil & E who were allready waiting with a thermos flask full of coffee and "petit pains".
It was still early when we took the first break, somewhere behind Frankfurt (I think).
I was freezing cold, I could see my breath condensing. WTF. I mean - it's just end of May... Anyways, we still continued north; destination: Hamburg. Though first we avoided Hamburg and headed somewhere north of Hamburg where I collected a part I was hunting for for a couple of weeks. And which is sought after by many. I had only called the seller the day before, so I was twice as happy as I could be collection on working day was possible with a notice this short.
^gosh, I love northern germany! Cobblestones, brick buildings, huge old trees and lots of space everywhere.
Anyway. What I collected was something I sold about half a year ago, when I was still determined to fix the OM603 and the OM606 was no option. For the
Turbo-Diesel-Coupé project. A OM603 Turbo sump with increased oil capacity. I had one left from the spare engine, but sold it for 150 last winter. This cost 120 - so I made a profit and have a sump. All good.
We then headed back south and entered the outskirts of Hamburg. Hungry! So we stopped at some american diner-thingy and had - er - hamburgers
Only picture from empty plate available, I was so hungry (it was about 14°° by then).
And now came the most interesting part of our journey, og which I do not have any pictures, since I was asked to not take any. But there must have been about a million € worth in Porsche and VW, tucked away in a smal backyard ally. And the garage next to it - I guess at least 2-3 million € worth of old tin (Mercedes gullwing, 111 Coupés etc.). And that wasn't even the big company's garage who's settled on the same property. You know, when the Pagode and 911s are parked outside, there's something even more valuable inside. Or in short: it was a totaly crazy place...
And me? I loaded a Porsche 964 interior in a apparently very rare colour for a 964 Targa project we have at work.
Which means, the car was stuffed to the brim with Porsche parts and us three.
With the buiseness end of the trip taken care of, it was time to pay a short visit to Hamburg. Spotted another W124 Taxi on the way...
We took the only payed parking, but it was right next to the docks and Fischmarkt. Funny: the guard would have let us to the parking lot for free, since "you'r [meaning: Taxis] allowed to do". But I was too honest and told him we were just parking, no dropping someone off
I felt better with a guarded parking lot, having about 1000€ worth of gear in the boot...
Bit of pondering, a Fischbrötchen for Phil & E (I was still full from the hamburger) and we slowly headed back to leave Hamburg.
Short break to take a curse word & a picture, and again more eating...
Had a very nice (not) lunch at Burger King about half way back...
And then driving, driving, driving right into the night... For the way back we altenated drivers, I was knackered, having driven about 900km.
I was back home at about 0:30. The car did 1515 km that day and took two tanks of diesel. About 34.5MPG. OK for a loaded car & a route with big elevation chnages.
Cheers,
Jan
But you know what? I like it! Just because it IS so shabby. It's part of the car and it's been there from new. But lately some of the fixed stitches from the fixed re-trim fell apart... They look suspiciously like an old shoe lace 
If I thik abou it; a couple of years ago this would have been a big deal - but now... Stadard procedure. 
