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Uffe Bærentsen[_2_]

Den 15-02-2013 05:32, skrev:

The main thing in this story is the great barriers that we saw car-wise.
In USA it was difficult to get parts and service for Japanese and
European vehicles. In Europe it was difficult to get parts and service
for vehicles from USA (at least in some countries in Europe). I do not
know what the story was in Japan but I would not be surprised if they
had difficulties wit US and European vehicles.
Protectionism (most likely missspelled....)
You ought to try to get parts for ANYTHING in places like Zambia and
Burkina Faso. Had a gas landrover holed the block in Livingstone
Zambia back in '73. Bored the block, got an old fergusson Diesel
tractor sleave and machined it for a shrink-press fit in to the block,
heated the block with a big rosebud and froze the cyl with dry ice
(which was ONLY available in Livingstone, in all of southern province)
and dropped the sleave in. 3 days later we bored the sleave and put
the engine back together and into service. That was just one of MANY
"Zamfixes" that were required to keep vehicles on the road.
Getting a fanbelt for a 1962 Corvair took over a month, ordering it
from Canada - if you had money outside the country to pay for it with.
Six months if you needed to go through currency control - and you paid
about 150% duty to bring it in - and that was assuming you EVER got
it.

In 2000 in Ougadougo, Burkina Faso, I needed a valve retainer for a
Toyota Hilux diesel - none available and even the scrap-yards were
slim pickings. Needed alternator parts for a Mitsubishi Pajero - had
to make Toyota parts fit - and a power steering pump for a Nissan
Patrol proved impossible to get in the time I was there.

Today a friend of mine gets parts for his JDM Totota Hillux Surf
Diesel here in Canada in less than 2 weeks - a vehicle that was NEVER
imported to North America -straight from Japan.

When I had my Vauxhaul HC 2300 (Pontiac Firenza in Canada) on a trip
to the east coast the voltage regulator went bad - I was able to fit
one from an old Pontiac in by bending some connectors - impressed the
heck out of the GM dealer in Dartmouth. And on the way from Sydney to
Halifax it dropped the timing belt in about 5 pieces all over the
road. Thankfully it happened in Nova Scotia, because the next day I
was in Maine - and the Vauxhaul was not imported to the USA. They got
the Opel instead. The GM dealer in Norh Sydney had a belt hanging on a
nail in the parts department that he had no idea what it fit - one of
the pieces I picked up off the road had a readable part number - and
less than an hour later a friend was able to deliver the only Firenza
timing belt east of Toronto to me on the side of the road, where I
already had everything apart and timed up, ready for the belt - and I
was back on the road in about 10 minutes later.

Today with the internet it is a LOT easier to find parts for odball
stuff. A friend just ordered a bunch of parts for a 1961 Isetta 300
out of the USA off the internet. You could do that today from Banfora
Burkina Faso, or Muinilunga, Zambia, or Bujumbura Burundi - and with
international courier service, have the parts in less than a week -
just like we can from Waterloo, Ontario.

Sounds like you have seen most of what a car can throw at you.

--
Uffe