We have been improving our car again over the weekend, so it is time for a new update! We bought a secondhand roofbox so we can store some stuff on top of the car without it getting wet. We have also installed four floodlights on top of the car, looks awesome, and they might help us find our way a bit easier!
The roofrack is also improved with a board at the front, that should lessen the noise of the wind quit a bit. On top of that we have a CB-radio inside the car allows us to chat with our fellow challengers.
Roof rack and stickers!
We installed our roof rack, it fits perfectly.. It does need a bit of improvement, since driving over 100 kilometers per hour is close to impossible now because of the noise. A board at the front op the roof rack should lessen the sound.
As you can see, we also applied stickers with our website on the roof rack. The Explorer causes a lot of heads to turn as you drive through town, so we'll get famous pretty soon around here!
Streetlegal!
And now we are officially declared to be roadworthy. First test runs show that it drives well, but the American suspension will take some getting used to. Anyway next comes the equipment. We managed to buy a big roof rack quite cheaply from the famous Dutch auction site Marktplaats.
We have a car!
Well, we managed to find a suitable ride. At least we hope it will bring us all the way, but things look OK now.
At an auction held by the Dutch government of cars that have been seized from criminals, have been used by government officials and what have you, we scored a 1997 Ford Explorer 4.0. Its cost is well within the 500 euro limit. It took a couple of days of scrubbing and hard and dirty work, but now it even looks like it will get us to Africa.
Work is progressing, brake lines, pads and some other parts have now been replaced. The toughest job remains: replacing the rear shackle bushings.
The MOT is the next hurdle, but a preliminary survey showed only a few relatively minor issues. We should be on the road in a few weeks time.
The search..
We are looking for a car that we think can take us all the way to Dakar. Finding a low budget car that might be up to the task turns out to be quite hard! Since all three of us are pretty long we need a car with enough legspace, in the back as well as up front. On top of that our ideal car doesn't fall apart on the first speedbump, or pothole, more likely in Africa..
