A few weeks after we did choose our car we had finally managed to get it registered and to pick it up at the dealer. Another trip into the vicinity of Bremen ensued to do exactly that. We picked it up, got a newer battery and once we had fueled it and checked the oil we were off. Most of the functions were working apart from the radio and some minor things.
At least that’s what we thought.
One thing was obvious though, there was something wrong with rear suspension. Even minor undulations in the road got the car into a rocking and swinging motion which nearly had you hit the roof of the car with your head. It was hilarious. As Jörg is not afraid of many things he tried to push the car to its limits in terms of speed on the motorway and it became apparent that all 224 horses were apparently still working in the engine – 230km/h for a 21 year old car is definitely not to be sniffed at.
We got back to Hamburg safe and sound and Jörg dropped the car off at Stephan Seifert, his Garagist, the guy who does all his cars. He had struck a deal with Stephan that we would only have to pay for any materials required to get the car in order and Stephan would cover the labour cost. In return we would of course advertise his shop with stickers on the car. And in the blog, obviously – so if you have a vintage or modern car bring it to Stephan for any kind of repair work, TÜV, inspection or enhancements. Very nice and knowledgeable guys and the prices are good too.
And they did find a few things:
- Front brakes gone
- All tires needed to be replaced
- Rear wiper motor broken
- Oil pressure sensor not working
- 1 window motor out of order
- Rear suspension compensating bellows to cure the trampoline effect
- Too much rust invisibly hidden in the side skirts, which we couldn’t detect while checking the car but luckily not much more rust
- …
So not too bad considering the age of the car.
Stephan and his guys did a great job and after they had finished their work we wanted to take the Fat One out for spin and test everything. So one Saturday we took the car, put our girls on the back seats and made a trip to the North Sea and visited the Seal Centre and Nursery in Friedrichskoog.
In total we were very pleased with our wagon, its comfort, space and performance. Confidence definitely became much bigger that we can do the rally and come back without any major problems or issues with the car. Blissful ignorants we were…
Scuderia Nordica 