Report  10 September
Report by Greetje and Steef.

Today we are trying to finish the work on the Model T. Dirk, Guillermo and Steef are getting busy with it.

specialists 

At noon a friend of Guillermo: Gerardo, comes roast big pieces and spar ribs on the sidewalk. The quality is outstanding but it is a lot of meat.

parrilla 

lunch 1 

lunch 2 

There is also a cameraman and someone with a blog on internet.

TV 1 

TV 2 

In the meantime the work continuous and finally the engine is back in the chassis.

almost 

it fits 

However we will not be able to finish the job so we have to spend one more night in the hotel. At 18.00 we are going to the hotel to practice our song for tonight is the club meeting of the auto club of Córdoba and also the evening to wish the “ Dutchmen” a good trip. First Peer shows us their own Model T meeting room, and then we go to the big meeting room. When all the members are present the president, who still races a Ford Falcon, asks for silence and tells everybody we will leave soon. Everybody gives us an applause and we receive all kinds of  presents.

presents 

Gerardo. 

friends 

Now it is our turn to sing our song. Trudy and Greetje  share the Spanish version of the lyrics. Just now Guillermo understands the Model T of Dirk is named after him;  WATSON. He becomes emotional as we sing our song but joins us later while we finish it. The melody is so well-known ( quantanamera ) everybody starts singing along: Watson mi coche, yo guierro Watson mi coche. Many pictures are made and we have to autograph the Spanish version. When we leave they all wish us a good trip and: suerte  , good luck. Together with these great, cordial and helpful people we can look back to a very special period of our stay in Córdoba.

Report 7, 8 & 9 September
Edit by Greetje and Trudy

7 September
Today we cannot work at the Model T. Peer, a club member, took us to the Sierra Chica’s, 50 miles from Cordoba. A beautiful trip and we saw the eagles!

eagle 1 

eagle 2 

8 September
A film crew came to the garage to make a TV show

TV 

9 September
Still working at the engine by Rectidil.

working 

Big surprice. They sponsored the revision of the engine. Thanks very much.

sponsor 

Dirk and Guillermo took the engine to the garage and build him up.

build up 

Report 4, 5 & 6 September
Edit by Greetje en Trudy

4 September
Greetje and Steef made a walk in the neighborhood of our hotel.

graffiti 

trees 

car 

We had lunch together in the garage.

lunch 

In the afternoon we went to the old city of Cordoba and visited a museum.

museum 

Dirk stays in the garage.

5 september
We went to Rectidil to look at the motor.

Rectidil 

After that Dirk and Guillermo went to work on the Model T.

amigo’s 

Late in the evening we went to a beautiful tango show.

tango 

6 september
We went to special car shops were they sell old car parts.

shop 1 

shop 2 

In the afternoon Guillermo invited us to go in his Model A to a motor and car show.

car show 1 

car show 2 

After that we enjoyed of a city tour in the Model A.

Model A 

city

Report 3 September
Edit by Trudy

Yesterday the plate of the oil pump has been weld.  Now he has to be freezes so we went to another workshop. Guillermo knows all the addresses.

parts 

In the garage I saw that many of the parts are cleaned and are waiting for the assembling.

cleaning 

The Model T is waiting.

waiting 

In the evening we were invited at the  Associacion Cordobesa de Auto’s Antiguos. There are more than 30 members and the president Anna Maria Socci de Gradissi welcomes us.

president Ana Maria 

We show our movies of the first 2 parts of our Model T Worldtour,  Africa and North America.
The members, young and old, like to see that.

3 generations 

They give us a delicious diner and some presents. At the end of the evening we sing our travel song and the men of the association sing a song of Cordoba.

presents 

Thanks for the nice meeting.

Report 2 September
Edit by Trudy

First we go to Rectidil with the camshaft and discus about what to do.

story 

After they heard to story of our travel and problems they make appointments.

agreed 

Back in the garage we had visitors. Peer en Hannelore. Peer is member of  the Associacion Cordobesa de Auto’s Antiguos and Hannelore is from Sao Paulo and invited us spontaneous to come to her if we arrive in Brasil.

visitors 

Elisa, Guillermo’s wife, welcomes us and brings us to a campsite to look there.

Guillermo and Elisa

Report 1 September
Edit by Trudy

Guillermo came to the hotel and together we went to Rectidil, centro de mecanizados,
here we wanted to let repair the engine.

to repair 

Rectidil 

Daniel en Luis looked to the engine and they discussed with Guillermo and Dirk what to do.

damage 

discussion 

We leave the engine by Rectidil and went to the Garage Watson. There is the Model T. Much parts are placed around the Model T. Also the work-bench is full of parts. Dirk starts to collect the parts and cleans them. I went back to the hotel where Steef and Greetje make the reports for the website.
We stay in a good hotel and the Model T is on a wonderful place in the garage of Guillermo Watson.

garage Watson

Report 31 August
Edit by Trudy

Breakfast in Argentina is very small. A cup of tea and a piece of toasted bread.   We depart and we are not out of Villa de Maria when we were stopped by the policemen. The Model T had to be connected on the LandRover with a chain. We took many things with us but not a chain. We have a strong rope with iron fastenings. Fortunate the policeman agreed with the connection.

connect 

We are driving along great fields with grain and corn and sometimes we see a lot of cattle.
At noon we arrived in Cordoba and we were welcomed by Daniel, Guillermo and members of the car club.

arrived 

They loose the Model T and pushed him into the garage of Guillermo Watson. Immediately they remove parts, because today the engine must be out of the Model T.

start 

Dirk stays with the Model T in the garage and I went with Steef and Greetje to a hotel and we arranged the stay in Cordoba. When we return into the garage the engine is almost out of the Model T.

working 1

working 2 

And then he is out!!!

out 

At 8 a clock in the evening the engine is ready for the revision.

Report 30 August
Report by Greetje en Steef

At 6.30 the alarm goes of. We are having the worst breakfast ever, dry bread and bad coffee. Dirk pushes some crease in to the u-joint and off we go again. The RN 34 is straight and flat with hardly any traffic. The hills have disappeared and now and then there are some gauchio’s.

spring 

strech 

gauchio’s

Left and right endless agriculture and again there are many birds in the sky. Sometimes the pavement becomes a patchwork blanket of reparations so watch out! Is it a hole or a reparation with black tar. In Santiago de Estella we’re doing some shopping. We have to go through the centre with the whole lot but we succeed without problems. At about 15.00 we are crossing a wild area with left and right big cactus trees.

Santiago de Estella. 

cactus trees 

La Posada 

The ground is red “looks like Kenya, where are the elephants” says Dirk. The airco is turned on again, it is about 30 C. but we are sitting in our bubble of cool air counting the miles. We stop at 19.30 after 245 miles. Córdoba is just too far away but it does not matter, we will finish it tomorrow. La Posada is situated along the road in Villa de Maria. There we settle for the night.

Report 29 August
Report by Greetje and Steef.

Carefully Dirk covers the last few miles towards the Bolivian border which we pass without problems. Now we have to cross the river that separates Bolivia from Argentina by way of a bridge to get to the Argentinean customs. There we are told we are not allowed to go into Argentina with the Model T, because it is a collector’s item. We should have applied for an authorisation before we wanted to cross the border of Argentina. The functionary is relentless and waves his finger from left to right. “No entrada in Argentina!” But, a lady takes his place. She makes a few phone calls and half an hour later we are driving into the country. Now the Model T can be hooked on the Landrover.

over de border

pulling the Model T 

The rest of the day we’re having straight roads with here and there a curve. The country is flat and an unknown tree species with a thick trunk stands at the side of the road. Now and then we see an ostrich and some kind of a “concrete igloo” . A Bungalu, little houses to use temporarily.

straight roads 

strange trees 

ostrich 

bungalu 

Swarms of birds fly up from the thick impenetrable bush ( the tola ).At about 5 o’clock the airco is turned on, it has become quite warm. It is one hour later in Argentina so we can go on a bit longer. It is 18.30 when we find a hotel along the road after  245 mls.

tola

Report 28 August
Report by Greetje and Steef

Now, the world around us is rusty, the bush olive/green. On the grey road in front of us goes a dark square with two sharp red eyes, the Model T.

hotel La Colorada. 

wating to go 

We left Camargo in time and now the road goes up and down and turns from left to right. The Model T is doing well and so does Dirk. Compared to Sucre there is hardly no plastic garbage along the road. Now the mountains are loosing there waste. Now and then rocks and rubbish cover the road so we have to stop, or, there is a diversion.

rocks on the road 

nostalgia 

diversion 

At 12.00 the world has become ochre/green. We have to go up again to travel by way of Tarija. Dirk is going ahead so we can see him in the depth.

red baron 

find Dirk 

looking at the Model T 

Dirk sees a nice place for the lunch break but gets stuck in a dry river bank. Some pushing and he is on solid ground again. On the side of the road is a silent prove of a car accident which we have seen already so many times.

stuck 1

stuck 2 

car accident 

About 17.00 we went down again to 2100 Ft. We are driving into spring; an overwhelming scent of flowers is all around us. Dirk makes us stop to enjoy it. The bare mountain slopes are gone now; trees bush and plants are everywhere. However, the ModelT starts to make a suspicious sound but we have to reach the border. Near a hotel we stop to check a room but it is so dirty and in bad shape, we have to go on. It is getting dark now and Dirk is going to drive behind the Land Rover. There are no hotels anymore along this road so we go on until we , finally,  reach Bermejo at the border. At 19.00 we check in Hotel La Costa. Today we have driven 210 mls.