Hi guys, Well, it=92s now been a few weeks since I last reported my adventures drivin= g=20 my GT-350 clone around Europe, so I figured it=92s time for another installm= ent.=20 :>) You may recall that a month ago I spent about ten days driving through=20 England, Denmark and Sweden as part of an organized rally (including a few d= ays=20 visiting Pantera friends in Sweden). I subsequently flew home to find a mou= ntain=20 of mail and unpaid bills waiting for me. Once I waded through that, I went to work for two days, but the wanderlust=20 was already setting in. And so I trotted back down to the airport and merri= ly=20 skipped back to England. :>) The 24 Hours of Le Mans is a Happening of the first order, and I couldn=92t=20 possibly imagine missing it when I had no good reason to. As luck would hav= e it,=20 Johnny Woods had his passenger bail out on him so he had ferry and campgroun= d=20 accommodations all lined up--all I would have to do would be to buy my race=20 tickets, which I could do on the spot. Upon arriving in England, I took a cab to the home where my GT-350 is stored= =20 (ironically, I think the cab ride may have been more expensive than my=20 flight!), and the next morning, I threw my bags and camping gear in the back= , and=20 headed down to Devon, which is in the western part of England, near Devon. My knowledge of European geography was never that great, although I=92m=20 learning fast, and learning the hard way, as the knowledge comes as a direct= result=20 of standing at a gas pump and watching absolutely obscene numbers roll up! The drive to Johnny=92s house took right around four hours. Some of that wa= s=20 spent crawling along on the M25 (the London ring road) which is perpetually=20 under construction. But once on the M4 headed west, I was able to get into=20= the=20 fast lane and haul right along at an easy 80-90 mph. Turning off at Junctio= n=20 27, I then had a half hour of little roads before entering John=92s quaint=20 village of South Molton. My first stop was his workshop. He lives in a home without a garage, and=20 thus had to rent a workshop for his various projects. Johnny reminds me a l= ot of=20 the professor in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang--he has a flair for invention and a= n=20 imagination that works overtime. When he was a child, he designed and built= =20 remote-controlled electric curtains that opened and closed at the touch of a= =20 button, just like a curtain in a theater. That imagination has turned to=20 projects automotive, and he is always beavering away on one thing or another= .. His workshop is located in the basement of a 19th century tannery, and acces= s=20 is via a deeply rutted, narrow and steep track that seemed guaranteed to rip= =20 my low oil pan right off my motor. Somehow I managed to bounce from one hig= h=20 spot to the other and made it down unscathed. John has what is probably the finest Pantera in Europe, and certainly one of= =20 the nicest in the world. He purchased it as a kid, a completely rusted-out=20 piece of junk, and over the years has restored it to the highest standards i= n=20 the world. He is not a man of means; at the time he was working a simple=20 laborer job in a plywood factory. So he had to teach himself a myriad of sk= ills to=20 restore this car, not the least of which was metalwork. =20 (Interestingly, in his own regional dialect, there is no letter =93T=94 in t= he=20 word =93Metal=94. I racked my brains trying to figure out how one would spe= ll it=20 the way he says it; instead of =93Me-tel=94, he says =93Me-owe=94) He bought a few books on bodywork, a sandbag and a hammer, and started from=20 there. Before he was done, he had manufactured a variety of tools (he made=20= his=20 own English wheel and sheet metal brake, as well as shrinkers and=20 stretchers), and with these tools made patterns, and from these patterns he=20= made his own=20 new replacement body panels. Floors, rocker panels, front and rear panels,=20 and all the metal from the beltline down he made himself! (He now makes and= =20 sells various Pantera panels on E-bay). He also needed a new interior, so he bought a broken-down industrial sewing=20 machine at a swap meet for 10 pounds, took it apart, fixed it, and in so doi= ng,=20 figured out how a sewing machine works. He then taught himself to sew, usin= g=20 cheap vinyl as the medium. He made an armrest, which he wasn=92t satisfied=20 with, so he threw it out and made another one, and so on. After his sixth=20 attempt he was satisfied, and then he made a copy in beautiful leather. A y= ear of=20 this netted him an interior whose stitching and seam quality is equal to or=20 superior to the best coming out of Rolls Royce (he=92s been told so by a Rol= ls=20 Royce trimmer!) After seven years of unending labor, the finished product is truly a sight t= o=20 behold, looking absolutely right, and devoid of any tacky chrome doo-dads=20 that so many Panteras seem to acquire over the years. Light weight is a maj= or=20 ambition and he has knocked several hundred pounds off the car by doing away= =20 with trivialities like heating and air conditioning, and a host of other lit= tle=20 tricks. The thing is, his workshop is like something out of a Dickens novel. It=92s= =20 dark, dank, damp, and dirty. The clutter is amazing to behold, because besi= des=20 all the parts and tools (he has over 60 hammers!), he has a whole bunch of=20 collectible things, like old F1 tires, gas lanterns, and on and on. You cou= ld=20 easily spend a day just looking at the junk he has collected--an old 1970= =92s=20 chopper bicycle hanging from the ceiling, a piston from a huge ship engine,=20= a=20 bunch of helicopter tail rotor blades, and so on and so forth. Besides his Pantera, he also has an Alfa Romeo Spyder project car that he=20 bought out of Kuwait by way of France, which only had a little bit of rust=20 (naturally he made his own replacement panels), and simply needs a little ti= me for=20 him to screw it all back together. We went out to dinner that night with a mutual friend who lives about 30=20 minutes away. After a delightful drive on incredibly narrow roads, we arriv= ed at=20 his house. Julian West isn=92t a Pantera guy, but he does have a nice garag= e=20 (that he built without any building permits) which has a Lotus Elise inside,= as=20 well as a GTD40 (Ford GT40 replica). The quality of the GTD40 leaves a LOT to be desired, and over the years he=20 and John have re-engineered the entire car, so much so that about the only t= hing=20 that remains of the car that he drove home is the basic body. =20 After a pleasant dinner, we retired to the garage where we did what car guys= =20 normally do (something that continues to baffle women); we stood around with= =20 our arms folded, looking at the car and talking about it, and about other ca= rs,=20 for about three hours. :>) The next day, Johnny and I had to decide how we were going to get to Le Mans= ..=20 My GT-350 clone offered a number of distinct advantages, including a=20 decently sized trunk, ample storage behind the seats, and comfortable Recaro= seats. =20 On the other hand, Johnny is extremely vain about the appearance of his=20 Pantera, and to that end, has removed the spacious fiberglass luggage tray a= nd=20 banished it to a far corner of his workshop for good. So his car has virtua= lly no=20 luggage space, and we had a lot of gear that needed taking, including a tent= ,=20 sleeping bags, chairs, air mattresses, clothes for all occasions, and camera= =20 gear. But, it looks beautiful and is fast as hell. So naturally, the Pantera won=20 out. :>) But how to get all our gear to France? Well, after a few hours of standing=20 around with his arms folded, the day before he had conjured up a solution. =20= In=20 the corner of his workshop he found an old folding camping table. He ripped= =20 one of the U-shaped legs off of it, welded on tabs and brackets in the=20 appropriate places, and before long he had a perfectly shaped platform which= slipped=20 into position atop the gearbox and was held in place with Dzus fasteners (us= ing=20 existing holes in the chassis). Strong and lightweight, it would carry our=20 gear without actually touching any of the paint inside the engine bay. Fabrication, painting, and then modifying it with rubber mounts to isolate=20 the vibrations took longer than anticipated, and then when we returned to hi= s=20 home, gathering up our gear took awhile too. As a result, we suddenly found= =20 ourselves something like an hour and a half behind schedule. We had a 10:30= p.m.=20 ferry crossing from Portsmouth, requiring us to be there by 9:30, the drive=20 normally takes something in excess of three hours, and it was already 7:00 p= ..m.=20 Oh, and the fuel tank was empty. Oh, and it had started to lightly rain. Oh, dear. Only one thing to do--put the hammer down and hope for the best! There are no freeways between Devon and Portsmouth (ironically, located only= =20 an hour south of my =91home=92 outside London), so we had to take back roads= which=20 connected one village with the next, and which were lined with dreaded speed= =20 cameras. Speed enforcement in the UK has been removed from the hands of the police,=20 and is done almost entirely by radar-operated cameras, which are universally= =20 despised throughout the land. The thing is, the bureaucrats who came up wit= h=20 this evil scheme made a critical mistake--instead of honestly saying that th= e=20 ambition was to raise incredible amounts of revenue in the form of a =91spee= d tax=92,=20 instead they made all sorts of high-sounding claims about the need to instal= l=20 these cameras in areas with known dangers to the motoring public. They are=20 simply there to HELP you, you see. The motoring lobby quickly latched onto this, and came up with a very=20 logical-sounding proposal--if these cameras are only to be set up in places=20= where the=20 public is in danger, then shouldn=92t we also be warning the public of the=20 potential danger by posting signs notifying them that a speed camera is loca= ted=20 immediately ahead? To which the bureaucrats replied, =93Uhh.....=94 With no reasonable argument to defeat this logic, it came to pass. So almos= t=20 every speed camera comes with advance warning! This then enables spirited=20 travel, since all you have to do is slow down when you see the warning sign,= =20 cruise through the camera zone (which itself is well-marked with white lines= on=20 the pavement for 100 feet or so), then stand on the gas again! Using this technique, and thanks to a remarkable lack of traffic, we were=20 able to make excellent time, cruising on the A303 normally in excess of 100=20= mph=20 (the speed limit is 60). The Pantera is engineered to do this sort of thing effortlessly, and really=20 feels remarkably poised over 100 mph. My Mustang feels like it=92s going to= fall=20 apart at 120 mph, with all sorts of wind noise, suspension bucking, exhaust=20 and radiator fan screaming, etc. The Pantera is engineered in such a fashio= n=20 (and Johnny has taken extra pains at noise and vibration insulation) that 10= 0=20 mph literally feels like 50 in a normal car. As we approached Portsmouth, at about 9:30 p.m., we received a phone call=20 letting us know that the ferry had been delayed by an hour and a half, so we= now=20 had plenty of time. So we went faster. :>) After a bit of ambling through villages, we got onto= =20 the M27 motorway for the final few miles to the port, got into the fast lane= ,=20 and then started running with an arrogant tailgating bastard in a 5-series=20 BMW. We pulled into the slow lane and were driving slowly to receive an inc= oming=20 phone call, then got back in the fast lane determined to catch and pass the=20 BMW. Thanks to awesome lane discipline displayed by British drivers, the fa= st=20 lane was completely devoid of traffic, as it is intended for overtaking only= .. =20 This allowed us to reach and cruise at 6000 rpm in 5th gear, even with the=20 headlights raised, which was an indicated 150 mph. After a minute or two, w= e=20 saw the BMW ahead (running about 110 in the center lane, and yes, the speed=20 limit is 70) and absolutely sucked his headlights out as we ran past. Wheeeeee!!!! When we arrived at the port, there were crowds of people standing outside a=20 pub across the street from the docks--mostly people who were not going to Le= =20 Mans, but came down to see the car show. For that=92s exactly what happens, indirectly, as literally hundreds and=20 hundreds of very desirable cars make their way onto the ferry for the crossi= ng to=20 France. All you have to do is stand there with a beer in your hand and watc= h=20 them go by. Johnny had made arrangements to camp with a group of his friends, and there=20 were a dozen people waiting for us when we arrived at the port. No Panteras= in=20 the group, but there was a very nice Lotus Elise, a rather ugly Marcos, and=20= a=20 sadly overladen Rover diesel-powered sedan. Once on the ferry (which was packed almost exclusively with Le Mans traffic)= ,=20 we settled in for the 7-hour crossing by retiring to the bar for suitable=20 libations. I was (of course) wearing a Pantera-themed T-shirt, and after a=20= few=20 minutes, a fellow I=92d never seen came barging up to me. =93Do you own a=20 Pantera?=94 he asked, =93because I used to own one too, years ago!=94 I tol= d him that yes,=20 in fact I had one, and then he asked if I was a member of the UK De Tomaso=20 club, and when I told him that I was, he said, =93You=92re that pilot, aren= =92t you!=94 =20 Even though he had sold his car years ago, somehow he knew who I was. What=20= a=20 delightfully small world the Pantera community is! :>) We had two cabins with a total of four berths each, which would be pressed=20 into service to sleep the twelve of us. Realizing that sleep would be at a=20 premium once we got to Le Mans, I retired relatively early to get almost six= hours=20 of shut-eye while the others stayed in the bar until the wee hours. Once we got to France, we pulled into a fuel station, then were horrified to= =20 find that the car wouldn=92t restart to leave the pumps; the tiny mini-batte= ry=20 was dead. Johnny has a hidden stereo system and apparently it had been left= on=20 overnight; the car had just enough oomph to start up once leaving the ferry,= =20 but that=92s it. We received a push-start from a herd of helpful motorcyclists, then made our= =20 way towards Le Mans. Knowing that the Le Mans weekend is a huge revenue windfall for Les=20 Gendarmerie, we elected to avoid the main roads (which are just two-lane roa= ds) and=20 instead stick to the tiny rural roads. I had a fair amount of experience on= =20 these roads and thus was elected to be the navigator. I gave a route briefi= ng and=20 we set off, but the other cars were quickly separated as the drivers couldn= =92t=20 remember the directions, and soon we only had the Lotus Elise clinging desp erately to our tail. The roads in France are simply wonderful. There is an incredibly involved=20 network of roads which crisscross the country like a giant spider web. Beca= use=20 the ratio of roads to cars is so high, most of them are devoid of traffic=20 (other than the main roads). This enables all sorts of fun to ensue. I lit= erally=20 lost count of how many times we saw redline in 5th gear, as we raced from on= e=20 small village to another. We=92d slow down for the corners, and the Lotus=20 (which had been rendered a dot in the mirror) would zip through them and cat= ch up=20 with us again. Great fun! Via cell phone we arranged a rendezvous at a nice auberge that I know in the= =20 small town of La Hutte, about 30 miles north of Le Mans. This place lies=20 right on the main (two-lane) road which leads from points north to Le Mans,=20= and=20 thus it enables spectators to watch a steady stream of cars to go by enroute= to=20 the race. The 12 of us sat at an outdoor table and enjoyed a nice brunch, admiring the= =20 Morgans and Ferrari F-40s and whatnot as they zoomed past just a few feet aw= ay. Upon arriving at the track (Thursday afternoon), we found that an advance=20 party of two had secured a spacious campsite, and soon we set up our tents,=20 including a common overlarge party tent. We then started wandering around to see what we could see in the campground.= =20 Le Mans would be an appropriate destination even if you cared not one whit=20 for the race itself, because of the astounding variety of machinery that is=20 driven to the campsites. While there are a fair number of ordinary cars, th= e vast=20 majority of cars present are of the interesting variety, no matter what your= =20 interests. Exotics, hot rods, sports cars, pre-war classic cars, old trucks= ,=20 whatever--it=92s there to see. One TVR came in looking rather second-hand. Its hood had popped off at 130=20 mph, flown throuth the air over the top of two other TVRs, then was hit by t= he=20 third following car, puncturing his rear tire. The remains were gathered up= =20 and put back in place and secured with liberal amounts of duct tape, and the= y=20 gamely continued on to Le Mans! While walking through the campsite, I heard a familiar rumbling, turned=20 around and spotted another Pantera! It was a silver GT5, one I=92d never se= en or=20 heard of before. It turned into a campsite and Johnny and I walked up to se= e it=20 and introduce ourselves. The driver was a rather rough-looking Welshman who spoke a dialect of Englis= h=20 that was completely unintelligible to both Johnny and I. We caught about=20 every third word, but nodded and smiled at what seemed like appropriate time= s. =20 He told us about the car and informed us that he=92d bought it from Roger=20 Brotton, the UK club=92s newsletter editor, and professional restorer of De=20= Tomaso=20 cars. This one was definitely in the driver category, but you have to give=20= him=20 credit for driving it! (Plus, he, unlike us, used his trunk and thus had al= l=20 the creature comforts that we were lacking). At one point, he pointed at me and said something like, =93Blah blah blah=20 pilot, arn=92tcha?=94 =20 Yes, I=92m that guy...:>) We left him to set up his camp and continued wandering. We heard a ringy=20 dingy engine noise coming up behind us, stepped out of the road and almost f= ell=20 over laughing. Two guys came zooming past driving a livingroom sofa! England has the most liberal vehicle laws in the world, it seems, and with a= =20 little creativity there=92s almost no limit to what you can legally put on t= he=20 roads. These two guys thought it would be a hoot to drag an old sofa into=20 their workshop, motorize it and register it for the road! They used a scoot= er as=20 a base and added a third wheel, making it legally a motorcycle and thus exem= pt=20 from the types of safety laws normally associated with cars. So hidden unde= r=20 this sofa was a fully functional scooter, and it was equipped with=20 headlights, turn signals, and a license plate. They gassed it up and drove=20= it to=20 France!!!! The reading lamps attached to the back were an exquisite touch. :>) We watched the race cars during their night practice and then retired to the= =20 tent around 11:00 p.m. The next day, Johnny and I piled into the Pantera (after a bit of a dustoff)= =20 and headed for Indianapolis corner. Friday is a designated =91down day=92 f= or the=20 racing, and as the track is comprised largely of public roads, the roads are= =20 opened up to traffic. Tons of people drive to the Indianapolis corner compl= ex=20 (leading to Arnage corner), where an old-fashioned American-style cruise=20 takes place. Cars are parked, others drive up and down, the occasional burn= out=20 takes place, etc. etc. As we drove down the Mulsanne straight, we spotted Charlie and Amaya McCall=20 in their 1985 Pantera GT5-S going past the other way. Toots and waves resul= ted=20 in our doing a 180, and parking up alongside of them at the entrance to the=20 corner. By coincidence, yet another Pantera, that belonging to Colin Bradsh= aw=20 (who Charlie and I had camped with at Le Mans the first time we came togethe= r,=20 in 2001) was parked right behind, so we had a little De Tomaso love-in,=20 getting caught up on what we=92d each been doing in the last year. The array of cars present was stunning to behold, but the winner was=20 certainly the Pagani Zonda. Yet due to the amazing detailing, Johnny=92s ca= r was one of=20 the biggest attractions, and he spent hours (while dusting the engine bay)=20 answering questions from admirers. The Gendarmes were present to keep the burnouts etc. under control, and whil= e=20 they wore stern expressions on their faces, occasionally I would catch one o= f=20 them displaying highly unprofessional enthusiasm. One of them was hiding in= =20 a police van in the passenger seat, and he would shout at the driver to stop= =20 when he pulled alongside a particularly interesting car, then break out his=20 digital camera and shoot photos. You have to know that once he knocked off=20= work,=20 he=92d be in civilian clothes and hanging out with the rest of us. :>) In the afternoon, the pits are opened to the public, so we made our way back= =20 to the campsite, after a brief stop for lunch at a Scottish restaurant, i.e.= =20 McDonalds, which boasted typically mediocre food, but two wonderful amenitie= s=20 which are in short supply at Le Mans--a proper toilet, and ICE! The temperatures in France were uncommonly high, going into the high 90s, an= d=20 people were suffering all over. Armed with a full cup of ice, I was able to= =20 stay cool for the remainder of the afternoon. Well done! Wandering through the pits, the throngs of crowds marveled at the racing=20 machines, which were all laid bare as mechanics did various checks etc. The= big=20 news at Le Mans this year was the return of Aston Martin to the GT class, an= d=20 the sudden rise of Courage entrants as the all-conquering Audis were saddled= =20 with intake restrictions to knock a good 100-150 hp off their peak. Henri Pescarolo is a chassis manufacturer and racer who this year was drivin= g=20 in his 33rd consecutive 24-hour Le Mans race! =20 The Aston Martin team had jumped into GT racing in a big way, determined to=20 wrest the title away from the Corvette team (which had taken a 1-2 at Le Man= s=20 for the past three years) and the upstart Ferrari teams. While it was Serio= us=20 Business in all the other garages, the Aston Martin garage had rock music=20 blaring over a big stereo system, indicating a fundamentally different philo= sophy=20 to motor racing. We also went up to the Le Mans Legends pits. There was a one-hour race of=20 historic cars scheduled for the morning prior to the start of the main race,= and=20 an old friend of mine in a Porsche 356 was one of the entrants. So we=20 wandered up to say hello to Andy Prill (who some of you may get a chance to=20= meet in=20 Monterey as the car will be entered there also), only to find him with the c= ar=20 in the air and the engine on the ground, in bits. This is not a good way to enter a race barely 15 hours away. :<( It turned out that the porcelain had broken off the end of a spark plug,=20 jammed the exhaust valve open, and the exhaust gases had burned a=20 quarter-moon-shaped notch out of the valve. They were sunk. Except that he= had phoned his=20 wife, sent her scurrying out to his workshop, where she gathered up some val= ves=20 and plugs and gaskets and whatnot, then raced to Heathrow where it was place= d=20 on a plane and beamed to Charles De Gaulle, where a courier picked it up, an= d=20 while we were talking, the fresh bits arrived and he set to work putting the= =20 motor back together! (When he was done, it ran a treat and he and his=20 co-driver (who is the car=92s owner and foots all the big bills) did extreme= ly well the=20 next day, starting third from the back because they failed to qualify, and=20 moving about halfway up the pack). That evening a big BBQ was scheduled in our campsite, but Johnny and I had=20 different plans. The De Tomaso Driver=92s Club of the United Kingdom has an= =20 annual week-long trip to Le Mans--except that they don=92t really go to Le M= ans. =20 Instead they take over a delightful little hotel in a tiny village about 45=20= miles=20 north of the track, and hang out by the pond, enjoying the sun, and some of=20 them watch the race on the big-screen TV set in the bar. Seems like an awfully long way to travel to NOT see a race, but hey, that= =92s=20 me.... Anyway, they traditionally have a group dinner on Friday night, so Johnny an= d=20 I piled into the Pantera and zipped up there. I know the super duper secret= =20 shortcut which takes you along absolutely delightful and completely empty=20 roads (some of them narrow enough that they don=92t have a center line), and= after a=20 fantastic drive we pulled into the hotel=92s car park. Many club members have collections of cars, and thus besides the obligatory=20 Panteras, the parking lot also had a Viper, Ferrari 550 Maranello, Lotus 7,=20 Porsche 911 Turbo, AMG Mercedes, and a Lamborghini Countach and Diablo. The= star=20 of the lot was Peter Saywell=92s Konisegg CCR. Peter has a fantastic superc= ar=20 collection (including not one but two new 2005 Porsche GTs, two because the=20 first one he ordered was delivered in the wrong color, so he kept it and ord= ered=20 another one!), and he was the first UK customer for the Konisegg. Then when a year later they announced an uprated model with more horsepower,= =20 he bought one of those too! What the hell, after all, they=92re only about=20 $750,000 apiece, right? To his eternal credit, he=92s a self-made zillionaire who is still very much= a=20 =91regular guy=92, completely indistinguishable in manner and dress from any= body=20 else. Anyway, we proceeded to have a delightful gourmet dinner outside on a verand= a=20 adjoining a pond, and later retired to the bar where the conversation lasted= =20 until 3:00 a.m. Johnny had a beer and thus allowed me to drive his Pantera back home. I had= =20 never driven a right-hand-drive Pantera before, much less driven one in a=20 left-hand-drive world, but I quickly found myself adapting to the reversed f= ormat=20 (shifting with the left hand), and in fact had absolutely no problems. It=20 must come from constantly shifting from the left seat to the right seat when= =20 flying airplanes, I guess. Anyway, his car was a delight to drive, although= not=20 overly powerful. The Wilwood brakes were dynamite, and the entire car felt=20 extremely well-sorted and confidence-inspiring. Into the tent and lights out (actually we had no lights, no room in the car=20 you see) at 4:00 a.m.... In the morning, we split up and I wandered around on my own, watching the=20 vintage race and quickly discovering that without media credentials, it woul= d be=20 virtually impossible to gain a vantage point for photographing the cars on t= he=20 track, so I quickly gave up and just enjoyed the race from the hill just=20 before the Dunlop bridge. I was there when Stirling Moss did a full 360 deg= ree=20 spin in a Jaguar C-type, yet kept it on the pavement and recovered and press= ed=20 on. Thanks to cell phones, it was very easy to keep in touch with the various=20 friends who were scattered all around. I was walking towards the food tents= when=20 my phone erupted, and I answered it only to find that Geoff Peters (the=20 Pantera-owning host for my Mustang in the UK) was phoning me from six feet i= n front=20 of me, without realizing it! We quickly hung up the phones and made our way= =20 together. He had five people in his party, and they were all suffering to=20 various degrees both from the excessive heat, and excessive alcohol intake t= he=20 night before. One of them is a member of the ACO, the organization which st= ages=20 the race and has a VIP enclosure, so we were all able to gain access and get= =20 a break from the heat while watching pre-race commentary on the big-screen T= V=20 located within, while listening to English commentary on Radio Le Mans. We then moved on to a nearby Italian restaurant set up in the food area=20 within the track. After lunch, there was a sickening thud as Geoff literall= y=20 crashed out onto the table behind us for some shut-eye! After lunch I called Andy to congratulate him on his successful run in the=20 Porsche 356, and he invited me over to yet another VIP members-only banquet=20 taking place across the way. After he and I performed the Jedi Mind Trick o= n not=20 one but two levels of security, I sat down for a few moments at a table with= =20 some of the other drivers. Had I not been stuffed to the gills already, I=20 would have raided the extensive buffet, but as it is I contented myself with= a=20 cold bottle of water, and then looked at the cars (all genuine Le Mans veter= ans)=20 located outside the tent, but separated from the public by a white picket=20 fence. The GT40 was especially appealing--I just love those cars! Thanks again to cell phones, I was able to set up a rendezvous with Johnny=20 and his party, and Charlie and Amaya McCall, and we watched the start of the= =20 race together from the front straight. Thanks to the crowds it was difficul= t to=20 see the track itself, but we had chosen a spot directly across from a=20 Jumbotron screen so we were able to see that way. (It seemed odd to be stan= ding at a=20 sporting event and watching things taking place 100 feet away from us on a T= V=20 screen that was 125 feet away from us....) Johnny and crew couldn=92t take the heat, and returned to the campsite after= =20 about an hour, while Charlie and Amaya and I watched and wandered for a coup= le=20 of hours more, until they eventually peeled off to rendezvous with their par= ty=20 for dinner. I made my way back to my campsite, then linked up with Johnny=20 again and we hopped into his Pantera to drive out to Mulsanne, where I knew=20= a=20 wonderful little caf=E9 (the Boule D=92Or) that is populated mostly by local= s, even=20 during the race weekend. After a nice little dinner, we walked up to the=20 Mulsanne corner and watched for awhile. I then drove us back to the town of= =20 Arnage, which is a popular eating destination, and thus the streets are line= d with=20 yet more interesting cars. =0BWe parked up alongside a nice little cafe, wandered the streets looking a= t=20 cars for a few minutes, and then made our way back to the car. Due to a ste= ady=20 flow of traffic, it took me a few minutes to get a break so I could back out= =20 into the road and make my way. The crowd at the restaurant was extremely appreciative of the Pantera, and=20 the exhaust note elicited demands for a burnout, so once pointed in the righ= t=20 direction, I romped on the gas and lit =91em up a bit. I was so busy concentrating on performing a nice little burnout that I faile= d=20 to see the Gendarme standing in the middle of the road some 75 yards in fron= t=20 of me. His powers of observation, however, were keener than mine, and no=20 sooner had the tires stopped spinning then he was standing in front of the c= ar=20 holding out his hand with a typically stern and disapproving look on his fa= ce. =20 I stopped and he came over to the door and demanded my license. I apologize= d=20 for my momentary lack of judgment and promised to be a good boy. He still=20 demanded my license. Uh-oh. Meanwhile hundreds of well-lubricated Brits in restaurants up and down the=20 street were cheering and applauding as I sort of smiled and shrugged my=20 shoulders. My license was confiscated and the Gendarme told me to drive aro= und the=20 corner, into the parking lot and pull up to his police car. I dutifully did what I was told, and watched while he opened his ticket book= =20 and began writing. I mentally calculated what the possible fine would be, a= nd=20 was grateful that I had a ginormous stack of Euros in my pocket so I could=20 pay it on the spot, whatever it might be. After a few minutes, he motioned me over to his car. =93Vouz parlez Francai= s?=94=20 he asked. =93Un petit, petit peut=94 I replied (a little, little bit, with=20= thumb=20 and forefinger held a quarter inch apart). He then pointed at the main=20 street of the town, and said =93C=92est la rue=94 or something like that (th= is is the=20 road). He then pointed in the direction of the track and said, =93C=92est l= a course=94=20 (that is the track). I let it be known that his point was taken. He then=20 said something that I didn=92t quite catch, but I did note a word that sound= ed=20 like =93Advisement=94, i.e. warning. =20 Hey! I wasn=92t getting a ticket after all! =20 In fact, he had his own little private notebook hidden in his ticket book an= d=20 had written down the car=92s license plate (I saw that he had a long, long l= ist=20 of license plates) so that if he saw the car doing something again, he=92d k= now=20 to go gunning for it. But basically he acted as though he had written me a=20 ticket, so all the spectators would know the consequences of hooliganistic=20 driving, but then he let me go! He never once cracked a smile, keeping up t= he bad=20 cop act the entire time, but I extended my hand and, in French, told him tha= t=20 I thought he was a gentleman. He grudgingly accepted my handshake, returned= =20 my license and then shooed me on my way. Whew! After darkness fell, Johnny and I linked up with Geoff and one of his=20 friends, and piled into his Bentley to drive over to Arnage to watch the rac= ing from=20 there. What ordinarily would have been a ten-minute drive took over an hour= =20 because the idea isn=92t especially original--the race cars are under hard=20 braking and the discs glow red, making it a very popular spot at night. We returned to the track at 3:00 a.m., and while they were all beat, I hoppe= d=20 out of the car and began a trek towards my favorite illicit viewing location= ..=20 Some of you may recall that I had discovered a hidden path through the=20 forest that led right to the edge of the track between Arnage and the Porsch= e=20 curves, and at nighttime I would stand just a few feet away as the cars whiz= zed=20 past at 200+ mph. Well, not this year. The forest had been culled of 75% of its trees, the=20 empty field was now a fully loaded campground, and the hidden track had been= =20 completely fenced off with tall fences and barbed wire. Damn. (As a matter of fact, attendance at this year=92s race was up some 30% due t= o=20 the participation of Sebastian Loeb, the 2004 World Rally champion, a French= man=20 who was entering his first road race in a Pescarolo. The French=20 participation angle had been played to the hilt, and tons of Frenchmen came=20= to watch the=20 race (which normally only has about 5% French spectators). Sadly, Loeb=92s=20 teammate stuffed the car into the barrier in the morning and their race was=20= done.) I then had to march all the way to the other end of the track to our=20 campsite, a hike which took some 45 minutes. 4:00 a.m. and into the tent to= sleep=20 like the dead. Sunday was more of the same, variously linking up with and the drifting away= =20 from various friends at different points around the track. I went with one=20= of=20 Geoff=92s friends to tour the Le Mans museum, both to see the museum and als= o=20 to take advantage of the air conditioning (which, as it turns out, wasn=92t=20 working). The museum has a very interesting collection of production cars d= ating=20 from the dawn of automobiles, and of course a great collection of Le Mans=20 veterans, including the true icons like the GT40, Porsche 917, 956 and the A= udi R8. Johnny and I hooked up at the Dunlop curves around 2:00 p.m., then made our=20 way to the start/finish line to watch the end of the race at 4:00 p.m. The=20 Aston Martins had the Corvettes covered until the 23rd hour, when on the sam= e=20 lap, both cars fell out of the race--one died with a fuel pump problem on th= e=20 back side of the circuit, and the other spun into the gravel and damaged the= car=20 so that it had to limp back to the pits for repairs. In the meanwhile, the=20 Pescarolos had faded from the front and the Audis were dominating thanks to=20 their reliability, but Henri Pescarolo=92s car worked its way back up to sec= ond=20 place. The Aston Martin guys got their damaged car running with about six m= inutes=20 remaining and crossed the line to take third place in the GT class. After the race ended and the cars were secured in parc ferm=E9, the gates we= re=20 opened and hundreds of thousands of fans spilled onto the track to join in t= he=20 victory celebrations under the podium. As the fans began to pile into their cars to sit in traffic for hours, Johnn= y=20 and I wandered through the shops to see what kind of deals we could put=20 together. I had seen several models that I was interested in, but I wasn= =92t=20 interested in paying full price. Revell has a new GT-350 slot car depicting= the Team=20 Claude Dubois entry in the 1967 Le Mans, and Spark has a Pantera Gr4 done up= =20 in the Team Claude Dubois colors from his 1972 entry, so I bought one of eac= h=20 to send to him. Johnny bought a few odds and ends as well, and then we=20 (slowly) made our way through the heat back to our campsite. We were feeling totally drained, and thus it took us almost three hours to=20 break camp and pack the car. This was a good thing, for it enabled the traf= fic=20 to die down so that once underway, it was smooth sailing (other than an=20 unusually long stop at a motorway rest area where a bunch of coaches with Da= nish Le=20 Mans spectators had piled in, and thus we literally had to wait in line behi= nd=20 50 people to pay for our gas and drinks). Instead of heading right back to England, instead we were aiming at the home= =20 of Stephane Bergeron, our Pantera buddy who lives in Chantilly, just north o= f=20 Paris (Le Mans is basically west by southwest). The car was humming along=20 nicely at an even 120 mph, although when I mentioned the oil temperatures th= at=20 often result from extensive cruising in the 5000 rpm range, he backed it dow= n to=20 4500 rpm. I had envisioned an interminable wait at the toll plaza but=20 thankfully this year it went smoothly, and after a couple of hours we were o= n the=20 Periphique, the ring road around Paris. =20 This is a dizzying and befuddling road with exits poorly marked, and if you=20 miss your exit, you=92re doomed. Similarly, if you take the wrong exit, you= =92re=20 doomed. So I was navigating based on having made the drive a couple of time= s=20 in the past. For some truly bizarre reason, the only way to get to Stephane= =92s=20 house is to first go to Charles De Gaulle airport, and drive right into the=20 airport to the arrivals section at Terminal 2. Then there is a tiny sign=20 (barely eight inches high) pointing at a single-lane road that spears off to= the=20 left, and that road takes you towards Chantilly. I know, it sounds stupid,=20= but=20 even he drives that way, as it really is the only way. It makes it easy, because we just followed the signs to the airport, then I=20 saw the little sign and the little road, and we left again and finally pulle= d=20 up to his house at 11:00 p.m. It had been two or three years since Johnny had seen him and his lovely wife= =20 Michelle, and I hadn=92t seen him since October of last year when George=20 Gordon-Smith and I had stopped in on the way home from the RAC Euroclassic.=20= So it=20 was a nice, happy reunion for all of us. Curiously enough, over the past few months I had made contact and establishe= d=20 relationships with several French De Tomaso owners, who lived in relative=20 proximity to each other (and Paris) but had never met one another. I though= t to=20 myself, hey, this is just stupid. You guys should be friends! So I took it= =20 upon myself to invite them to the Bergeron=92s house for dinner on Monday ni= ght. Stephane and Michelle took the ball and ran with it, inviting several other=20 Pantera owners that they had come to know over the past six months or so. =20 While originally I had envisioned just a simple dinner, they informed me tha= t all=20 of these people had agreed to take the day off work and would be arriving=20 around 11:30 a.m. Monday morning! When we got up, Johnny washed and primped his car while I helped Michelle=20 prepare the tables, etc. as Stephane rode his tractor motor and mowed the la= wn,=20 with a big grin on his face. =93Look at him,=94 Michelle told me, =93He is=20= just so=20 excited--he is just like a four-year-old boy on his birthday!=94 And so he=20= was! At the appointed hour, first one Pantera and then another rolled into the=20 drive, along with a simply stunning 1971 De Tomaso Mangusta driven by Lauren= t=20 Bouzoulouk. He had purchased it barely a year prior, supposedly after a ful= l=20 restoration, but the motor was totally shot. There aren=92t many options av= ailable=20 in France, but I was able to hook him up with JC, my buddy at Roush Racing,=20 and the resultant 347 small-block exceeded his expectations, making 430 hp,=20= 450=20 ft/lbs and slotting straight into the car with no problems. It was wonderful to stand back and watch all these people meeting one anothe= r=20 for the first time, admiring each other=92s cars, waving their arms and talk= ing=20 at 300 mph in French. Some of them spoke English as well, so Johnny and I=20 were able to participate also. And even when there was no common language,=20= the=20 universal language of De Tomaso combined with pointy-talky got the point=20 across. We had a wonderful BBQ, and then Michelle suggested a surprise--how about we= =20 all pile into the cars and cruise into the town to pick up their children=20 (aged 4 and 6) from their school! Wouldn=92t the kids be thrilled! Sounds like a simple enough plan, but it turned into a gaggle of the highest= =20 order. The drive into town went fine (I was driving Johnny=92s Pantera as he wanted= to=20 sample the passenger seat of the Mangusta), and we pulled into the school= =92s=20 (small) parking lot well ahead of the herd of soccer moms. However, when th= ese=20 moms showed up in their minivans, they were all extremely cross that we had=20 taken their parking places and we got lots of angry scowls. The kids loved=20= us=20 though! We strapped the kids into the cars (four-year-old Pierre was given pride of=20 place in the Mangusta and was beaming) and then headed for home. The street= =20 was nominally two-way, although with a line of cars parked on one side it wa= s=20 barely ten feet wide. We passed by a sign that I didn=92t understand (Steph= ane=20 was navigating!) and soon found ourselves at a complete dead-end, as the roa= d=20 was torn up due to construction! So now it was about 95 degrees, we had De Tomasos lined up nose to tail and=20 had reached a dead end. Great. With much arm-waving, we managed to get the convoy turned around and drove=20 around the block. We then pulled over to wait for Michelle (riding shotgun=20= in a=20 BMW) to catch up to us, event though she was actually ahead of us (she was=20 smart enough to read the sign!) We had just about recovered from that gaggl= e=20 when we discovered that Philippe Tramhel=92s radiator fans had quit working=20= and=20 his car was overheating. So we all pulled over while the tools were broken=20= out=20 and troubleshooting ensued. I found a very loose fuse, and that combined wi= th=20 some wire-wiggling got them spinning again. =20 Then we learned that Laurent was out of gas, so we had to take a detour to a= =20 gas station. After winding through narrow lanes, I pulled up on the sidewal= k=20 to park just past the gas station, as did most of the others, and then Laure= nt=20 drove right past the station--he had been watching us and hadn=92t seen it! More arm-waving as we blocked traffic while he performed a ten-point U-turn=20 to go get filled up. While waiting, we were greeted by an expatriate Britis= h=20 fellow who had been living in France for 10 years; he said the Pantera was h= is=20 favorite car even though he hadn=92t seen one for fifteen years! So he real= ly=20 enjoyed our little display. We eventually got back to the Bergeron=92s house, a good hour and a half lat= er.=20 Whew! Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.... Even though Stephane has owned his Pantera for ten years or more, he bought=20 it as a basket case and has never driven one before. Another owner wanted=20 Stephane to evaluate his =9172 GT5 conversion, so Stephane jumped behind the= wheel=20 and I hopped in the passenger seat. Once clear of the house, Stephane came to a stop sign, made a left turn and=20 stomped on the gas. The rear end slid around in a lurid powerslide, but=20 instead of lifting like most people would do, he just steered into it and co= ntrolled=20 it and sped away. Wow. This guy can drive. We were soon roaring around on the back roads right outside his development,= =20 as Stephane shook the car down. With Wilwood brakes on all four corners, th= e=20 thing stopped just fine, and the motor seemed nice and strong. At one point= I=20 saw 260 km/hr on the speedo--plenty fast enough, no doubt! When we got back to the house you could smell the brakes, as apparently=20 although they had been installed years ago, then had never been properly use= d and=20 thus never really broken in. They=92re broken in now. :>) Stephane was contemplating fitting power steering to his Pantera, something=20= I=20 think is completely unnecessary. I told him he should drive Johnny=92s car=20= as=20 it is nearer in specification to his own, and Johnny agreed. I heard them=20 leave, heard the same powerslide as he made the left turn and sped off. They came back ten minutes later and Stephane was suitably convinced that=20 power steering was unnecessary. Meanwhile Johnny asked me, =93What=92s the=20= French=20 word for =91maniac=92?=94 (it=92s the same as English). He said that there=20= had been=20 some schoolkids at a roundabout who gasped in awe as the Pantera approached,= so=20 Stephane (who had never driven a RHD car in his life) pitched it sideways an= d=20 drifted 3/4 of the way around the roundabout, hanging the tail out then=20 speeding off down a road. =93I=92d really like to ride with him again,=94 Johnny said, but then added=20 quietly, =93...but in somebody else=92s car....=94 HAHAHAHA!!!! Although the affair was supposed to break up around 6:00 p.m. and several of= =20 the participants had made plans to be home for dinner, people just couldn= =92t=20 tear themselves away, and the last people didn=92t leave until something lik= e=20 10:00 p.m. What a wonderful day! It was great for me too, as I finally got= to=20 meet several of these people that I had been corresponding with via e-mail f= or=20 months. We were planning on driving up to Brussels the next day to have dinner with=20 Claude Dubois and check out some racing De Tomasos up there, but learned tha= t=20 Claude was leaving that same day to return to his home in the south of Franc= e,=20 so we had to scratch that plan. Just as well, because we were a bit tuckere= d=20 out! Stephane was super-motivated by his Pantera drives, and after a pleasant=20 dinner, we retired to the garage where we did what car guys normally do (som= ething=20 that continues to baffle women); we stood around with our arms folded,=20 looking at his car and talking about it, and about other cars, for about thr= ee=20 hours. :>) To bed finally at 3:00 a.m. for a nice lie-in the next day. The following=20 afternoon, I helped Stephane pull his front suspension off the car, and then= he=20 and Johnny attacked the A-arms with a torch to remove the bushings; the A-ar= ms=20 would be returning to us in England to get modified by Johnny to deliver mor= e=20 caster for increased stability at the elevated speeds that Stephane will=20 undoubtedly drive. We finally piled into the car and headed back to Le Havre for our evening=20 ferry. We were a day early, but hoped that we would be able to change our t= icket=20 without too much trouble. I was remarking on the incredible wonderfulness o= f=20 his car, even related to most Panteras (which are generally wonderful=20 anyway), and he said that he had built it to be a perfect, turn-key car and=20= that it=20 never gave any trouble, ever. With that, the car immediately gave trouble. Oh, it was just a warning (tho= u=20 shalt not tempt the gods), as his water temperature gauge suddenly dropped=20 about 50 degrees, then flicked back up to its normal spot, then dropped down= =20 again, back and forth), and it fixed itself in about 30 minutes and never di= d it=20 again, but still...one should never be too boastful when driving around in a= =20 30-year-old Italian car! After a very leisurely and surprisingly not so high speed drive across the=20 countryside on a combination of A-roads and D-roads (no motorways), we pulle= d up=20 to the port in plenty of time for the crossing. While waiting to board the ship we had a nice long conversation with a=20 British fellow driving a =9165 Corvette coupe about the manifest benefits of= a sports=20 car with an American engine. :>) There were no cabins to be had reasonably, so instead Johnny and I swiped=20 some cushions off a sofa, hopped over an unused bar and crawled underneath t= o=20 catch some Z=92s on the seven-hour sail back to Portsmouth. We woke up the=20= next=20 morning and drove back to his house (witnessing an awful-sounding but appare= ntly=20 only moderate motorcycle crash on the way), then after unpacking and=20 showering, and having a bit of a lie-about, we jumped into my GT-350 and dro= ve to a=20 village a half-hour away to have dinner with one of Johnny=92s friends. The roads were even smaller and more quaint than we had enjoyed over the pas= t=20 week, and at one point I kicked Johnny out of the car so he could take photo= s=20 as I drove under the trees which completely enveloped the road. Our dinner companion was a real Buckaroo Banzaii kind of character--one of=20 those incredibly driven geniuses that you often read about but rarely get th= e=20 chance to meet named Patrick (Paddy) Hook. He has a Ph.D. from Exeter, and=20= for=20 awhile was an engineer at the McLaren F-1 team, before becoming Suzuki=92s c= hief=20 at-the-track chassis setup engineer for motorcycle F-1 champ Kevin Schwantz.= =20 He then left to do various other things, and right now he=92s a mad inventor= =20 who has come up with a Flubber-like invention--a type of cord or rope that=20 expands when you stretch it instead of getting thinner. He=92s partnered wi= th Dow in=20 its development, and he envisions applications ranging from dental floss to=20 seat belts, and even microscopic applications. He lives in a 1700=92s era farm that he is remodelling to turn into a resear= ch=20 center; he=92s also working on several other projects, and is the author of=20 numerous books on everything from Harley Davidsons to butterflies. He can s= peak=20 with authority on just about anything you care to mention--truly an=20 extraordinary individual! He said he works about 100 hours a week! He=92s also a car and motorcycle guy. In his spare time, he designed and bu= ilt=20 from the ground up the ultimate Harley Davidson sportbike, this simply=20 because nobody else had thought of it at the time. It features a host of=20 ultra-trick parts sourced from Suzuki=92s F-1 program, including totally tri= ck, special=20 titanium forks, etc. etc. It makes mountains of torque, at its best only ge= ts=20 about 5 mpg, and the tiny tank gives it a range of only a few miles. It was= =20 designed for competitive hillclimbing, and it has done him well over the yea= rs,=20 although it also spit him off badly once--he has a titanium rod about a foot= =20 long hanging on the wall, which was inserted in his leg for about a year aft= er=20 that little episode.... Moldering away in his barn are a pair of extraordinary motorcars. One of=20 them is a Ferrari 246 Dino that has been dismantled and is almost ready to c= ome=20 back together. It was fascinating seeing one of those stripped apart; I nev= er=20 knew that they featured extensive use of fiberglass in their construction. =20 They have a traditional Ferrari oval-tube chassis, and the body is steel, bu= t=20 the floorpans and inner fenders are all fiberglass. Currently removed from=20= the=20 car, the chassis was laid bare. Parked next to it was an Aston Martin DB4. One of the first 36 built (in=20 Italy), it was used for years by an uncaring fellow who used it as his daily= =20 driver, before simply parking it alongside his house and abandoning it. It=20= sat=20 outside for the better part of 20 years, uncovered and rotting, before he wa= s=20 finally able to buy it with an eye towards its restoration. The previous ow= ner=20 used to tow a boat with it, and backed the car into the sea to launch the=20 boat, so the steel at the back of the car was rusted to shreds, as were the=20 wheels. But the body is aluminum and thus is in fine shape, and the gearbox= and=20 engine had been overhauled shortly before the car was parked up, so the=20 restoration should be comparatively easy. We=92ll see! We went to the local pub for dinner and the conversation was all over the=20 place. Of course there were stories from his McLaren and Suzuki F-1 days, b= ut we=20 also talked about WWII, weather phenomena, agricultural and social policies,= =20 and a million other things. Such a fascinating guy! The next day, we again had a bit of a lie-about, then went and fooled aroun= d=20 in Johnny=92s workshop for a few hours. After my clutch change a few weeks=20= ago=20 in Denmark, my parking brake levers and springs had been installed=20 incorrectly, so the spring was vibrating against the exhaust pipe at idle, w= hich was=20 really annoying. So we jacked the car up and took it all apart and rectifie= d the=20 situation. Eventually I loaded up my car and made the return drive to London. I had=20 only got a few miles out of town when I detected the distinctive smell of to= rched=20 brakes. I pulled up in a lay-by and hopped out to find clouds of smoke=20 coming from the left rear wheel. Apparently we had been a bit too rambuncti= ous=20 when we adjusted the parking brake cable (and for some reason, the driver= =92s side=20 doesn=92t want to work at all). I phoned Johnny, and he threw a jack and some tools into his daily driver (a= =20 left-hand-drive rust-free =9168 Porsche 912 that came from San Francisco) an= d he=20 zoomed out to help me out. By the time he got there, the brakes had cooled=20 somewhat. We just backed off the adjustment so that now the parking brake=20 doesn=92t work at all, and soon I was on my way again. Although I had taken motorways exclusively on the way down, I was enchanted=20 with the idea of driving on the little roads, and broke out my map and figur= ed=20 out an alternate route back. Most of it featured two-lane roads which are=20 just a joy to drive, but the latter part is four-lane (known as dual=20 carriageway). At one point, the traffic was so light that I just stopped th= e car in the=20 road, hopped out and shot some photos of the car with the gentle rolling fie= lds=20 behind. When I got to the dual carriageway, I was passed by an Audi wagon that was=20 hauling along. A-ha! A rabbit! Presumably he was a local with knowledge o= f=20 the road, so I hitched my wagon to his train and soon was following him at=20 100-120 mph for miles and miles and miles, occasionally slowing down as we=20 approached an apparently known speed trap, and of course slowing down to ver= y=20 respectable speeds when going through the villages. We then joined the moto= rway,=20 moved straight to the fast lane and beamed up north towards London, still at= =20 triple-digit speeds. The drive which normally takes four hours was accomplished in two hours and=20 15 minutes. Gotta love the little roads. :>) What a trip! We had covered almost exactly 1000 miles in the Pantera, met=20 and socialized with all sorts of Pantera friends at Le Mans, then got to tak= e=20 part in a wonderful gathering of French De Tomaso types outside Paris. It w= as=20 an exercise in sleep-deprivation as we=92d literally gone for a week with on= ly a=20 few hours of sleep each night. And of course, no Mike Drew expedition would be complete without a JPG photo= =20 collage, which can be found at http://members.aol.com/mikeldrew/lemans2005.j= pg One might expect that after such a great trip, the reasonable thing to do=20 would be to come home and do something responsible, like work. I have been accused of many things over the years--being reasonable isn=92t=20= one=20 of them. :>) Stay tuned, as the adventures continue! :>) Mike
1967 License Plate Light Assembly Does anyone know if the bulb only can be replaced in the 67 license plate assembly? It looks like there are rivets that hold it all together and that there is no way to get the cover off the bulb. There's a metal bracket around part of the cover that looks like if bent back that the cover might come off, but I wanted to check with you all before bending something that can't be rebent or breaking the plastic cover. If not, it appears that I would have to buy the entire assembly for about $35 since a single bulb does not seem to be listed in the catalogs I have. Any suggestions? Thank you. Jeff
