Posted on 06/11/2014 2:11:25 PM PDT by nickcarraway
It's a long way from San Francisco to Brazil.
But a 1955 Chevrolet 235 pickup truck named "Nellie" got a Dutch soccer fan there in one piece.
Ben Oude Kamphuis drove Nellie nearly 13,000 miles to watch his team play in the 2014 World Cup.
"Four years ago when we, Holland, lost again in the final I was crying one more time -- that's three times that I cried in the final,” Oude Kamphuis said. “So I was telling my friends and family back in San Francisco, you know what, I'm driving old Nellie to Brazil." His journey began on Jan. 15 and took him through 12 countries.
In Colombia, Oude Kamphuis took a boat to continue through Ecuador and Peru before arriving in Brazil's Praia do Forte on June 2.
Oude Kamphuis said he and Nellie developed a “special relationship.”
"Every morning it started. I went through the highest mountains, through the deserts, through the Amazon, the rainforest. She has never let me down,” he said.
Oude Kamphuis, 53, works with disabled children in San Francisco and said they helped him paint his truck.
The Netherlands' first World Cup match Friday is a repeat of the 2010 final and a chance for revenge against Spain.
Now to just sell Chevy the Superbowl commercial rights.
My quick math says at least $2,000 in gas. I’m thinking a round trip ticket would have been less expensive.
Meshuggah
Isn’t there a ferry?
Very cool. Hope he writes a long article about it. Had to be an interesting trip.
Yeah, the Darien Gap was the first problem I had with the story. Then, of course, he has to drive back.
Hooray for soccer fags with blogs.
That’s the 235 “stovebolt 6” for you. That engine was in regular production from 1929 to 1963, with an updated version still being produced into the ‘90s. Inline six, usually a single barel carb, overhead valve. very smooth running. I’ve had 2 cars with it, a ‘69 nova and a ‘55 chevy 210 and neither left me walking. I’m not suprised at all that he made it to Brazil.
CC
Don’t think of it as a soccer thread, humble. Do what I did and think of it as a car thread.
CC
Im interested in the off road, and extreme remote area trek aspect of the travel,,, . Soccer, not so much.
I don’t know how he got through Mexico, unless he bought back his wheels and tires at least a dozen times and paid off countless cops and whomever else.
I hope he made a time compressed dash cam video.
Almost as soon as the series started up it was cancelled.
My thinking at the time was that it would be a very dangerous proposition to drive through some parts of Mexico and Latin America for the average young couple, and no way was Nissan going to be responsible if some people actually tried to copy what their TV couple was planning on doing.
Hats off to this guy if he actually drove that far without being ambushed, bushwhacked, kidnapped, or killed.
But much less fun.
And infinitely more dangerous.
Yes, that too ... but unless it’s a hoax, he did it and lived.
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