January 2000:X-mas 1999, or How To (Ab)Use Your Classic Car! by J-P Roquier
In November, I was talking to my friend John and asked what he was doing for X-mas, he told me: "I'm going to Lake Jipe Lodge with my friend, he is the owner". Then his friend turned up and said: "Hey J-P why don't you come along, it's a nice place, paradise on earth, blah, blah, blah. Since you're only two people, I'll give you a complimentary!" I should have been suspicious at that point... Since I like using my classic cars, I asked how are the roads to the lodge? The friend said: "Perfect, National Park roads, blah, blah, blah". So I decided it would be fun to take the newly acquired Zodiac. As the day became nearer, some details came to light, like we'll have to carry all our food and drinks. Eventually it transpired that the lodge was actually closed, and we would be "camping" there. So we duly loaded with crates of Tusker, food etc. and left. There was a Nissan matatu, a Nissan debe pick-up and the Zodiac. Shortly before Mtito Andei, one of the back tyres threw its tread. Fortunately I had carried two spare wheels! So we entered Tsavo park at about 5.00 p.m., only to be told the lodge was about 130 kilometers away, so we would be driving at night! Approximately 15 kilometers into the section, we went through a wet patch a bit too fast and the engine cut out. I sacrificed my handkerchief to dry the distributor cap and H.T. leads, and got going again. Then we encountered a very rocky section, and one of the exhaust manifolds broke just above the downpipe. Now the Zodiac sounded like a tractor, which proved useful to chase away an elephant which was blocking the road! We made it to the gate and pleaded with the warden to let us in the southern side of the park, although it was 7.30, and the gate was officially closed. He told us the road was bad, and advised us to leave the Zodiac behind. Of course we decided not to heed this advice and stick with all 3 cars. The road had been graded recently and was very smooth, but soon I noticed the car tended to skid, although the surface did not look wet! In fact, it WAS wet, the surface was clay but it felt just like ice! I saw the matatu slide into the ditch, and I lost traction at the same time, but managed to stay on the road. After much pushing we got the ma-3 back on track, and I put 3 passengers in the Ford's boot to help traction. We set off again and after a few kilometers found the debe nicely stuck, having spun backwards into the ditch. It took a lot of pushing to get it out and after that we all stayed on the road. We reached the lodge and found it was quite derelict, having been closed for about 3 years. We tried to start the small generator with the Zodiac "spiral cell technology" battery. It refused and it transpired that the battery had just become totally dead... We actually started it with the debe's small battery only for it to seize solid 5 minutes later. It turned out there was no oil at all in it, we were all so tired that we all forgot to check the dipstick. On the following morning, the car also had a puncture. So when a KWS 4WD Toyota turned up and announced they were going to Taveta, we hitched a lift as that road is impassable for cars. The puncture was fixed using patches cut from another tube. We also looked for front suspension bushes for the Datsun debe, all the bushes in stock were cut from old truck tyres! We also managed to repair the Zodiac's exhaust using a lot of wire to tie the downpipe to the manifold, and gun gum to plug the gap! We spent 3 days at the lodge and left on the 24th, having exhausted our supplies. We decided to drive to Voi, as this is a shorter route to a petrol station and petrol was low, the matatu was consuming a lot. This turned out to be not such a good idea, as a bridge had collapsed on the main road at Ndii between Mtito Andei and Voi. We were told it was open again so we went, found it broken again and had to turn back to Voi and drive through Tsavo park. We eventually reached here at 9.00 p.m., the car having behaved perfectly. It used zero oil, zero water and returned 8.5 km/litre on the road and 7.8 in the park, which is not bad at all. It is very pleasant to drive with a powerful and torquey 2.6 litre 6 cylinder engine and not tiring, even after a 500 kilometer drive. It shows how usable a good old car can be.... I don't mind the limited damage incurred (a few scratches on the paint), the tyre, battery and exhaust manifold would have failed anyway sooner or later. I certainly enjoyed this more than spit'n polish in July...
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