Oddest 'what car' ever? What V8 to drive from UK to Vietnam?

Oddest 'what car' ever? What V8 to drive from UK to Vietnam?

Author
Discussion

fivetenben

Original Poster:

589 posts

169 months

Thursday 18th October 2012
quotequote all
JREwing said:
Wow, this is terrific!

What's the name of your book? I want a copy smile
Survival of the Quickest - Across Africa. In a Porsche.

You can find it on Amazon. I really hope V8nam isn't as painfully eventful as the trip the book describes though! smile

JREwing

17,540 posts

178 months

Thursday 18th October 2012
quotequote all
fivetenben said:
Survival of the Quickest - Across Africa. In a Porsche.

You can find it on Amazon. I really hope V8nam isn't as painfully eventful as the trip the book describes though! smile
OK, I've just ordered it. I'll read it and then follow this trip with interest!

mig25_foxbat2003

5,426 posts

210 months

Thursday 18th October 2012
quotequote all
When are you leaving again? Genuinely considering jacking in my job and following your route like some kind of Partridge super fan.

Failing that, I'm looking forward to the blog thread.

fivetenben

Original Poster:

589 posts

169 months

Friday 19th October 2012
quotequote all
mig25_foxbat2003 said:
When are you leaving again? Genuinely considering jacking in my job and following your route like some kind of Partridge super fan.

Failing that, I'm looking forward to the blog thread.
We're leaving at the start of April next year, planning on taking 2 months from UK to Vietnam, then spending a further month bimbling around SE Asia. You could always get a nice shiny XJ8 or Merc 560 SEC, fill it with like-minded PHers, and join the convoy! wink

RacingBlue

1,394 posts

163 months

Friday 19th October 2012
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Hi Ben - I've just caught up with this thread (and your website) and it's properly facinating stuff.

Best of luck with the trip - watching this with interest!

XJSJohn

15,959 posts

218 months

Friday 19th October 2012
quotequote all
Just as well you have gone for the 'vette. Recently i tried to sort out visa's etc for a drive to Vietnam (i live a bit closer than you) and was thwarted by the Vietnamese Embassy who even after me pestering several times and even going to visit them in person stated that currently they do not allow right hand drive cars into vietnam!

I thought about just rocking up at the border but that was a bit of a risk, and even with coffee money to get the car in, i may never get it out again!

Thailand, Cambodia and Laos are no problem, just do paperwork at the border and buy local 3rd party insurance ticket. Things are getting easier in Myanmar too, had some friends ride their Harleys to Yangon recently with no hassle

Rach*

8,824 posts

215 months

Friday 19th October 2012
quotequote all
Hi Johnwavey just to add, from when I was planning, to enter Thailand by road you had to buy a visa in advance (2009) I got mine from the embassy in Hull, prob the easiest one smile

Interesting news about Myanmar, how was their trip?

XJSJohn

15,959 posts

218 months

Friday 19th October 2012
quotequote all
Rach* said:
Hi Johnwavey just to add, from when I was planning, to enter Thailand by road you had to buy a visa in advance (2009) I got mine from the embassy in Hull, prob the easiest one smile

Interesting news about Myanmar, how was their trip?
Guess you were coming in from the north of Thailand so perhaps different, never had a problem with Thailand from the Malaysian Side.

Friends Myanmar trip sounds like they had a blast, apparently the roads (in the south and east) are very good. I have not been for a long time (and never by road) but it sounds like the country is starting to open up and accept bribes the rest of the world again!

BTW to OP, for the driving around asia afterwards bit, strangely they are a bit iffy about LHD cars in Singapore too, you can drive them here but they will insist on a massive "THIS CAR IS LEFT HAD DRIVE" sticker on the back!! You cannot register a LHD car here!




fivetenben

Original Poster:

589 posts

169 months

Friday 19th October 2012
quotequote all
XJSJohn said:
Just as well you have gone for the 'vette. Recently i tried to sort out visa's etc for a drive to Vietnam (i live a bit closer than you) and was thwarted by the Vietnamese Embassy who even after me pestering several times and even going to visit them in person stated that currently they do not allow right hand drive cars into vietnam!

I thought about just rocking up at the border but that was a bit of a risk, and even with coffee money to get the car in, i may never get it out again!

Thailand, Cambodia and Laos are no problem, just do paperwork at the border and buy local 3rd party insurance ticket. Things are getting easier in Myanmar too, had some friends ride their Harleys to Yangon recently with no hassle
Hi John, thanks for the info! LHD will certainly Make things easier - the only RHD vehicles I know of to enter Vietnam had to jump through all sorts of hoops before getting permission from someone very high up in the government. There are similar issues with getting a RHD car into Azerbijan too, so the 'vette may have been an inadvertently inspired choice!

That's great news about Myanmar, i'd pretty much written off taking a vehicle there as a non-starter. Did your friends keep a blog or anything? I'd love to follow in their tyretracks!

XJSJohn

15,959 posts

218 months

Friday 19th October 2012
quotequote all
Indeed, the LHD / RHD thing is not something you would think to be a big issue.

Sadly my mates are not realy the blogger types but will see what I can get from them!


fivetenben

Original Poster:

589 posts

169 months

Thursday 25th October 2012
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Started shopping for car no.2 last night... smile


chrisw75

100 posts

143 months

Thursday 25th October 2012
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fivetenben said:
Started shopping for car no.2 last night... smile
Bloody hell. A bright yellow Roller??

XJSJohn

15,959 posts

218 months

Thursday 25th October 2012
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Looks like I am driving to eastern Thailand and possibly a trip down to Siem Reap too so will post some pictures in the NY of low slung GT cars stuck in potholes and mud in deepest darkest SE Asia!

AJS-

15,366 posts

235 months

Thursday 25th October 2012
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What a brilliant adventure. How are you getting across Burma/China? (Sorry haven't read the whole thread, but I understand these places are nearly impossible to drive your own car into?)

If you find yourselves in Bangkok give me a shout as there's definitely a pint waiting for you here.

The Boy Lard

461 posts

222 months

Thursday 25th October 2012
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Amazing, buying the book now.

y2blade

56,029 posts

214 months

Thursday 25th October 2012
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fivetenben said:
General busyness has meant I haven't really had much of a poke around the Corvette yet, but a sunny day on Sunday did mean it got it's first proper run, a 60 mile blat across Dartmoor from Plymouth to Hound Tor and back, roof off and in convoy with the TVR - a fun day, all in all!





Corvette was great - garish, wide, deafening but great. I probably should stop playing with it sometime soon though, and figure out how to raise the suspension and fit everything in it...
Flippin fantastic cool

I love that vette cloud9 It makes the Chim look very ordinary

fivetenben

Original Poster:

589 posts

169 months

Thursday 25th October 2012
quotequote all
AJS- said:
What a brilliant adventure. How are you getting across Burma/China? (Sorry haven't read the whole thread, but I understand these places are nearly impossible to drive your own car into?)

If you find yourselves in Bangkok give me a shout as there's definitely a pint waiting for you here.
We're planning to head through China from Central Asia to Laos. It's a bit of a bureaucratic pain taking a car across China and you need a government 'guide' to accompany you, but it is at least possible, and a few PHers have done it in the past (Rach* for one). Not remotely cheap though!

I'm never one to turn down a pint - hopefully see you next year! thumbup

AJS-

15,366 posts

235 months

Thursday 25th October 2012
quotequote all
fivetenben said:
AJS- said:
What a brilliant adventure. How are you getting across Burma/China? (Sorry haven't read the whole thread, but I understand these places are nearly impossible to drive your own car into?)

If you find yourselves in Bangkok give me a shout as there's definitely a pint waiting for you here.
We're planning to head through China from Central Asia to Laos. It's a bit of a bureaucratic pain taking a car across China and you need a government 'guide' to accompany you, but it is at least possible, and a few PHers have done it in the past (Rach* for one). Not remotely cheap though!

I'm never one to turn down a pint - hopefully see you next year! thumbup
That's what I've heard about China. A few motorcyclists here have managed it one way or another. Vietnam itself is meant to be difficult too.

Will follow with interest.

mig25_foxbat2003

5,426 posts

210 months

Thursday 25th October 2012
quotequote all
I've just finished the book. Some warnings to anyone considering its purchase:

- It WILL leave you with severe itchy feet syndrome
- It WILL send you to the classifieds for 944s.
- It WILL leave you with that slight feeling of emptiness (which all good books do) once you finish it.

I sincerely hope you'll be writing one about this trip Ben?

fivetenben

Original Poster:

589 posts

169 months

Thursday 25th October 2012
quotequote all
mig25_foxbat2003 said:
I've just finished the book. Some warnings to anyone considering its purchase:

- It WILL leave you with severe itchy feet syndrome
- It WILL send you to the classifieds for 944s.
- It WILL leave you with that slight feeling of emptiness (which all good books do) once you finish it.

I sincerely hope you'll be writing one about this trip Ben?
I'm glad you (and others who have mirrored your sentiments) enjoyed it - thanks for saying so as it kinda makes the years of effort writing the thing worth it. I am indeed planning to write a sequel about V8Nam; hope this trip doesn't generate quite as much material to work with though, if you catch my drift!

So Mr Foxbat, are you still tempted to stalk us across Asia in an old XJ8? wink