Visit to So. Cal from Belgium in a G Wagon R V

[ROLLGUY]

I had a visit a few months ago from a couple from Belgium (Heinrick & his wife Ane) that drove their home built 1989 G300 R V to America for an extended vacation.


Heinrick replied to a craigslist ad I had for 'Benz parts. They had already driven 10,000+ miles. He thought he might need a new engine (OM617)because of a rod knock sound, and a space to work on it. I told him he was welcome to use my driveway and stay there as long as needed to do the repairs. It turned out that it did not need an engine after all. He did some major repairs though, and was here for about a week. He removed the radiator and replaced the bent harmonic balancer, removed the trans to check the flywheel bolts, replaced the rear pinion seal, repaired a leak in the oil sender, replaced the slave cyl, belts, coolant,and oil.
Heinrick built the R V body from used fiberglass road signs. I have to say it is the best home built R V I have ever seen.


It is fully self contained with a custom galley

and all the appliances needed to be self contained. All heating/cooking is done with Diesel fired appliances (cooktop, water hearer, furnace). The small refrigerator uses Diesel as well.
It has a shower and toilet as well, and the appropriate holding tanks. This is an awesome rig!

They plan to drive to South America, and return to CA in the summer. They will fly home for a month or so, and come back to finish their vacation through next year. They plan to drive back to Belgium through Russia (having their rig shipped from Canada to Japan?).
They keep in touch via email, or internet phone when they are somewhere with Wi Fi.