You do realize they are a privately owned company, right?

The owner and I sat down after a catfish dinner in East Texas last year just socializing, and our talks gravitated to our respective businesses and of course the Bible's teaching on the subject of money in business. He is an ordained protestant minister, and I am a Christian. We kicked the subject of financing around. heh! Imagine that!? It is one h#ll of an attractive business plan they have, from peripherals I learned while engaging the founder. I took away that my "little" sales agency firm was in as good or better condition balance sheetwise, as they are. We were in complete agreeance on the need to be almost, if not entirely debt-free and extremely liquid, to keep our businesses healthy and wealthy. ; I look forward to our next visit, although I don't know exactly when that will be. Hopefully later this Spring or early Summer in Iowa. It was totally impromptu this meeting about business strategies. Truly - the best kind!

They never had any intention of entering the Class A business. That was never on the radar screen for 40 years now. They faltered terribly in the Super C business. There just isn't the market for their products there, any more than the p#ss-ant Class B business - (yuk!) I admire the company's business acumen to say the least. I would run it a tad tighter financially though.

It's 1300 miles from Amsterdam to the Russian border, via Osnabruck-Hannover-Berlin-Warsaw-Minsk-Smolensk. Smolensk to Moscow is 250mi, and from Moscow it's the Trans-Siberian Highway all the way to Vladivostok, which actually begins in St Petersburg btw. Then, the route is as follows: Moscow–Kolomna–Ryazan-Penza–Tol’yatti-Ufa-Chelyabinsk-Kurgan-Ishim–Omsk-Novosibirsk–Kemerevo-Krasnoyarsk-Irkutsk-Ulan Ude-Chita-Blagoveshchensk-Khabarovsk–Vladivostok. Total distance (one way): 6500mi

Route has way to many places to see for just two months. On the way back, Volvograd is obviously a must so a little detour will be required.
The 'adventurous' part lies between Irkutsk and Vladivostok where there is no BMW-service, and right-hand drive cars only (Japanese imports).

Check out this website >>
http://www.apex.ru/apex/ru/articles/o_15650
and >>
http://www.apex.ru/apex/ru/expedition#

Best Regards,
V.

__________________
2011 Prius

Ok, I'll admit that Ferrari model designations confuse me (as do Harley-Davidson's), unlike the normally sensible (but then why does my 250 have a 2.8 liter engine?) model designations of Mercedes-Benz. I was referring to that car from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

I'll freely admit that driving is my favorite activity and that I'd rather drive the biggest poor handling wrong wheel drive domestic POS than not drive at all. OTOH, I also really like horseback riding and would probably take an hour on a good Dutch Warmblood or Thoroughbred over an hour in most cars.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Now THAT is some select company!.
Almost any preWW2 car would make for a memorable trip.

__________________
1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

Jeep CJ3A, with a good soft top and an overdrive

Open car, flathead, or F head. Lots of gear whine and mechanical noise for ambiance.
It could work!

__________________
1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

A newish lincoln town car would be an ideal long road trip car.

Lately I've been piling up the miles in my 1999 BMW 528i. Highly enjoyable car. The best I've ridden in for long road trips.

That screams for a bike.

I also have a friend who built a Lotus 7 replica. He powered it with a tuned/modified engine from a Turbo T-Bird. I drove it before the tuning was all sorted out and it was QUICK, then.
Its basically a 4 wheel motorcycle that seats 2 side-by-side.

__________________
1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

What is your price/budget?

Here's a real one:

http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/carsforsale/lotus/unspecified/1168798.html

I'm probably not looking to buy anything. If I make the RT, it'll be with a friend who already has the TR6. I will probably have some sweat equity in it to make it reliable for the trip. But as for this thread, it was an outgrowth of reading Peter Eagan and his RT adventures.
I Thought everyone would enjoy dreaming along with me.

__________________
1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

That's an affirmative!

I like your attitude!

If I were going across the USA I'd get something big and heavy with strong shocks and soft upholstery. Like Crown Victoria. Think how all of those troopers' asses have voted time and again.