Did you know you can't drive to Bogota Columbia? - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Kuan · #16 08-05-2015, 08:08 AM

They should have just gone Unimog.

TX76513 · #17 08-05-2015, 08:41 AM

There is a member here Delibes that chronicled his attempt.
THREAD

tbomachines · #18 08-05-2015, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BAVBMW

Actually, two out of three Corvairs made it:

In 1961, a team of three 1961 Chevrolet Corvairs and several support vehicles departed from Panama. The group was sponsored by Dick Doane Chevrolet, a Chicago Chevrolet dealer and the Chevrolet division of General Motors. After 109 days they reached the Colombia Border with two Corvairs, the third having been abandoned in the jungle. This was the first crossing by a standard two wheel drive passenger car. It has been documented by a Jam Handy Productions film along with an article in Automobile Quarterly magazine (Volume 1 number 3, from the fall of 1962).

The whole thing is a mess, no one seems to be able to maintain a ferry service, the area is a hotspot for various armed groups involved in whatever the conflict of the day is. People are still doing it, but it isn't popular and/or newsworthy.

MV

Wonder how many belts they threw getting there...

Sent from an abacus

strelnik · #19 08-05-2015, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BAVBMW

Actually, two out of three Corvairs made it:

In 1961, a team of three 1961 Chevrolet Corvairs and several support vehicles departed from Panama. The group was sponsored by Dick Doane Chevrolet, a Chicago Chevrolet dealer and the Chevrolet division of General Motors. After 109 days they reached the Colombia Border with two Corvairs, the third having been abandoned in the jungle. This was the first crossing by a standard two wheel drive passenger car. It has been documented by a Jam Handy Productions film along with an article in Automobile Quarterly magazine (Volume 1 number 3, from the fall of 1962).

The whole thing is a mess, no one seems to be able to maintain a ferry service, the area is a hotspot for various armed groups involved in whatever the conflict of the day is. People are still doing it, but it isn't popular and/or newsworthy.

MV

Wow Jam Handy, now that's a name that brings up memories of the old Days in the Big 3, when Jam Handy, Campbell-Ewald and Creative Universal created all the media products in Detroit. You could almost make a " Mad Men " style movie about that era and those companies.Wen I started working for Chrysler in 1976, CU was doing most of the training production schemes, paying talented people 5.70 an hour!

Delibes · #20 08-05-2015, 12:42 PM

1) A bit of a pet-peeve: it's spelled COLOMBIA.
2) In order to cross the Darien gap, you need to ship your car in a container, although there is a new ferry service that is expected to start soon...

Here's my chronicle on the crossing (from Colón, Panama to Cartagena, Colombia):

A Man. A Plan. A Canal. | THIS EUROPEAN LIFE

Container shipping cost me about $1,100 as of 2013, sharing it with a charming Russian family touring the world in a Landcruiser.

BAVBMW · #21 08-05-2015, 12:54 PM

Which ferry? The big one quit a few months ago, and the small one just announced he wasn't going to be able to do it. Bikes are sticking with the 'Ratte, but cars? Yeah... looks like it's going to have to be shipping.

I can't quite understand how it is that a ferry can't make a go of it there.

MV

JB3 · #22 08-05-2015, 03:38 PM

Cheapest way to go is via motorcycle

Friend of mine did that on a big single cylinder 700cc mil spec dirt bike with a friend similarly equipped. They were able to load their bikes as deck cargo on a largish sailboat and work as hands to colombia.

Were also able to cross another body of water with the bike standing in a narrow canoe

Incidentally he states that border crossings are a lot easier on a bike as well. Guards dont spend much time going over the bike.