Around the World in a Ponton Part 3
Article and Images Elisabeth Smits
In August 2014, Fred and Elisabeth Smits set out from New Zealand with their trusty 1957 220S Ponton on a five-year trip around the world. In an occasional series, they share highlights of their journey over the past 11 months, from visiting New York City, Detroit and beyond, to seeing the Indianapolis 500, Mount Rushmore and the beautiful Canadian Rockies, then standing among Mayan ruins on Mexico’s dramatic Yucatan Peninsula. Everywhere, they have been warmly welcomed by fellow Mercedes-Benz enthusiasts.
At the beginning of February 2016, my husband Fred and I – Facebooking our adventures along the way as the “Classic Striders” – returned to Mexico City after taking two months off from the five-year world tour we began in August 2014 (See The Star, November-December 2014 and May-June, 2015). We had gone back home to New Zealand, where we celebrated the Christmas and New Year holidays with family and friends before resuming our world travels in “Abel,” our trusted 1957 Mercedes-Benz 220S Ponton towing “Zambezi,” our sturdy little tent-trailer.
Sitting on the deck of our house near Wellington, we sipped a New Zealand Pinot Gris and contemplated all the fantastic memories created during 2014 and 2015. Thinking back on the long and winding route that has now taken us some 39,000 miles through the United States, Canada, Mexico and Belize, we remembered the places we visited, the people we met and friends we made, and the numerous car events and presentations we attended during the 17 months we have been out on the road. Then we excitedly began planning the route for 2016 that would take us farther through Mexico and into Central and South America. Now, with our minds full of all these wonderful memories and plans for the future, we’d like to update our friends in the Mercedes-Benz Club of America on the highlights of our travels.
Some highlights pictured in this report: Mercedes-Benz factory, Tuscaloosa [2], The White House [3], Fallingwater [4], New York City [5], Indy 500 [6], Mount Rushmore [7], Devils Tower [8], Canadian Rockies [9], Mechanical issues [10], Golden Gate [11], Mercedes-Benz Classic Center [12], Tropic of Cancer [13], Guanajuato [14], Club Mercedes-Benz MÈxico party [15], La Carrera Panamericana [16], Izamal, Yucatan [17], Chichen Itza [18], Oaxaca [19].
North along the East Coast
Following the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance festivities in March 2015 (The Star, May-June 2015), we gave a presentation to MBCA members in Birmingham, followed by a visit to the MBUSI assembly plant in Tuscaloosa. In Chattanooga, we visited Coker Tire headquarters that displays Corky Coker’s car collection, which includes a copy of the Marmon Wasp that won the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911. It was an exciting preview of the 2015 Indy 500 for which we had just bought tickets.
The Classic Striders drove over the Tail of the Dragon (U.S. 129), a renowned driving route just south of the Smoky Mountains National Park. This famous twisting drive reminded us of many mountain roads in New Zealand. The dangers lurking around its 318 corners over 11 miles are memorialized on the Tree of Shame, with bike and car parts nailed to the tree and dangling from its branches.
The Blue Ridge Parkway took us to beautiful Asheville, North Carolina, to the Biltmore Estate and BMW assembly plant in nearby Greer. We’ll remember Asheville as the place where we had our coldest spell: A bottle of wine in the fridge froze overnight.
On Easter morning at 7, we took our much-desired picture of Abel in front of the White House, fullfilling one key objective of our tour inspired by the June 2011 issue of Classic and Sports Car magazine.
Perhaps our worst day on the road was our journey to the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house called Fallingwater in southwestern Pennsylvania: Following Garmin GPS instructions given in the voice we called “Anne,” we took a country road that turned out to be an old logging road with large, protruding rocks and concrete blocks on a steeply climbing single-lane track. Once committed, we couldn’t stop, turn or reverse, horrified as Abel’s underside heavily and incessantly hit the rocks, at times throwing the car and trailer sideways. When the road finally leveled, we stopped to assess the damage. In addition to scratched panel work, large chunks were knocked out of the aluminum oil sump, the tow-bar support structure was deformed and the trailer’s electrical connector needed replacement; we were very lucky that the rig survived that day and will never fully trust the GPS again.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1935 masterpiece, Fallingwater, in rural southwestern Pennsylvania [map 4]
Driving along the East Coast, we spent three fantastic days in New York – which we absolutely loved; enjoyed a tea party in Boston; spent two weeks in New England; and then sailed on the Maid of the Mist, gazing up in awe at the majestic Niagara Falls. In Cleveland, we made a much-anticipated visit to the Crawford Auto-Aviation Collection, where we saw the 1959 Mercedes 220S of our friend Kevin Clemens, who in 2000 rallied with navigator Mark Rinkel around the world in 80 days, starting in and returning back to London. In the same exhibition was the famous 1911 Hupmobile Model D that drove around the globe in 1911 and 1912, covering 48,600 miles and 26 countries in a world without paved roads, maps, service stations or motels. Those accomplishments make the Classic Striders’s journey seem like a Sunday afternoon stroll in the park.
Touring the West
In Detroit – the car guys’ Walhalla – we enjoyed the Ford Rouge Factory Tour and the Chrysler House; visited the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village; and stopped at the remnants of the gigantic Packard Automotive Plant and saw the fantastic Art Deco Fisher Building and Ford Headquarters in Detroit City Center. The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant, where Henry Ford designed and built the first Model T, the car that would change the world, captivated us. We visited Motown Museum, reminding us of earlier days, cruising and listening to stars such as Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, Jackson 5, Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross and the Supremes.
During the next three weeks we saw beautiful Art Deco cars at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum, cheered at the Indy 500, toured Chicago and visited the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee. We stayed with our friend Kevin Clemens in Minnesota; drove through Badlands National Park; said “good morning” in South Dakota to the four presidents on Mount Rushmore and had some close encounters of the third kind at Devils Tower; then drove through Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Montana’s plains into Canada.
After visiting historical automotive and musical sites in Detroit, we attended the Indianapolis 500 [map 6].
Saying “Hello” to the presidents at Mount Rushmore [map 7], and having a close encounter with Devils Tower in Wyoming [map 8].
We enjoyed the greatness of the Canadian Rockies. We didn’t camp out as the odors of Zambezi’s kitchen would likely attract inquisitive bears and the trailer isn’t exactly bear-proof.
After spending a week with MBCA Vancouver Section members and a short visit in Portland, Abel had a catastrophic mechanical failure that required a tow to MBI Motors in Portland: the universal joint on the right-rear swing axle had completely failed, shattering the differential case, bending the solid 1.25-inch hinge pin and deforming the tube joint. Replacement parts came from MBI’s own stock and from the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center, while our friend Henry at Magno Restorations in New England provided a used differential case and axle tube, parts that are no longer made: Abel was on the road again two weeks later. Unfortunately, the rear wheels are still misaligned, causing excessive wear of our special Kumho 175R14C tires not available in the Americas; at time of this writing, 12 new tires were on their way from New Zealand to Mexico City.
Following a nice evening with San Francisco Bay Area Section members, we introduced Abel to “Eva,” Matías Bombal’s 1959 Mercedes 220S. Matías gave us a fantastic tour of Sacramento. During our presentation to the Sacramento Section, Mercedes-Benz of Rocklin installed a white vinyl wrap over Abel’s bonnet and roof, strongly reducing the temperatures inside the car and engine bay, and finally resolving the fuel-evaporation problems of the carburetors, an issue plaguing Abel even after ceramic coating the manifolds, insulating the intake manifolds, raising the hood and fitting a fuel return line.
In Los Angeles, we fitted Abel and Zambezi with a new set of tires we had stored there, after which we really had to push on to ensure Abel left the United States before his one-year temporary import permit expired. After a brief good-bye party with our MBCA Chaparral Section friends in Tucson, we raced at 50 mph toward Mexico and crossed the border at Nogales with one day to spare. The Classic Striders needed the first two weeks in Mexico to recover. Driving from Nogales to San Carlos in Sonora, Mexico, we experienced our highest temps on the trip: 115 F outside and 131 F inside Abel. We still wouldn’t have traded that for our cold night in Asheville.
After making repairs, it was on to San Francisco [map 11], the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Irvine [12], and a stop at the Tropic of Cancer in Mexico [map 13].
Experiences in old Mexico
For more than five months now, Abel has taken us along the highways of Mexico, covering some 10,500 miles. We have driven from Nogales through the Sonora Desert in the north to the central highlands over passes as high as 11,000 feet, and past the volcanoes of Mexico City to the southern states with their many historic Mayan cities. We’ve enjoyed Mexico’s stunningly beautiful Spanish-Colonial cities such as Durango, Guanajuato, Oaxaca and San Cristóbal de Las Casas, making the decision to extend our time in this beautiful and friendly country.
The roads in Mexico vary from excellent quality – particularly toll roads – to very poor; many roads have deep potholes that are quite dangerous for our old car and trailer, as we learned last year in Boston, where Abel broke his right-rear shock absorber. We are very much on the lookout for these potholes and the even more dangerous “topes,” very substantial concrete and asphalt humps or steel caps laid across the roads. Pronounced “toe-pays”– which means “limit”– these Mexican speed bumps help slow traffic coming into densely populated villages. I have become the champion topes spotter while Fred has mastered avoiding potholes – “dodging the potholes, dear.”
The colorful city of Guanajuato [map 14].
Do we consider driving a 58-year old car towing a trailer through Mexico dangerous? We are aware of most safety issues, but we are careful and take precautions as much as possible, such as staying on the heavily patrolled toll roads (particularly in northern Mexico) and embracing daylight driving. We have traveled for many years through numerous nations; we really don’t believe Mexico to be more dangerous than other countries. In fact, we have never felt uncomfortable at any time.
So far on our travels, we were actually made most uncomfortable when attacked by red ants. After visiting the Belize Zoo and Tropical Education Center near Belize City, we noticed hundreds of large red ants crawling inside Abel; when I opened Zambezi’s door at the campsite, it was heaving with many more ants crawling amongst our clothes and inside our bed. Removing everything, we fumigated the car and trailer and slept outside that night; the next morning, we cleared those dead ants. Body count: Many thousands. Apparently, these ants feel the heavy monsoon rains coming and move to higher ground. We can only surmise they liked the idea of hitchhiking in our Abel and Zambezi.
Celebrations and recognition
At the end of August, we were the guests of honor at a function organized by Club Mercedes-Benz México to celebrate the Classic Striders’s travels through Mexico. The party was held in the Presidente International Hotel in Mexico City and attended by some 80 members of the club and special invitees, including the chief executive and chairman of Daimler-Benz Mexico, as well as the media. Besides Abel, five other Mexican-built bolitas (“little ball” – Mexicans’ nickname for locally assembled 1950s’ Pontons) were parked outside. After speeches, wine and lunch, we talked and partied into the evening. We felt so very special and are most grateful to Club Mercedes-Benz México for organizing such a fantastic day and introducing us to so many new friends.
By this time, we had driven a large part of the original route of the La Carrera Panamericana, considered by many as the ultimate road race. The race was established in 1950 by the Mexican government to celebrate completion of its 2,178-mile section of the Pan-American Highway between Guatemala and the United States. Between 1950 and 1954, five races were held: The 1952 race was a great success for Mercedes-Benz with its first- and second-place wins with the new 300SL Gullwing – a very close relative to Abel and the main reason for our particular interest in this historic race. Because too many people were killed along this dangerous route with few racing rules and no speed limitations, the race was canceled after 1954.
Fortunately, the famous La Carrera was never forgotten; in 1988, it was revived following the original route as closely as possible. While we were there in November, the 28th race took place with the 82 participating cars – mainly 1950s-1980s classics – driving at speeds reaching 160 mph along closed sections of Mexico’s highways. The race’s president, Eduardo de León Camargo, invited us as special guests at the official start in Tuxtla Gutiérrez “to recognize our effort to drive around the world in a 1957 Mercedes-Benz.” And so, with Abel decked out in that year’s insignia, we were the first to be waved off the starting ramp in the honorary pole position for the 2015 La Carrera Panamericana.
We have truly fallen in love with Mexico – its fascinating history and breadth of cultures – and its scenery ranging from dry deserts to rainforests and beautiful beaches to high mountains with volcanoes. Most of all, we just love Mexico’s hard-working, friendly and helpful people who always seem to be enjoying their lives. We spent much time listening to the rhythm of marimbas, to the mariachis with their guitars singing romantic Mexican folksongs, shared the sexy Latino dancing in the city squares and listened to outstanding classical music performances in Mexico’s stunning concert halls.
Mexico really got hold of us. While we intended to drive through Mexico in less than six weeks, we are now planning to leave the country for Guatemala in mid-April 2016, giving us a full seven months in this wonderful country.
Abel meets a four-legged friend in the charming colonial town of Izamal on the Yucatan Peninsula [map 17].
Visiting Mayan ruins, Chichen Itza, Yucatan [map 18].
We have fallen in love with Mexico’s history and culture, and its warm and friendly people: Colorful festival in Oaxaca [map 19].
Follow our journey as it unfolds by visiting www.Facebook.com/ClassicStrider; for background information, go to www.ClassicStrider.com. Here’s to the open road ahead.