New from Holland

[Stevoo]

Hello everyone!

My name is Steve, I live in The Netherlands with my wife and two kids. I bought my 1952 burb in 2000, it's currently under restauration and will take a long time to finish..

In dec. 2009 we went to Florida to find a 1980's Suburban to take back home... ended up buying two, one in Miami and one in North Port, and sold one to a buddy of me.
So I used to drive a 1984 C10 Suburban, that was before my wife learned to drive it here and took it...
Anyway I love to work on it and fortunately it needs a lot of work!

I will be posting pictures as soon as I figured out how to do that....

bye

Stevoo

[Stevoo]

Oh! I guess I just figured out how to post a picture!

Well, the one on the left is my wife, and the one on the right is my love... JUST KIDDING HONEY!!!

[Stevoo]

This is my 1952 burb. On the picture it's hauled to my brothers' shop on the other side of the country to start the restauration.

We modified a 1987 K30 chassis to fit the body of the burb, all new drivetrain and 36 inch tires (which is BIG here). Burb already had a 350 SB with a 350 tranny which will be replaced by a 400 4x4 tranny. And it runs on natural gas. Our kind of natural gas anyway. We call it LPG. Liquified Petroleum Gas. Saves a lot of money on taxes.

But again, it will take a while to finish this one. My brothers' shop is at the other side of the country, it cost a lot of money to ship parts to Holland and I am rebuilding my house currently..

But like we say in Holland: Wat in het vat zit verzuurt niet.

bye

Stevoo

[Stevoo]

I wrote rebuilding, I ment remodelling.

I'm dutch. It's hard sometimes.

[Clyde65]

Welcome from Texas!

Question, why do alot of folks bring vehicles from US to Europe? other than the American iron is just the coolest, it takes alot of $ to ship and then getting parts, Im just curious as to why.

Also the LPG is it cheaper or? how is it different from LNG and regular gas?

[jeffg1010]

Welcome from North Carolina! I love to see classic American muscle being built in Europe.

Wat in het vat zit verzuurt niet.

Doesn't that translate into something like ... "What the vessel is not sour" ???

[Stevoo]

Thanks for the welcomes!

To answer your question Clyde, you said it yourself.. American Iron is the coolest. I don't know of any vehicle other then American Iron which can seat 8 persons and their luggage, pull a heavy trailer at the same time, has a mumbling V8 and look great in the process... And let's be honest, nothing beats cubic inches! How do you say it; 'Nuff said?!

Sure there are some Japanese trucks like Nissan Patrol which have a V8, but those engines will break down eventually, and when I need parts I can choose between one or two parts dealers in Holland and pay top dollar (only in euros then), or learn how to speak Japanese.

And for the Range Rover, well, I'm not royalty.


LPG is a lot cheaper in Holland. Gas is around $ 8.50 a gallon if I calculated it right ( € 1.59 per liter), and LPG costs like $ 3.80 per gallon. (€ 0.78 per liter)
Because my truck is older then 25 years I don't have to pay road tax at all, which is normally higher when you drive on LPG.

For the difference between LPG and LNG, all I know is that LNG is 90% methane, and LPG is 90% Propane and butane. My brother bought a '34 Chevy truck which ran on LNG, and the system itself is exactly the same. The only thing he has to convert is the tank because it has to be approved.

For the saying "Wat in het vat zit verzuurt niet." Jeff, "What the vessel is not sour" is the exact translation. It means something like what you ow you don't have to buy, even if you don't use it and keep it for later.

Gotta go now. Hit the shower and go to work.

Bye.

Steve

[jayman68]

Welcome. Great looking trucks, good luck with them.

[Stevoo]

Thanks Jay!

Steve

[ZUBZ]

Nice one Steve. Lovely, didnt know there was Chev's in Holland....well now I know...Very nice and good luck.....

[Stevoo]

After driving for one year it became clear that the oil consumption of our Sub was a little too high. My brother, a corvette mechanic, said that the engine probably needed some new valveseals. So we took the heads off, and end up rebuilding the heads completely...

[Stevoo]

Ofcourse the seals where only part of the problem. We found out that the engine had received little or no maintanance during it's life and probably had 200 000 + miles on it. Because we had little or no time to fix the problem and the Sub was no daily driver we took the gamble and only did the heads. That was in july 2011.

So. Last month I mentioned to my wife we could use a new motor. She agreed and I called my brother to find out how much the costs are to buy a new motor and ship it to Holland. Well, buying a new motor is not the problem. Shipping it is not the problem. Paying taxes IS a problem. Shipping and taxes are the same amount as a new motor.

A week later my brother called and gave me an offer I could'nt refuse. A brand new (1700 miles) 350 ci, 290 Hp motor with a solid 326 ft.-lbs torque. So I said yes before he could change his mind and drove to his shop, and a few hours later this was the result..

[1ATony]

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