THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

I agree, give it to Vince.

Hey, I'm back in town and will be here for a while. Have you passed through McCall yet? Somehow I doubt it if you're going 55mph from Denver. Check your pm for my number. Maybe some of the other local Pinz guys can join us for a beverage.

I am ok with that...just need Vince to pm me and I will GETTER DONE!!!!!

Jer Bear

SO I got out of Denver at 10 pm..crazy I know. I just have to make some time up.
her's a pic of Linda Dennis and me in the afternoon before I left...great people

Drove to Cheyene cause I figured it would be faster and at night I-70 I wouldn't be able to see anything anyway. Well I turned west from Cheyene and they had a wind and drifting snow warning...yeah DUH!!!!

Wind gusting to 60 mph...they said that no trucks with empty trailers...they didn't mention PINZ's at all so off I went....I couldn't get out of 4th gear....cause of the head wind.

Then it turned and was hitting from the side...I had a semi ahead of me and the trailer to a big hit on the ice and it blem it just about 45 degrees to the right. He did good to keep her on the road, but he pulled over a bit further up the road. I had her locked into 4 wheel and just drove my 65 kms per hour (when I could go that fast).

Well it made for a very long night to say the least. I got to Rawlins and the weather wasn't any better but it was light out at least.





I stopped to get gas and a guy wanted to trade me vehicles (should have taken him up on it cause I could have traded it off and bought 2 or 3 pinz's later)..too tired to think by then I guess.

Anyway side winds and blowing snow and idiots were still passing us like they were late for a wedding, but I think they were trying to make a FUNERAL ...crazy. They come up behind you and get in the bumper to bumper mode some of these people and looking impatient. When did driving to the road conditions go out the window. If someone had to stop FORGET IT.

They have these SUV's and all season radials - whoopty whoopty. Then they start sliding around cause they are going way too fast. It was fun just to watch, but I also gave them Lottttttts of room.

Looked like a vehicle hockey game (I'm canadian remember) with everyone sliding around chasing each other around on a pond somewhere. I had to pull a guy out (first time he has ever been in a ditch). Said he was changing his fuel tank over to the other tank and looked up and he was going in a circle and headed backwards into the ditch.

He was on the otherside of the divided so I had to go through the ditch. About 2 feet of crusty wind blown snow in the dip and she went through it like nothing. I pulled him out and we were facing the otherway to the traffic so I told him to stay to the side. He had a half ton with big wide BALD tires on it. So a state trooper shows up and I get him out. The trooper puts on the lights to give this guy a head start.

Now picture this. It's almost a WHITEOUT with the drifting snow and the idiot slams down the gas pedal and he's off fishtailing right in front of a semi....I don't think he even looked. Where do these guys come from (should have maybe left him in the ditch for a bit longer). The trooper said to me "what the heck is wrong with that guy. I better chase him down before he kills somebody".

It finally cleared up and the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful (crap - I like a good adventure). Lots of Elk and deer coming into Salt Lake...beautiful drive down. I was also glad I was coming down the hill too. Couldn't imagine going hte otherway it would be a slow go.
I could have done the DENNIS "rolls canardly" down there.

So I made it to Boise this morning (wed at 7:30 am).

On my way to see Wayne up in McCAll. I have to work on monday so I can't spend much time there, but it will be good to meet him. I need some shirts too (just another good thing).

Here's a pic of Wayne and his 74 Pinz and the weather there (SNOW - WOW)



P.S. - the Webasto is AWESOME - I think I will do some more ducting after, but I have some good vents up at the front in the foot wells. I slept in the back on the seats last night for about 2 hours and left it on the back vent...Cooked me out of there..I had to open the windows...that's NICE .

Then I smelt those darn cats again ...you guys real have to start feeding them different food so when they get run over they don't stink so bad

Side note: the HARDTOP is great with the table in the back. I have bought a bunch of food and a cooler and I can make my meals on it and I can just sit back on the front facing seats with the engine off AND HEAT ON and just enjoy the break.


I think I could almost heat up a can of beans in front of the rear heater too. Dennis installed a splitter so I can have heat upfront or the rear and I will modify it a bit more (NO time to do it at his shop) so I can have it on both. The interior light was a nice touch too.


Talk at you soon..gotta run

Jer Bear

JerBear made it to McCall today, so we enjoyed the beautiful day with a beer and a sandwich and met with another Pinz-head and talked trucks for a bit. Jerry's picked up a clean 710k and Dennis' mods are very nicely done. We were both impressed with the toasty heat from the QUIET webasto and I particularly liked seeing the EI winch bumper as it's one of my planned upgrades. Jerry seems to like to drive long distances so he's probably spending the night in Couer d'Alene or maybe even in Canada.
Nice to meet you Jerry! Have a good, safe trip, Wayne

Did I win something? Somebody told me I won something....

Yep, Vince, you're a winner. Jerry told me to send you a Got Pinz? shirt- what size? Oh, and address too! Maybe via PM

Cool! I don't have a Pinz shirt for some reason so this will fix me up.

A curious fact: I have a rare factory Steyr Puch vest with 10(?) pockets and a factory Pinzgauer hat in green that I picked up in the UK from a small collection of Pinz civy dealer material which came with one of the old sales brochures too. I also got a hold of a Pinz pen made from wood while at the Graz factory. (it broke after the third use... and no, Steyr didn't build them)

Would Jerbear's air filter problem have been any better with a remote cyclone or air inlet up on top like some others on the forum have?

Made it home in one piece, but many adventures and break downs (OBSTACLES) as our INTERNET BUSINESS would say.

I will fill you in tomorrow or the next day..very tired - 7883 kms to my door from Mt Horeb WI.

Thanks to all the people that helped me out on the way...I will have more details when I get some SLEEEEEEEEEP.

Jer Bear

I think a bunch of us feel like we made the trip with you!

We did a long Distance trip From North Germany when we brought our Volvo C304 TGB13 Home to Wales a total of 1313Km (816miles) in our first day we covered 872Km (542 miles). A fair bit shorter than yours!

Here is an account of our journey, http://www.c303.de/c303-forum/index.php ... eadid=8005

Glad you made it safe! I bet you win the prize for longest trip home in a Pinz! Good stuff.

7883 kms to my door from Mt Horeb WI.

Yep, that's a good run, even by Aussie standards!
.... roughly about the same as driving from Melbourne (Victoria) to Perth (Western Australia) and back again!

OK where was I ...oh yeah leaving boise to McCall to see Wayne (McCall Pinz). Beautiful day - sunny warming up. The charge light has started to come on, but is going off in about 15 minutes so I wasn't very concerned.

Head up to the mountains. Very impressed with her ability to corner and climb...mostly 4th gear. - REALLY GLAD I GOT THE NOISE CANCELLING HEADPHONES...good call guys. Awesome country this part of the world. Kinda like where I grew up in Kamloops BC. Good mountains and sagebrush and catus and pine trees and the most inviting rivers (for a flyfisherman without his gear) IT WAS KILLING ME!!!!!!!!!

I meet Wayne at the gas station. We go to his house that he designed VERY NICE. and pick up some more shirts. He invites me to go over to meet another Pinz owner Dave (not sure of his last name or if it came up). He has a 710 with tracks and a 712 that are been used as shuttles for a world class xcountry ski race so I never got to see them

Anyway between him and Wayne they were under over and around mine to see the differences. I didn't know there were so many, but then I have a radio model so there was bound to be a few alright.

So Wayne bought me lunch and a BEER (which I really savoured) and I was off to Porthill Idaho to cross the border. I got there around 2 am and the border didn't open till 7 am. So I put on the webasto and pulled out the sleeping bag and fell asleep for some much needed rest.

Woke up to the sounds of semi's thought I was getting ran over. Anyway the guards were great. Got me through after a few basic questions and a TOUR of the Pinz.

Get to the canadian border and again the gang there was great. Had a hard time believing I was driving this rig all the way to the Yukon though. Actually one of the guys lived here in Frazer at the border craossing there and we new some mutual people

Then the RCMP stepped in the see if she was road worthy and to check to see if the temporary permit that George gave me wouldl get me home incase I was pulled over. Real nice guy and he wrote me up a pass I couls show if I got stopped. So after sitting there for about 45 minutes and showing the boys the PINZ we were off. Final destination for the day..Penticton BC.

Next hurdle: Getting gas in BC. I didn't know it but they had passed a law YES A LAW. You have to pre-pay your gas first. I LOST IT (too much driving I guess).

The lady came out of the station while I was attempting to get the pump working and she says " sirrrrrrrrrrrr. you neeeed to pre-payyyyyyyyy first you know". Well I didn't know. I asked her" how am I supposed to pre-pay if I don't know how much it is going to be (seemed like a fair statement to me). So now she starts reading me the riot act. "if you don't pre-pay you can't have any gas"...the guy next to me pumping his gas is now listening to our conversation.

THERE ARE NO CREDIT CARD OR DEBIT CARD MACHINES ON THIS PUMP OK.

I asked how I pre-pay. She explains that I can give her my credit card and then I can get gas. I asked her why this law was enacted. She said that a young guy was dragged and died when trying to stop someone from driving away from the pumps without paying. I empathized with her and the boy and thought he should have had some better training like getting a licence plate number, but I asked what that ONE incident had to do with ME. AM I A CRIMINAL NOW......opps the red neck is starting to creep out of my collar on my shirt.

I thought to myself "Are you saying now that I am a criminal or thief without knowing me" "am I guilty before being proven innocent" I told her if she wanted to, she could pump the gas for me and I will hold my credit card (just like the old days when there was SERVICE stations - that pumped your gas, washed the windows, checked the oil, and oh my god you had a conversation with while all of this was happening).

I told her I didn't trust her with my credit card either (I didn't really bother me any more than a waiter or waitress, but I was making my STAND). Well she lost it. "if you want gas this is how it's has to happen" and I said "NO it doesn't".

After a bit of reasoning ( I asked her to take a good long hard look at my ride. do you think you could out run a gas attendant with it as well as a police cruiser...not likely. Plus how many of these are there with WI plates and a flashing yellow light on them. She finally just turned on the pumps and I had MY credit card in MY wallet.

The guy next to me starts to clap. Finally someone stood up for COMMON SENSE (not always so common by the way).

NOW SOME FUN STUFF

SO I am pulling away from the pumps.....

More tomorrow

Jer Bear