Hello Dave Connitt,
Off the list you wrote:
"How did your Herald get so rusty down there..."
Funny you should ask. The truth is Lima is a desert
with any green growth by way of gravity irrigation
from the rivers, principally El Rio Rimac or the
talking river and it's tributaries, that have their
sources in the Andes. Lima should be dry but it's
average humidity hovers around +90% year round. What
little rain that falls is mostly mist and at it's
worst it is a hard drizzle. Cars rust and fungus
grows in dark closets. Where does it come from? Lima
is underlaid geologicaly by an extensive aquifer layer
that runs like a river near enough to the surface to
cause this tremendous humidity, that and being subject
to the marine weather. When the Conquistadors asked
the Incas where they should put their capital in the
New World they indicated the land Lima sits on today.
The Incas were certain that the Spainiards would soon
get sick and die from sicknesses caused by the
humidity in the area. Almost five hundred years later
and they are still alive but not so well. All suffer
from seasonal colds. I lived in Lima from 6 months to
4 years of age in 1960 and all I remember is a
constant white overcast sky. One goes a bit north or
south or inland a few meters more above sea level and
it is sunny all year round, but not in Lima.
"Glad to hear you are inspired. Someone inspired me so
I guess I am just passing it along."
...and the right tools for the job sure helps the
inspiration along. I have purchased a socket set and a
few other hand tools but the availability of good ones
is not very wide spread here. I have yet to ship all
my tools I left in the Los Angeles to Peru but hope to
soon.
"Can you still get body pieces?"
Yes, by finding a parts car that has rust where yours
does not. For example, today I checked out and test
drove a 1968 Saloon as a possible donor for Petunia
the 1965 convertible. Petunia has a solid floor pan
but the LH firewall/tub corner is showing daylight
along the seam with the floor a foot in either
direction from the corner with heavy rust from there
on up the firewall and side kick panel. This 1968 I
checked out has a completly rusted floor with an
almost equally corroded repair that retained what
little was left of the pan under it thereby trapping
additional moisture where none is desired but it's
firewall is pretty much intact but rusty. All sheet
metal of this vintage and younger here in Lima is
already skim coated with Bondo over rusty metal, and I
do mean all.
Here are the N0's off the Comm. plate
1968 Triumph Herald Saloon, badges are missing.
Comm. 9GB55608LDL
Engine CD101230HE
The plate also had a "V" and an "R".
The original and current color of the car is green,
"verde" in spanish or "V" and under the brown torn
seat cover I see the original red torn seat cover,
"rojo" in spanish or "R", but I could be wrong about
the nomenclature.
More later,
Reporting from Peru, Javier Vidaurre
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