renovation

Diego Percivaldi drove his 27-year-old car almost 10,000 miles through 11 countries to see Ford Motor Co.'s headquarters on Thursday.
he trip from Argentina to Dearborn took 47 days in Percivaldi's 1981 Ford Falcon.

"The Ford Falcon, in Argentina, it's very sentimental for all the Argentine people," Percivaldi said, adding that he drove the Argentine version of the four-door vehicle that featured a luggage rack and sported several sponsorship stickers.

The trip took three years to plan, he said, and the Falcon's original engine was rebuilt in preparation for slow ride north.

"If you don't love cars, it's impossible to travel with this car," Percivaldi said.

Percivaldi, 32, declined to say how much the trip cost, but did say sponsors helped with half the expenses. He said he paid as much as $8 per gallon for gas in Peru and $1.40 in Ecuador.

Cecilia, Percivaldi's 32-year-old wife, said the trip has long been a goal for the family of four.

"We have always dreamed of a trip like this," she said.

Upon arriving unannounced at the Dearborn headquarters of No. 2 U.S. automaker, the family walked up to the security desk at about noon and asked to speak to someone from Ford, spokesman Tom Hoyt said.

Hoyt said he will be talking to senior management to see if they will do anything for the family.

In the meantime, Percivaldi said they'll stay in Michigan for a few more days before heading home - by plane.

The Falcon will be shipped back home, he said.
http://www.wxyz.com/news/local/story...5-d98ad100dd3d

man i dont know if i want to offer these people AWARD for driving a Ford Falcon station wagon 100,000 in one trip. or a years supply

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DarkFury

I'm kinda surprised he actually made it in that heap..

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Markel

That would be a 10,000 mile trip - BIG difference from 100,000.

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stay low... keep moving...

ShawnLee

Sheesh - if you love it, then great, but dang...
I love that he and his wife are 32 years old and their car is 27. It'd be even better if it were a couple of 25 year olds.

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Jihforce

He rebuilt the engine tho...for all we know it was really Toyota or Honda engine under the hood.

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mojo

my '69 barracuda was running strong when i got rid of it. my father's '65 falcon was running strong when he traded it for a mustang.

i think the thing is that we forget that cars back then were actually built to last

i guess if you take care of any car, it should last. i dunno if that's always the case tho

actually, now that i think about it, it was an '81. nevermind

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these matches say you're lying

DarkFury

I'm glad that you caught the fact that we are talkin' an 80s model Ford here.

Sure, if I had to own another Furd... I'd much rather it be a nostalgic one from the 60s era than any of the uninspired and unreliable designs they are churning out today.

I already made the mistake twice.... I'm not going there again. And believe me, I took care of both of my Furds... the T-Bird is still running with my nephew down in Florida, but honestly, for all the extra money I pumped into her over the last 6 years she'd better keep running. My old '89 Furd Probe is probably sitting in someone's scrap yard somewhere. I took care of her too... but alas, she was flawed from her maker as well.

To date, I still have not had to make any major repairs to either my Dodge or my Chrysler. Maybe I got lucky... who knows, but honestly, within 2 years of ownership of both of my Furds, I got back my money's worth in the extended warranties I bought back in the day (back when they only gave you 12 months/12,000 miles for basic warranty coverage...)

mojo

i don't trust most cars from the '80s. any make, any model. well, my '85 bmw is still running, but that's different.

the '90s fords were good to me. and the 2000s have been good so far

DarkFury

Glad you have a good experience with them. But for me, 2 strikes and they're OUT!!!

My '96 wasn't so lucky... but it was lucky to have ME as it's owner knowing that I would take care of it to the point where she's still rollin' today (albeit not parking in MY garage anymore. )

thresher

DF you are so anti-Ford. I mean big time. Just a question, how have your Diamond Stars been treating you thus far? Did you buy extended warranties on these cars as well? I am on my last truck payment (amen) in 3 days and wouldn't you know it, the check engine light has popped on. Otherwise, my Ford trucks have been nothing but joys to own.
Thresh

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DarkFury

You are right... I am the Furd Anti-christ now.

Yes, I did buy the extended warranties on both my truck and my car (7 years, 70,000 miles bumper to bumper). I have not had a single claim against either warranty to date. The only time my truck has been in the shop for a repair was for a faulty seatbelt on my rear seat. Other than that, both vehicles run perfectly with no problems.

Within the first year of owning both of my Furds, I began to have various issues. My Probe had an "intermittent electrical problem" where it wouldn't always start. They never did find the cause of that after months of searching, and my T-Bird early on had transmission issues (and once left me hangin' high and dry on Interstate 465 in Indy dropping approximately 13 gallons of transmission fluid all over the road.)

I can tell you that I've visited Furd service dealerships in 4 different states for various problems I've had and honestly, only one of those dealerships really made me feel like a valued customer (mostly because a friend of mine was the Service manager in that particular shop and he made sure that my car was taken care of.)

Over the history of owning both of those vehicles, I usually had to visit the dealership on average of 3 times per year for "non maintenance" repairs. Too bad my "Pimptopia" website is no longer active. I had a running log of all of my repairs going back to 1994.

Trust me, I have very good reason to despise Furd. Even calling their corporate office gave me very little relief from the issues I had. Maybe I'm a "special case" on this, but honestly having similar service issues with 2 different vehicles was enough to convince me that they didn't deserve my business. To date, I still have no quality problems or objections with Dodge/Chrysler.

mojo

it's actually "ford," btw

what are you, 12?

DarkFury

Yup... 12 years out from being a FURD owner.

it's just an abbreviation for Ford's are turds...

thresher

I just noticed DF has 32k posts. HOLY COWS!

mojo

hey, looking at thresher's avatar, i can confirm that it's indeed "ford" and not "furd." i think he may be dyslexic as well

DarkFury

Nope... i'm not dyslexic. If I were, i would spell it Druf.

Fords are still turds. Hence Furd.

Markel

Like DF, I've had my share of troubles with the Ford's I've owned. First the airbag sensor (I never got it fixed - just let the dash light flash), motor mounts (that messed up some AC lines and stuff), then transmission failure on my Taurus. And transmission failure on the Club Wagon I had.