Lola, The Petroleum Falcon - Page 3

Dia · 01-21-2015, 10:41 AM

So... pics.

Here's the sun shining on my departure as I started the first leg of the journey.

And here she is in front of the dealer when we picked her up.

Notice the L-track on the front bumper. Wonder what that was used for?

So then we hit the road to bring her home. We had killer crosswinds, with some white-knucle driving and the PH booming like a drum above us. Not much to see in Texas...

Dia · 01-21-2015, 10:52 AM

Once I got a chance to check out the interior, I kept finding bonus features.

I'm pretty sure this dash isn't stock, and we've got some extra 12v sockets that are controlled by a switch. My sister thinks the dash is carbon fiber (?).

We've also got some interior LEDs, one strip near the middle of the van, and another over the rear cargo doors.

And looky here - a swivel seat. Score!

Dia · 01-21-2015, 11:12 AM

There's also silvery stuff all over the floor under the carpet. Not sure what that is, either. Fatmat, maybe? No logo though, just plain silver. It goes from the very back of the van all the way up front under the footwells, and as far as I can tell, it goes up the walls to the windows. In most places, there's some thin, charcoal gray foam over the silver foil, and sometimes over that, there's what looks like carpet padding. No clue who did it, but that took some time.

See the padding under the carpet where my thumb is? Is that normal, or has that been added? It's under the plastic trim in a lot of places, and the dark gray foam I'm talking about is under my thumb, too, under the padding - almost like it's a backer for the carpet. It's (the thin gray foam) on the walls over the silver foil. I can't tell what's under the foil, but the edges are stuck down with a brownish, putty-type stickum that reminds me of old chewing gum.

All in all, we're delighted with the van. She's got a lot of modifications we didn't know about when we signed the papers, and it's all stuff we would have done anyway. My top three mods were going to be a swivel seat, insulation and LEDs, so boom, done.

I picked up mounts for a platform bed from LeadDoggy on my way back home, and there's no bed for the PH. I foresee plywood in my future! Once we get the sleeping arrangements handled, we're good to go. Frankly, we're good to go now because we can sleep on the floor if we had to.

E350 · 01-21-2015, 12:21 PM

Dia: "Notice the L-track on the front bumper. Wonder what that was used for?"

Although I don't see the wear pattern on the grill where it meets the hood, that airline track would be a perfect place to attach a "bow" line for a long sea kayak on a roof rack. When I started kayaking we built fiberglass kayaks from a pirated mold taken from a '72 Olympics Lettman Mark IV which were 13' 4" long necessitating a bow line if you wanted them to make it to the put in. Apparently we weren't the only pirates:

"The Lettmann Mark IV slalom kayak, his design for the 1972 Olympics, became the most copied boat in the world."

http://iwhof.org/honorees/2008-2/klaus-lettman/

boywonder · 01-21-2015, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dia

My top three mods were going to be a swivel seat, insulation and LEDs, so boom, done.

Totally cosmic......

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dia

I foresee plywood in my future!

Baltic Birch plywood is (hopefully) in your future......

**BroncoHauler** · 01-21-2015, 02:11 PM

I would check the VIN with SMB and see if they can't give you a build sheet.

Herb

BrianW · 01-21-2015, 03:11 PM

Nice-looking van, and nice scores on the additional items you didn't know about! Much nicer than finding negative things that weren't disclosed, to be sure.

I've never had my PH make "booming" noises (even while driving across Texas!). Maybe try tightening the latches a bit to make sure it's snug.

Dia · 01-21-2015, 07:16 PM

Re: Baltic birch - I'll remember that, thanks!

Re: build sheet - I spoke to SMB Texas, and they're the ones who did the PH. They told me it was installed around July of 2012, but they said they don't do build sheets for just a PH. They said it had a bed when the guy bought it, so something must have happened to it since.

Re: tightening the latches - good idea! Now for the dumb question - do you do that by turning the J-hooks?

boywonder · 01-21-2015, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dia

do you do that by turning the J-hooks?

yup

Sometimes the top wiggles around and finds it's happy place after you latch it down, resulting in rattles, which require another turn or two on a J hook.

**BroncoHauler** · 01-21-2015, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dia

Re: build sheet - I spoke to SMB Texas, and they're the ones who did the PH. They told me it was installed around July of 2012, but they said they don't do build sheets for just a PH. They said it had a bed when the guy bought it, so something must have happened to it since.

I just figured that maybe SMB did the foil backed insulation and the LEDs, so maybe they had some info on those.

Herb