Buying a parts Lincoln
It’s 1:30 p.m. when the 21-year-old Mazda takes the exit off the A67 towards Eindhoven city center. The driver quickly negotiates the first roundabout and turns right onto the inner ring road. As the right needle races towards the 120 km/h sign, the Crashing Duke steers the car through the traffic without any hesitation. After all, this isn’t his first time here. Before the railway tunnel, he pulls onto the service road, only to turn left onto the ring road shortly after. Then it turns out that Fuutlaan is closed off due to a carnival parade. The Duke quickly steers his car around a few aimlessly loitering motorists onto Parklaan. Because he has to be at the station square before two o’clock, he maintains a steady speed. At the Koekoeklaan, out of routinehe slows down briefly. When he arrives at the Nachtegaallaan, the road is closed again. He parks the car and continues on foot. Arriving at Stationsplein, the post office is closed.
Disappointed, he walks back. As a last resort, he calls the information number of the post office. According to the woman on the other end of the line, a post office on Kruisstraat is open until three o’clock. This is on the other side of the city center. He quickly runs through the drunken crowd back to his car. The Mazda is started and turned around. He quickly exits Parklaan, and within five minutes, the Duke turns left onto Fellenoord. He drives onto Kruisstraat via Boschdijk, and after five minutes, he’s at the counter of the post office. To register a gray 89 Lincoln in his name.
The reason for these events happened a week earlier. After another Sunday spent working on his red Lincoln, the Crashing Duke decides it’s time for a donor car. Sitting at his computer that evening, he quickly finds two on Marktplaats. The first is in Sassenheim, the second in Limburg. On Wednesday evening, he went to Sassenheim, but within five minutes it was clear to him that this wasn’t the car he was looking for. So today he and his mother traveled to Limburg. Someone has to drive the Mazda back, and Jolande is busy studying. This car is being offered because it has a crack in the head. No problem for the Duke, as long as she drives home. The seller doubts this, but during the test drive, the engine ran smoothly, and the Duke once drove a Chevrolet which lost a bank from Eindhoven to Rotterdam, so the Duke takes the risk. They negotiate the price; the Duke hands in €100 and four tires, the seller €250. Off to Eindhoven to transfer the ownership.
Once he’s back in Limburg, the journey home can begins. With about 10 liters of water in the trunk and a lot of optimism, he drives off the lot, followed by his mother in the Mazda. In the village, they fill up with gas and then head towards the highway. Halfway along the highway, a DCL error appears on the dashboard. This means there’s a fault between the gauges on the dashboard and the sensors in the car. To confirm this, the entire dashboard goes blank. Once back on the highway, the cruise control turns out to be working perfectly. The quiet engine sound reinforces the Duke’s feeling that this is a successful project.
However, about 30 kilometers into the journey, the Lincoln starts to slow down, and after a few hundred meters, they have to pull onto the hard shoulder. The Mazda follows. When the hood opens, it turns out there’s not a drop of water left in it, and the engine is overheating. The Lincoln died silently without a sound. After half an hour, road side assistance arrives. The good man’s conclusion is that the cylinder head gasket is blown and the alternator is no longer running. The Crashing Duke then understands the DCL error. The tow truck doesn’t take long to arrive either. After an hour, the convoy is on the ferry to Bergambacht, and not much later, the Lincoln is dropped on the driveway.
