hi from the netherlands europe

[watahyahknow]

let me introduce myself before i start commenting in the forum .
im ronald bakker from the netherlands europe and one of my hobbies is old american iron .
boooooh hissssss yeah i know there gasguzlers and not realy enviromently friendly i dont drive them often at this moment as gas over here is about 11 dollar per gallon ( think about that when filling up in the states ) , one of the chevy trucks i own is actually converted to propane , propane is big over here mainly because its a thirth of the price of normal gasoline , electric vehicles have some taxadvantages but there not enough to put the masses in them , not a lot of priuses driving here (btw a polo diesel driven normaly actually runs cheaper in money per mile than a prius doing the same how funny is that ) and the only electric vehicles here are 3 wheel and 4 wheel scooters driven by the handicapped and old folks not giving it a realy hot image golf isnt realy big here and golfcarts even rarer.
for daily transport i drive a 1400 cc opel astra station, you have those cars in the states too but i forgot under wat brand they sell them there , i think the name brand actually was astra .
its an older car and does about 11 km per liter in the city .
i know car mecanics and i might be able to help some of the lesser mecanics with some info on brakes removing engines the normal car electrics (wipers horn lights heating that sortah stuff ) and im mostly on the forum to study on electric conversions and trying to get some data on homebuild controllers for the higher voltages cause these things are the most expensive of an electric vehicle when you buy them of a manufacturer .
i have enough used body parts to actually put together a second pickuptruck and im playing with the idea to make it electric and run double batteriepacks (one for the trip too and one for the trip back ) so i whont run the risk of having to push the truck back home and making the car as quick as a gas operated car .

[StumpyFingers]

Welcome to the forum, nice to have another European.

[Daox]

Welcome to the site.

[cfg83]

watahyahknow -

Welcome to EM! The Astra wagon is a Saturn Astra here, but we don't get the 1.4, we only get the 1.8, . It will be phased out because Saturn was sold to Penske. The Astra didn't do well here, partially because the Euro was too strong in comparison to the Dollar when the Astra was introduced.

If you like Detroit Iron, maybe you'll like this (went there a few weeks ago) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iHwlGpiro0

CarloSW2

[watahyahknow]

ohw yeah , theres only one permanent dragstrip in holland and thats in drachten they have about 5 races a year i think .
most people just show there cars off at meets or go cruising with other members , tunnelcruises are in favour cause the sound inside the tunnels is awesome.

i knew it was the name of a planet they used for opels but forgot whish one , i allso understood that the saturns where geared wrong for the states making them rev too mush or bog down .
we drive a lot faster in europe , its 31 in citylimits about 50 outside 62 and 75 on the freeways ... those are legal speeds , they do check a lot harder on breaking the speeds though and the fines are huge

[robchalmers]

Watahyahknow, nice to sell another euro on here! what age it your astra ? (former owner, '00 dti station, and worked at the UK opel factory) loved them, pretty versitile for the size! and safe when hit from behind by a ford transit doing 50+mph which is why I don't have mine

[watahyahknow]

its an astra F station believe it was a 92

i had a couple of them a 1,9 tdi station with the izusu engine a 1.6 station on propane wish i later converted in a astra gsi

(put the 2.0 16 valve in it the rear diskbrakes the abs system and tractioncontroll and the boardcomputer )


a 1.8 eco station G3 propane (thats cheaper in roadtax cause its even more enviromentalfriendly) and now a 1.4 i realy realy like this model i still like roundness of the interiour and the outside shape of the station i've loaded up to 850 kilos in the back before the car bottomed out ,the station version is kindah heavy as is but it might lend itself for a electric conversion since theres lotsah room for batteries in the back while still keeping the rearseat , the gearbox in buletproof (i never been able to break one ) i do need to make some support under the electric motor cause the engine gearbox combo rest on three points as a unit
i agree with the awesome strength of the car , i drove one frontaly against a tree and hit a truck in the rear with another , in the rear offcourse those where the ones i payed more then 2000 euro for , the ones i payed 500/600 euro for just kept running without problems