Fred and Elisabeth are not seeking financial sponsorship. However, on tour’s website, in presentations and any suitable media cover acknowledgement will be given to the substantial support provided by friends, technical experts, suppliers and partners.
From many friends and specialists the Team received an enormous amount of support and technical advice in preparation of the tour; too numerous to mention but all were very much welcome, much appreciated and of great help.
As to the preparation of the Mercedes two special advisers need to be mentioned: Kevin Clemens and Dirk De Groen from America.
From May to July 2000 Kevin rallied in a 1959 Mercedes Ponton 220S in the “Around the World in 80 Days Motor Challenge”; an extreme 21,000miles challenge superbly reported in his book “A Lap of the Globe”.
Dirk and his wife Alexandra completed the 2013 Peking to Paris Rally in a 1959 Mercedes Benz 219. This endurance rally took the competitors more then 12,000km though China, the Mongolian desert, through Russia, the European Alps to France. Report of their travels can be found on the internet (https://www.facebook.com/PtoP2013) as well on great video footage by Daimler-Benz.
Kevin and Dirk have been very supported of the “Around the World in a 1957 Mercedes Benz” tour and have freely shared their travel experiences, extent of their preparations and the subsequent performance of these 50 year old Ponton’s during these grueling rallies.
Special thanks also to the famous New Zealand watercolor artist Alfred Memelink who painted the frontispiece /logo for Elisabeth and Fred (http://www.memelink.co.nz).
Many suppliers have supported the preparations for Fred and Elisabeth’s tour. The following are worthy of a special mentioning.
Aart Kok BV (www.aartkok.nl) was responsible for the design and manufacturing of the Zambezi tent-trailer. They provided significant support in modifying the trailer as requested and for the assistance in custom clearance and transport from Holland to New Zealand.
Bristol Motors Ltd of Upper Hutt, a highly specialised company repairing and restoring veteran, vintage and classic vehicles, have looked after Elisabeth and Fred’s cars for over 20-years . The ongoing technical advice and support provided by Dave and his team of specialists has been outstanding and of unmeasurable value to the 1957 Mercedes world tour .
FuelFlow provided advice as to the petrol supply, filtering and pumping for the six cylinder, 2295 cm3 engine of the Mercedes. FuelFlow also donated two marine quality O15 piston pumps.
Fred and Elisabeth spent many hours searching for tyres to survive the harsh roading conditions likely to be encountered during their world tour. Following extensive discussions with Kumho New Zealand and Kuhmo USA, 8-ply light-commercial tyres were selected. Blairs Supertyre Distributors Ltd (www.blairs.co.nz) supplied and significantly discounted the Kumho 857 tyres.
The Internationally operating Mainfreight (www.mainfreight.co.nz) provides ongoing logistics support to Fred and Elisabeth. They have been responsible for the import of the Zambezi and the many car parts into New Zealand and the Team will be engaging Mainfreight for all of the transport of the Mercedes and Zambezi in 40ft containers all around the world.
Julian of Ob
sessive Vehicle Security (www.vehiclesecurity.co.nz) designed, supplied and installed the advanced security systems in both the Mercedes and the Zambezi trailer.
Twigg of Lower Hutt supplied much of the engineering materials and lighting for the car and the trailer. (www.twiggwgtn.co.nz)
Elisabeth and Fred selected the YellowBrick for their global tracking and communications system. The system provides worldwide coverage using the Iridium satellite constellation.