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Jeroen1969

New member
Joined
Jan 8, 2018
Messages
4
Hi everyone, my name is Jeroen van den Berg, married, two adult children, born 1969 (surprise, surprise), Dutch resident (Lage Vuursche, some may have heard of this tiny little town since our former Queen Beatrix resides here).
In my day-to-day live I earn my money by "driving" Boeing 737 aircraft for KLM Royal Dutch airlines as (trainer) Captain.

As our crapped country is well known for, apart from legal soft drug policy, wooden shoes and the Red Light District, the traffic jammed highways, I tend to travel to Schiphol Airport on two wheels because traffic filtering is legal in The Netherlands. I save about half an hour (actually 45 minutes, but putting on and getting rid of my motor cycle gear takes about 15 minutes) taking the bike instead of a car. So, I have not driven a car to work for the last 6 years. There is however a "but"....

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Two wheels and snow do not combine very well. Keeping my R1200RT upwards is not the only way to surviving the commuting ride, I'm very very much depending on the grip of the four wheelers around me. And that is a weak spot I finally acknowledge (as a car crashed from left to right right in front of me, making me think: "what if I was over there? How do I evade a car coming from the side?).

Hence, the search for a four wheeler started 3 weeks ago. Honestly, the four wheeler will never replace the bikes (apart from the R1200RT, a R1200RS sits in the garage and comes out when temperatures rise and rain is abroad), so I wanted a car that was not too expensive. Friends recommended the Seat Ibiza. I found one, from 2008, had accumulated 100.200 km. Did not look that bad from the outside, however, it looked like it had transported pigs from the inside (it probably had, given the farmer town where it had been put on sale). There are several auction sites in the Netherlands, one of them gives a follow up option screen when one has selected the brand. As I was curious about the amount of affordable Ford Focusses, I had chosen "Ford" and my eye caught the selection box at the word "Puma".... Instantly I remembered this sporty and attractive car. Hence, I ticked this box. 5 Pumas were on sale. 4 ranging around €1.000,- and 1 asked €3.000,- What a spectacular difference. I was very curious as to why this one car was three times over more expensive as the other 4. It turned out this Panther Black Puma from 1999 had only accumulated 14.800 km in all those years. It was still owned by its first owner, an elderly lady approaching the age of 70 who had been given this car as a birthday gift when she became 50 years old (fun fact: my Mrs turned 50 last month...). Her eye sight is becoming an issue, she can't read the traffic signs no more...
I went over with my wife immediately after I had shown here the piccies from the add:
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Puma01-M.jpg

Puma02-M.jpg


The husband had kept the original promotion flyer and the price list of the options (in Dutch Guilders AND Euros, the Euro was at that point still a theory that was 3 years away in the future). And all the maintenance workshop bills. All maintenance done by official Ford dealers. The car was parked at the spot as can be seen on the pictures. So it was in tip-top shape.

Agreed with the very friendly gentleman I would pick up the car the next day to have it inspected by my own local Ford dealer.
Puma03-XL.jpg


When I rang my dealer that morning, he was rather cynical about the odds that the Puma I would subject to an inspection would not have suffered from the destructive effect of aging. Most Pumas were submitted to the rust disease he said. But when I came later that day and the Puma was lifted, the mechanic that did the inspection could not believe his eyes. Neither could I actually..

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It is in a much better shape than the 6 years younger Ford Mondeo of my son.

"I think you managed to find the very last proper Puma of the country...." the mechanic said. The front tires still had more than enough profile, however, they had suffered from their age (15 years old). The distribution belt had been replaced 8 years ago (and only 13.000 km's), my garage informed me the original interval was indeed 10 years but had been changed to 5 years/120.000 km's since some belts snapped before they accumulated the 10 years or 120.000 km's.

I had it scheduled for distribution belt replacement (they will have a look at the water pump, when it doesn't leak, they'll leave it), front tire replacement (rear tires only 2 years 40 (!) km's old) and replacement of the radio (a Pioneer unit with BlueTooth and impeccable iPhone integration will replace the Ford 6000 unit). Wednesday I will take her to work for the very first time.

The idea is that my wife uses the Puma every now and then instead of her brand new Kuga and I will use it when I am scheduled to give simulator training (as the car can be parked right in front of the simulator building).
 
Hi Jeroen
Welcome to the Puma! It looks lovely - you must have one of the very best examples in Europe! It’s great to have the original paperwork.

Your garage are quite right about the cam belt. The cam belt (and tensioner) should be done every 5 years or 80,000 miles - whichever comes sooner. When I had mine done i replaced the water pump and the auxiliary belt at the same time - as well the rocker cover gasket (a genuine Ford one - these will often leak if you try to reuse). Apparently is quite a tricky job and important to have a garage who have done one before

Enjoy, from a fellow driver (i’m learning to drive a Cessna but only for pleasure).
Will
 
Welcome along, that looks like one amazing time warp purchase but am curious, who has the failing eyesight? your wife or the seller?, If it is the former I suggest you keep her confined to her Kuga :grin:
I am of course only joking, looks a cracking wee motor, enjoy it, always assuming of course your wife will let you near it :grin:
 
Welcome to the site, congratulations on your purchase, it certainly looks to be worth the money!!

Happy motoring!
 
zinc2000 said:
Welcome along, that looks like one amazing time warp purchase but am curious, who has the failing eyesight? your wife or the seller?, If it is the former I suggest you keep her confined to her Kuga :grin:
I am of course only joking, looks a cracking wee motor, enjoy it, always assuming of course your wife will let you near it :grin:

"Time Warp Purchase": exactly what crossed my mind this week. It has just been incredibly well preserved in that parking garage. I've also amazed myself about the condition of all the rubbers... The rubbers on the previous Kuga of my wife looked much older, but were in fact 10 years younger...

I must admit being confronted with that elderly lady that clearly suffered from having to say goodbye to driving cars in general and say goodbye to her beloved Puma in particular did not leave me untouched... I'm thinking about sending her flowers a month or so from now, expressing my gratitude for the opportunity to buy her superb car. And that I enjoy it very much. Hoping she finds some comfort in the thought her car is now owned by someone who really appreciates it, perhaps even as much as she did...
 
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! I will now plow through all the knowledge that can be found here. Starting if I can find things you guys have done to protect your precious cars from the rust disease.. I'll start off with punching "Rust prevention" in the search field and take it from there.
 

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