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Once upon a time in America......
(August 2001) I found our "56 Chevy" at Ebay.com, the seller said, "This is a  great runner and barn fresh"......a few minutes before
end of auction I became nervous... more and more "0" bids for this Chevy. Anyway,
today I think all has happened because it must happen. It's a great feeling when I think about all the things that could happen and all the adventures I could
have. US $1500, at the end of auction and I told my  wife, "Just now, I think we are
the winning bidders of the auction and are now proud owners of a 56 Chevy. It was not easy to plan the  shipping to germany. We made
a contract with a US Shipping Company to bring the "Baby" to germany, of course I made a lot of phone calls to US but at the end I heard "No Problem".....US $ 1500 + $80
insurance was the total for the shipping, slowly my nervous feeling came back. Our Chevy was picked up in Pennsylvania at 08.23.2001. Without problems the baby reached New York,
better the port of New Jersey, this port is about 1 mile away from Liberty Island and just across Manhatten / New York. Another phone call to US and the
shipping company told us the day of shipping, the man said the shipping date will be the 09.11.2001......I think everyone knows what happend on this day. Still today, the title has the mark of the US Customs, as you can see, it was the 09.10.2001. In other words this Chevrolet was a quiet onlooker (testifier) of the
terrible tragedy. On the afternoon of 09.11.2001 we  had a phone call from a secretary of the shipping
company, she said with sad words that the the port was closed and to also accept some delay and I am so sorry.......I will never forget the time the words and also the pictures. I called the home
company of the shipping line in Norway and the guy said that the next shipping turn will be in about 2 or 3 weeks, but only if the port is open, also he told me that the  ship was only a few miles away from the port at the time the port was closed. The captain of the ship got
the order to turn the ship direct and straight to Europe. 2 weeks later we got the new date of shipping, 09.27.2001. My dream was to see the ship in the port to see if the ship left America
and my dream would come true. At the top of the Empire State Building was a live webcam and of course I tried to see, but, no ship, next try and this time I was the winner. It was a
great feeling to see all the details, live in the same moment. Again and again I made some pictures.......the ship turned inside the port and I could see the moment, the moment of "Time to say goodbye"....
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.bye bye America. 48 hours later we got a letter from FedEx with all the
documents of shipping. At 10.04.2001 we got the information of the german side of the shipping company "Date of arrival 10.11.2001" in Bremerhaven.
After some phone calls to the german customs we drove to Bremerhave, the port in germany.
The first aid package for the Chevy was 1 gallon of oil, battery, tools, flashlight
and a gallon water. We reached Bremerhaven in about 3.5 hours. At first we made some handlings because of the paper sheet of the customs duty and we
paid a bail of US $ 500. A man showed us the way to the port, it was raining and raining....After 10 minutes we reached the office of the shipping company,
a secretary wanted to see all the documents and now the feeling came back, I had to wait a long time to see the "Baby" How is the condition? Would the  engine run?.... After 10 minutes the man came back and asked "Where is the trailer for the car", THERE WAS NO TRAILER....."I want
to drive the chevy home", the man said,"There is no way to drive this car home", he opened the border line and after 5 minutes we reached the position W102 of the parking area. First
time I could see the car, it was a sad sight. All this time it was raining. I tried to start the engine but no way, the battery was dead, 2 wheels destroyed, 1 wheel without air pressure and the last one not ok, but in good condition! What now? At first we drove away to change the first 2
wheels in Bremerhave, the man from the wheel company calculated the german wheel measuremnt to a US rim, no problem, back to the port and with the help of the "first aid
battery" I could start the engine. We left the port area, but only with idle speed because of a "closed" carburetor. Again, back to the wheel store to change the other 2 wheels and
also to clean the carburetor. Now the baby sounds good. At that moment I knew that we had now the point of no return....."Welcome to the highway". All
the time my wife was with her own car behind me. At 5:00 p.m. we left Bremerhaven. Going 60 miles per hour on the highway and a lot of hope inside
me. The Chevy drove like new, the engine like clockwork .........but only to a town called Osnabrück about 1 hour away from home. We stopped at a gas
station to fill the tank and I remarked a small oil line behind the car, no problem, I poured 1 gallon of oil inside the engine, started the baby and back
on the road. After a few miles I thought, was that the right decision? We stopped again, I looked behind the car and now a could smell the oil and also I
could see a bigger line behind the car, I opened the hood and I could see that oil was running out in the lower area of the engine. It runs out like water, ok....here was the end of the "adventure".
We called a help service, after 1 hour the guy reached us and he picked up the Chevy. We were a little bit sad at that moment, but as of today I know it was
the right decision. At 11:30 p.m. we came home, the man from the help service with his pick up, my wife and me with her van and a Chevrolet 56, here is the
end of the story. What a pity, only a few miles away from home...........at this time nobody could know that a defect oil press switch was the reason of the
disaster, there was a little hole inside the switch, but.................we were safe at home.  
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