Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Working the nightshift - Now Afghanistan

[Peter Rychel (dino308gt4]

Weren’t they still the Government, even back then?

 

That must have been a real adventure being there, which was effectively, an active war zone.

 

Coincidentally, just around that same time, our company had previously built for the Canadian military portable, self-contained refueling stations. They were 10,000L tanker vessels built within a ISO Intermodal 20 FT container framework and the tankers were coated with “Battlejacket”. A self-healing bullet-proof material that coats any container hauling petroleum products (made in Oregon if I remember correctly). When punctured with a live round, the heat created by the impact, plus the chemical reaction of the fuel itself, causes the material to swell and gel, sealing the hole.

 

Our company built a small run of these and our branch got the contract to do the running repairs, structural modifications and re-certify them under Transport Canada’s hazardous goods regulations. This was the first big project that I was tasked to do from start to finish, including all of the repairs, TC inspections and be the liaison between our shop and the equipment manager for Department of National Defence. This was one of my favourite jobs and lasted over several months. These were despatched to Afghanistan and did see action over there. I did repair the Battlejacket on one example, but was disappointed because I never recovered the bullets inside the vessel. I did however find this crumpled waybill stuffed in a storage cabinet and is a souvenir from that project which I keep tucked away in my toolbox at work...

 

 

 

Peter

 

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From: Matt Boyd
Sent: September 8, 2021 10:17 AM
To: Peter Rychel; The FerrariList
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Working the nightshift...

 

Peter,

 

Not sure why your email sparked a memory, but in 2011 I spent a few months in Kabul (I lived and worked on the base at the same airport we all just watched about on the news). I frequently would be out and about on the route between the airport and ISAF-HQ and the US Embassy, so I got to see the kinds of cars driven around Kabul. With very few exceptions, they were all dirty, dusty, beat up old Toyota sedans and the like, nothing eventful at all. I once saw a Mercedes SLK in silver that was really dusty but it was running on the road. But the reason your email sparked the memory is because once as we went around Massoud Circle, I saw a shiny black Cadillac Escalade with chromed spinners. Probably just some Taliban gangsters at the time, but now they're the government....

 

-matt

'85 308

 

On Sun, Sep 5, 2021 at 2:08 AM Peter Rychel <dino308gt4 [at] hotmail.com> wrote:

The gangsters around here drive Escalades, jacked-up pick-ups and Chrysler 300Cs. I totally wouldn’t fit in...

 

😉

 

Peter

 

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From: Grahame Reinthal
Sent: September 4, 2021 12:20 AM
To: Peter Rychel
Cc: The FerrariList
Subject: RE: [Ferrari] Working the nightshift...

 

Cool shots of the Mondial at night – very atmospheric – a bit gangster!

 

Cheers,

Grahame

 

From: Peter Rychel
Sent: Saturday, 4 September 2021 4:06 PM
To: Grahame
Cc: The FerrariList
Subject: [Ferrari] Working the nightshift...

 

This past week, I filled in for the nightshift foreman who was on (much needed) holidays and of course, I was driving the Mondi.

 

It brought back a lot of memories, because when I finished trade school, my first job was at a manufacturing plant in an older industrial area just south of Vancouver. They ran two shifts and the nightshift was from 4:30PM to 2:30AM. After some time, I had volunteered to go on straight nights as we worked in teams and one of the guys needed to do that schedule. Great for me as I was (and to an extent, still am today) a night owl.

 

The one thing that I’ll always remember from that wasn’t the work, but the ride home. Along that main route was a large machine shop that ran three shifts (days, nights and graveyard). Everyday when I’d head home, I’d pass by this place and right front and center in the parking lot, clearly visible from the road was a red 308 GTS. I don’t know if it was a manager, a foreman, or maybe one of the machinists, but this person was daily driving a 308 and working a graveyard shift no less. This goes back 20+ years, so back then, it was a just a used car, but I was always impressed that it was driven every day (rain or shine). And no, it wasn’t a Fiero replica, I actually stopped one night to check it out and it was the real deal.

 

And all of these years later, I was doing the same thing. I’ll be heading back to days next week, but it was fun while this lasted. I can’t explain it, but there’s something special about driving a Ferrari at night and having the roads to myself...

 

 

 

Peter

 

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