Imaging a 100% recycled bare board binder in a 1929 Ford Phaeton Model A. 

Now Imagine that binder in that car driving from Beijing to Paris in a road rally. 

15,000 Kilometers.  Bad roads.  No windows.  No heater.

This drive was being done to raise money and awareness of literacy. 

To help support programs for literacy please go here for some links. What could be more important?

The Bound for Paris Team in the 2010 Peking to Paris Road Rally used a  Project binder from Naked Binder (strongest 3-ring binder in the world!) as their navigation binder in their quest to see new places, drive (slowly) across a continent, and raise money for literacy.  They were a rousing success!  Placing 42 in the 85 who finished (100+ started!), they even managed the whole drive with out a flat tire.

If you were a 3-ring binder, bare board and were sent 15,000 km in an open 1929 Ford Phaeton (no windows), how would you fair? Snow, rain, sun and dust and that is only the weather...

Grease and Oil covered, but holding up well.  Word was that this was used for  everything from navigation to changing oil and greasing bearings.

Spine is great. Edges are mostly intact.

Rings are fine.  The contact information written on the binder was erased by us (we know you would be testing it), and besides what looks to be coolant? on the corners, this binder is good to go.

News Coverage of our team! KCCI channel 8 in Des Moines

So How did they do it?  Read all about it!!

Day 33 Tuesday 12th Oct – Thesaloniki to Igoumenitsa and Ferry to Ancona (Italy) 414km

“The car’s held up perfectly!” said Fritz going into a list of the minor issues including a few cracks in the frame, and the metal around the windshield, slight oil leak and cracked radiator. Amazingly they haven’t had to change a tire through this entire trip (hopefully I didn’t just jinx them). Their friends Lloyd Dahmen and Charles Schwager in the 1949 Cadi haven’t been so lucky. They’ve had something like 18 flats.

Day 31 Sunday 10th Oct – Abant Lake to Istanbul (Turkey) Rest day + transit (320km)

We crossed the Bosporus Straits. We are now in Europe!!!

Day 30 Saturday 9th Oct – Kozakli to Abant Lake (Turkey) 546 km 

Day 29 Friday 8th Oct – Erzurum to Kozakli (Turkey) 728 km

Greetings from Turkey!

Long day today. 12 hours of driving in the rain. Temp was in the low 40’s and without the side curtains in place. We had lots of fun despite the conditions. We stopped for gas at one place that brought out tea! Photos and lots of hand shakes involved.

The roads in Turkey are very good. We made great time on a very high mileage day.

One more day and we will be in Europe! I can’t believe it.

Lang

PS: You will probably see on the main website that there were a couple crashes today – one being the Italia. We are being very careful and looking forward to arriving in Paris in one piece!

For more on this day by another of the Turkish Splinter Group Go Here!

Day 28 Thursday 7th Oct – Tabriz to Erzurum (Turkey) 606 km

The car is running well. They pushed it hard today “four hours straight up with a 800 – 900 foot drop off and thick mist off the Caspian Sea”. They were a little worried because they lost some oil, but once the road flattened out and the driving became easier the oil leak seemed to fix itself

Day 27 Wednesday 6th Oct – Rasht to Tabriz (Iran) 444 km

And a story from last night.

Fritz and I were motoring along after dark and it started to rain. After a few minutes the windshield wiper on the driver’s side quit! Not good. We stopped at a small shop that did oil changes and lubes. The two mechanics spoke no English. After some ‘discussion’ they offered to bring our car inside out of the rain so that we could change out the wiper motor. Soon they were offering assistance and tea! So we worked on the wipers and had a couple cups of tea with the guys. Very cool.

We left the shop and got about 500 meters down the road and the wiper stopped again! We got out the car and another car came by and went through a huge puddle and soaked us down good. Pretty funny actually. All of a sudden a guy came out of his house, opened up his garage door, moved his car and offered a dry spot for us to work (fixed it for good this time). The rest of the family came downstairs with tea and grapes and we had a mini party. We told him where we were staying and he said that it was too far to go and invited us to stay over night. Amazing stuff. We arrived at the hotel after 14 hours on the road all energized and exited about our experiences of the day.

Day 25 Monday 4th Oct – Ashgabad to Gorgan (Iran) 560 km

Today was the border crossing into Iran. No word from Fritz or Lang, but for now we’ll just continue to go with no news is good news. According to the official Peking to Paris report, the weather was sunny and hot, the locals were very excited to see the drivers and the roads were wonderfully smooth. The hotel arrangements in Gorgan were canceled for the President of Iran so other arrangements had to be made. Some slept 8 people to a room in one of the 15 rooms left, some camped...

Day 24 Sunday 3rd Oct – Turkmenabat to Ashgabad (Turkmenistan) 631km

No official word from Fritz or Lang, but I assume they escaped the sanatorium without incident this morning for an early start to Ashgabad. Today’s official report mentions interesting architecture of Ashgabad including a building shaped like a book (right up our alley!).

Late breaking news! We hear from our heros October 3rd -

"We are doing great.
They don't call this an endurance rally for nothing, We are pretty cooked every night.
The car is holding up very well.
We left the city of Turkmenabat this morning, Iran tomorrow!
Lang"

Day 23 Saturday 2nd Oct – Samarkand to Turkmenabat (Turkmenistan) 369km 

Day 22 Friday 1st Oct – Samarkand (Uzbekhstan) REST DAY!

Day 21 Thursday 30th Sept – Tashkent to Samarkand (Uzbekhstan) 315 km

"Outside the hotel, Americans Fritz James and Lang Wightman are servicing their Model A Ford Phaeton, despite the string of troubles reported on this sight by a regular bunch of competitors, Fritz and Lang point out that their virtually-standard Model A has given no trouble, and given a regular spanner check in the evenings continues to perform with utter reliability. Their only modification is a set of telescopic shock absorbers, and they retain the original three-speed gearbox…today’s long straight roads had them wondering if the four-speeder out of the later Model B might not have been a good move, however…"

seen here, $62 in Uzbek currency.

Day 20 Wednesday 29th Sept – Shymkent to Tashkent (Uzbekhstan) 260km 

Day 19 Tuesday 28th Sept – Almaty to Shymkent (Kazakhstan) 734km 

Day 18 Monday 27th Sept – Almaty (Kazakhstan) 2nd REST DAY

Day 17 Sunday 26th Sept – Almaty (Kazakhstan) REST DAY! 

Day 16 Saturday 25th Sept – Usharal to Almaty (Kazakhstan) 552 km

Day 15 Friday 24th Sept – Semey to Usharal (Kazakhstan) 581 km
Day 14 Thursday 23rd Sept – Belokurikha to Semey (Kazakhstan) 548 km

Day 13 Wednesday 22nd Sept – Border to Belokurikha (Russia)– 581 km planned (+700 km with detour)
 Here our team is exchanging Mongolian bills for Russian ones as they cross into ne

w territory. "We were welcomed into Russia by the local motor-club, who had a roadside display of Volgas, Moskovitches, and other Russian classic cars, dating back to 1949, including a Russian 4x4 jeep powered by a pre-war Model-A engine."

Day 12 Tuesday 21st Sept – Khovd to Border (Mongolia) – 311 km

Day 11 Monday 20th Sept – Khovd (Mongolia) – REST DAY!

Day 10 Sunday 19th Sept – Teel River to Khovd (Mongolia) – 177 km

Day 9 Saturday 18th Sept – Uliastay to Teel River (Mongolia) – 253 km

Day 8 Friday 17th Sept – Tariat to Uliastay (Mongolia) – 336 km

Day 7 Wed 16th Sept – Kharakorin to Tariat (Mongolia) – 327 km  

Day 6 Wed 15th Sept – Ulaan Baatar to Kharakorin (Mongolia) – 360 km

Day 5 Tue 14th Sept – Rest day in Ulaan Baatar (Mongolia) 

Photos from China

Day 4 Mon 13th Sept – Sainshand to Ulaan Baatar (Mongolia) – 432 km

Day 3 Sun 12th Sept – Erenhot to Sainshand (Mongolia) – 214 km

Day 2 Sat 11th Sept – Daihai to Erenhot (China) – 508 km

Day 1 Fri 10th Sept – Peking to Daihai (China) – 398 km