DEARBORN, Michigan — Lots of people love road-trip vacations. There are probably many more who are sentimental about their elderly sedans. But few will ever do what Diego Percivaldi just did: pack his wife and two kids inside and drive his 1981 Ford Falcon nearly 10,000 miles on a pilgrimage to headquarters. Did we mention that the two kids are 11 months and three years old?
Percivaldi and his wife, Cecelia, found sponsors and spent three years planning the 16,000-kilometer trek from Argentina to Dearborn, Michigan. He said the 27-year-old Falcon got a rebuilt engine, a luggage rack and stickers from sponsors but was otherwise the stock vehicle, made in Argentina. The Associated Press quoted the peripatetic Percivaldi as saying, "If you don't love cars, it's impossible to travel with this car" and calling the Falcon "very sentimental for all the Argentine people."
An interesting note from his trip was the highest- and lowest-priced gasoline: $8 per gallon in Peru, but only $0.90 a gallon in Ecuador.
For a trip that took three years to plan and 47 days to complete, Percivaldi played it pretty loosely at the end on Thursday, when he and his family walked up to the security desk at Ford World Headquarters with no previous contact and asked to talk to someone in charge. The AP reports they will spend a couple of days in Michigan — and fly home, having the Falcon shipped back to them.
What this means to you: Now there's a tribute that speaks more than a thousand ads to build the iconography of Ford. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent
Percivaldi and his wife, Cecelia, found sponsors and spent three years planning the 16,000-kilometer trek from Argentina to Dearborn, Michigan. He said the 27-year-old Falcon got a rebuilt engine, a luggage rack and stickers from sponsors but was otherwise the stock vehicle, made in Argentina. The Associated Press quoted the peripatetic Percivaldi as saying, "If you don't love cars, it's impossible to travel with this car" and calling the Falcon "very sentimental for all the Argentine people."
An interesting note from his trip was the highest- and lowest-priced gasoline: $8 per gallon in Peru, but only $0.90 a gallon in Ecuador.
For a trip that took three years to plan and 47 days to complete, Percivaldi played it pretty loosely at the end on Thursday, when he and his family walked up to the security desk at Ford World Headquarters with no previous contact and asked to talk to someone in charge. The AP reports they will spend a couple of days in Michigan — and fly home, having the Falcon shipped back to them.
What this means to you: Now there's a tribute that speaks more than a thousand ads to build the iconography of Ford. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent
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