Duo drives 1925 pickup from Peking to Paris

They finished a race together. Now they finish each other's sentences.

Californians Bill Erickson, a mechanic, and Steve Dole, a retired airline pilot, pulled over the finish line of the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge on a recent Saturday in Paris' historic Place Vendome.

After spending 35 days and almost 8,000 miles together in a two-seat 1925 Buick Roadster pickup, they have even developed their own sign language.

After a good night's sleep, they sat down in the lobby of the Intercontinental Grand Hotel in Paris and shared some of their experiences of the countries they visited. Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia, for instance.

"It was a big, stinky, smoggy city," said Dole, of Pacific Grove, Calif.

"The only city in the whole country," Erickson continued.

"I think there was one other — 28,000 people," Dole said.

"I think more English was spoken in Mongolia than in China," Erickson noted. "We had our first lesson in sign language." As if on cue, both men grinned and started swiping their hands lazily through the air, pointing up, down and sideways. "There was one other finger that is used, too," Dole said.

Erickson's wife, Teal Rowe, 46, and Dole's daughter, Jen Dole, 38, broke into peals of laughter as they listened to the men. The women had flown in to greet the racing team as they arrived in Paris.

The nonverbal language that evolved during their adventure was actually born of necessity, Dole said, due to the constant noise the car made, rattling that grew even louder after the punishing dirt washboard roads in Mongolia.

Their adventure began almost a year ago — last August, when Erickson got word there was a spot open in the historic car race for a vehicle built before 1941 — in the vintage category, or "vintageant" as the British race organizers refer to it.

Contestants from all over the world were on a years-long waiting list to get into this rally, which was the 100th anniversary of the first Peking to Paris race in 1907.

Built long before "Peking" became "Beijing," these race cars would need some work.

So Dole moved in with Erickson and Rowe, who live in Ventura, Calif., and the pair spent nine months getting their car race-ready. In April, they shipped the car to China and, in May, the two flew to Beijing.