Lancia Motor Club

During the week of 20 September 2010 I have been driving from Dublin to join the Flavia 50th anniversary in Trieste, accompanied by my brother in law Brendan

Details of the event are at www.flavia50.com
 (http://www.flavia50.com)

Here are a few pictures taken along the way .... more to follow when I get new batteries for the camera.

Monday 20 September: Ireland/UK

Got the kids up at 4am to clean the car before taking the swift ferry from Dublin port to Holyhead. (OK I didn't wake them up but they helped out before going to bed Sunday night!)

Traversed the UK to Hull where Alan Cooper the previous owner of my 2000HF came up from Grimsby to review progress with the car since I bought it. Alan brought a cubic foot of Flavia/2000 technical literature that is most welcome but will add to our already outrageous payload. He also checked the timing and made an adjustment along the way that seems to have improved the idle.

Then we boarded the P&O fgerry for an overnight crossing to Zeebrugge in Belgium - this was better than the long drive down to Dover and then looking for a hotel in dreary Calais.

Tuesday 21 September: Belgium/Germany

Our arrival in Belgium was cloaked in mist and we soon ended up behind a tractor on the B road to Antwerp instead of the motorway to greater Europe.

On re-fuelling I was pleased to find 98 octane Super Plus unleaded fuel on sale and even more pleased when Brendan  volunteered to pay for it. So I let him drive the car and I took some pictures.

Around lunchtime we came up behind a white Flavia Sport (Zagato) on the motorway - I recognised Paul and Valerie Bishop who, it later appeared, had been on the same ferry crossing as us. We lost them as motorways divided and while I was distracted trying to get their mobile number from someone else in the UK.... but after a detour of some city suburbs we corrected our error and rolled up behind them again at the next motorway services.

The destination for our first night on the Contintent was a small local village hotel in Florstadt about 25k northeast of Frankfurt - conveniently chosen by Flavia 50 organiser Angela Verschoor who we were to meet there. Paul and Val decided to stay there too. This is a family hotel of real charm with great food, atmosphere and service located just 3 minutes from the A45 motorway and which I would recommend as worth seeking out. www.schloss-ysenburg.de (http://www.schloss-ysenburg.de)

We made our rendezvous with Angela (Flavia Vignale) and a local German Klaus (Aurelia B20) also joined us for dinner

Wednesday 22 September: Germany/Austria

We parted company with Brendan my co-driver early today as we dropped him to the train for Frankfurt where he has business meetings for 2 days ... then he flies to another meeting in Oxford and back to join us in Trieste on Saturday!

Paul and Valerie left early and Angela and I  took some pictures of our cars outside the Hotel before we headed off in convoy for Austria, me bringing up the rear ....

My 2000HF is on its first serious trip since I bought it from Alan Cooper in 2005. I had it re-sprayed for the Turin centenary in 2006 but the re-assembly didn't happen in time so Brendan and I travelled to Turin in his modern Alfa - there is some poetic symmetry in the fact that we return to Italy in a Lancia in the Alfa centenary year!. Then the gearbox burst last year so I've had the engine/gearbox/subframe out all winter. More or less everything has been renewed, replaced or just cleaned up and put back on. My confidence in the car (known inside the family as Philip) and my faith in my own work is growing steadily on this journey.... Philip hasn't missed a beat yet and is a real motorway cruiser with a growling appetite for more speed from 75 to 90! Sometimes I am so pleased I have to drive with my hoodie up so nobody sees me grinning ..... that purple thing on the back parcel shelf is a suit carrier that has a smart suit in it just in case I end up in front of a magistrate or anything.

Great to read, and some fine pictures.  Have a great time one and all.

Great report and photos, love the Flavia Vignale!

Brian
8227 8)

Just thought I'd add that the user is showing as banned ... spamming ... ? Do we need to clear him (Stu?) Hate to spoil the blog ....

Wednesday 22 September: Germany/Austria - Supplement

There aren't any more pics from Wednesday just yet but how it ended up was that after a fast 250+ mile motorway drive that took us from Frankfurt to a small town near the Austrian border and in the shadow of the alps (which didn't photograph well for some reason!) we found the destination hotel closed until 5pm, as we thought.

This town, Neubeuern, appeared to be built against a sheer rockface with a steep main street/square area accessible only through two narrow archways - one at either end of the main street. We parked our cars and sought refreshment in a terrace bar opposite the hotel in the late afternoon sunshine....

Several welcome pints later and at the same time as I heard the familiar sound of a Flavia engine working hard somewhere out of sight on the steep hill of the main street, Angela spotted Paul Bishop approaching the hotel opposite which was still closed even though the appointed hour of opening had arrived. Paul and Valerie had re-joined us.

Turned out the hotel was gone on holiday but they hadn't taken the trouble to acknowledge our booking enquiry some weeks previous so we had arrived on spec. I can't say what the inside of this hotel was like, never mind recommend it but the town is interesting and, being conveniently located to the motorway, worth considering as a stopover: www.hotel-hofwirt.de (http://www.hotel-hofwirt.de)

Travelling to the next town showed some promise with many people dining al fresco in the garden of a busy restaurant beside a picturesque duckpond but unfortunately everywhere here was full for the Oktoberfest holiday season.

After not too much longer we got directions and made our way back to the motorway and into Austria to a larger chalet-type motel where we had a fine meal. Later I made first contact with the internet and figured out the modalities of re-sizing and uploading photos before falling asleep at the keyboard .... in the lobby.

Thursday 23 September: Austria/Italy
Today we awoke in sunny Austria and set about crossing the alps into Italy. After a few checks of the cars and pics for the record outside aforesaid chalet motel we set off again - Angela and I planning to go "over the top" via the Grossglockner and some lesser passes and with Paul and Val opting for the longer but quicker motorway route.

First we had to pre-purchase passes for the Austrian motorway tolls - these were the first toll charges that I had come across since leaving home almost 900 miles earlier, at least that I had noticed - maybe I am wanted by the magistrates in Germany!

After a short motorway run we took to the hills and re-fuelled before the long climb. On re-starting, Angela's car made some strange noises which, on investigation, we first thought to be a slippng fanbelt. The alternator was indeed at a bit of an angle - approximately 5 to 10 degrees relative to its normal position and its mounting bracket was broken but tightly held. We made a quick repair without improving the sound effects and it then turned out that two exhaust manifold bolts had come loose and one was missing, allowing exhaust gases to squeal out past the gasket under load pressure.

We improvised by re-purposing a bolt from the nearby bump-guard plate that protects the manifold from grounding over ramps, etc and were soon on our way again with the exhaust noise at least under control if not fully eliminated.

We drove through the quaint "Sound of Music" lower alpine landscape of green rolling hills, chalet-style buildings, goats, millwheels, purple cows, etc. You would think I might have taken a picture or two but I just decided to carry on grinning in my hoodie and enjoying the drive and the view.

The climb up to the Grossglockner pass (also tolled) was quite steep and my 2-litre car struggled to keep up with Angela's 1800. I was carrying the kitchen sink including a trolley jack, spare battery, spare parts, my luggage, Brendan's left luggage, toolbox, spare fuel, water, oil etc. and Angela had 100 copies of her book to celebrate the Flavia anniversary ... http://www.flavia50.com/book.html (http://www.flavia50.com/book.html). She reckoned her book cargo was the equivalent of two people's weight.

Took a picture at the top ... and some videos that are too big to post here so I put them on YouTube ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyUEPE6ANEs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyUEPE6ANEs)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsIOGVUSqAIv (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsIOGVUSqAIv)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L29I0HCti1s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L29I0HCti1s)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGvwvPwGxnw&playnext=1&videos=hbQB3Ig4BVo&feature=mfu_in_order (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGvwvPwGxnw&playnext=1&videos=hbQB3Ig4BVo&feature=mfu_in_order)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWBWHTUzYXc&videos=hbQB3Ig4BVo&feature=BF  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWBWHTUzYXc&videos=hbQB3Ig4BVo&feature=BF)

Thursday 23 September: Austria/Italy - Supplement

We arrived at the Hotel Astoria in Grado around 3pm after 7 hours in the saddle. Grado is a resort town on a peninsula in the lagoon on which Trieste is located. In addition to its natural connection to the mainland, there is also a manmade causeway at the bell end - so to speak - of the peninsula providing a striking approach to the fairly built-up town of Grado which is largely pedestrianised, traversed by canals and with a marina at its centre, all of which makes navigation by road through the town centre somewhat akin to trying to get anywhere on foot in Venice. - following your nose just doesn't work!

We entered the Hotel underground carpark to be greeted with the sight of 10 or 15 wonderful Flavia and 2000 models all in impressive condition. I'll try to get a better pic but suffice to say that with classic Lancias in nearly every direction the garage had a very period 60's/70's feel.

We assembled and registered for the event at a champagne reception held by the rooftop pool on the seventh floor with sweeping views of the surrounding town and sea before taking a short walk to a restaurant located on the canal by the market where the daily fresh fish sale is held.

Alan,
you're only trying to make us jealous and I might add, succeeding very well :'(
Wish I was with you.

Brian
8227 8)

Oh YES !! am I sorry now ! Should have had my HF there. Women have a lot to answer for ! ???

Indeed. Well you all had your chances .....

Friday 24 September: Grado and Aquileia

Friday morning saw us set forth in convoy from the hotel, crossing the causeway from Grado to the mainland in a light mist under an exqusite pale blue sky and perfect sunshine. No wonder the Dutch couple in the vignale (convertible) in front of me were behaving like teenagers.... did I mention that at 44 I am one of the younger participants here and well below the average age which is mid 60's.

Anyhow we made it to the mainland without incident or indecent and proceeded along a tree-lined road to the town of Aquileia. Here our destination was the 11th to 14th century cathedral built on the site of a 4th century early christian structure which in turn was built on the remains of houses of the strategic roman fortified town of Aquileia. A  feature here is the layers of mosaic flooring, first from the roman houses, then covered by the early church which was in turn covered by the current cathedral. When the 4th century floor was first covered over, it was only 200 years old and was preserved under earth for over 1500 years until discovered. So it is a 1700 year old mosaic with only 200 years' wear and tear  on it!

Following tours of the cathedral, its crypt, the belltower and the impressive remains of the nearby roman port,  we made a short drive for lunch at the premises of a nearby wine producer whose wines (mainly white from the Friuili region - or maybe that's a grape, not sure) we had sampled at dinner the night before. The cars were lined up in the sunny walled courtyard of their factory/restaurant.

Friday 24 September: Grado and Aquileia  -  Supplement

Anyhow, on to the cars, the cars  and our first display of them by daylight. There are just over 20 cars with participants from mainly the UK, then Holland, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and Oireland.

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Enough pictures for a very fine book there!  I suggest young man, that you should be turning this blog into a very fine report for VL upon your return home - copy date is the 12th of next month for publication in November's issue!

Great photos, do you have a list of the participants and who owns what? is Frank Dehler from Germany among the numbers with his 2000 Berlina? as it sounds like something Frank would attend when not planning his Club Vincenzo Lancia Trips.

Although I love all Flavia/2000 the one photo that doesn't do it for me is the Vignale with the whitewall tyres, Vignale's are a particular favourite, but to my mind the whitewall tyres just don't seem to go with the car as far as I'm concerned, no doubt others will disagree with me ::)

Brian
8227 8)

You are so controversial Brian ... you really should be more sensitive to the feelings of the owner of that car - especially since you don't even know them!

Yes there is a participant list but I better not publish it - I am already afraid that the cars I have pictured will turn up for sale of eBay as a job lot!

And no Frank Dechler was not there but I made many new friends from the UK, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Australia and Italy.

Friday 24 September - Supplement

Following lunch, which involved various wines and several courses (more anon) and a tour of the wine producer place we had a choice to visit a retail shopping outlet in nearby Palma Nova or have a tour of the town. One of our hosts, Andrea Nistri also informed us that he proposed to conduct an exploratory urology investigation at his garage on the Flavia coupe of participant Bill Houghton-Brown whose car was heating more (or cooling less effectively) than it should.

I elected for the latter (garage urology) option and following a sort of "wine mixed with peach juice" reception on the marina at Palma Nova we all went our separate ways, with Bill and myself following Andrea in a 3-car convoy through the light rain that had now descended to his workshop where we spent a very pleasant hour urologising  Bill's car's cooling system and with the results of which Bill declared himself to be well pleased - if only, by his own admission, in his head. You can see the hi-tech urology equipment  - various tubes, nozzles, a bucket and an operating mat - lying around in the background. The umbrella was for the rain and did not form part of the experiment although Andrea did wear surgical boots.

As well as being a doctor  specialising in human urology (for real), Andrea is also a well-known Fulvia expert of iconic proportions who dispenses Fulvia wisdom on the website www.viva-lancia.com (http://www.viva-lancia.com) (see the Fulvia FAQ page). Andrea has also been the maestro responsible for the success of this Flavia event as conceived by Angela Verschoor and we are greatly indebted to both of them and their colleagues Maurizio and Tiziano for their wonderful welcome, organisation and assistance throughout.

After a refreshing lemonade in Andrea's apartment and a brief introduction to Mrs Andrea as she came in from work, we three made our way directly to the restaurant for our evening meal as there was not time to travel via the hotel in Grado. This restaurant too was on the premises of a local wine producer (the peach juice reception guy from earlier) whose family had owned the estate for generations. As we three arived early, we were honured with a private viewing of a fascinating Lancia "secret object" and a tour of the small family chapel nearby.

Dinner, like every other meal as it was now becoming clear, involved 4 or 5 courses and 2 or 3 wines and sometimes took as many hours. The meals so far have been predominantly of freshly-caught local fish in considerable variety and all very tasty indeed, if a little frequent and lengthy! Who could complain really!

While we dined, an electric storm came down from the Alps, enlivening our meal with flashes of lightening and thunderclaps and drenching the smokers outside (of whom I was not one on this occasion). The warm rain continued to fall heavily as we made our way back to the cars parked in the large open-sided barn and drove back along the causeway to the hotel in Grado, punctuated by occasional flashes of lightening.

Saturday 25 September - Island Boat Trip, Duino Castle and Trieste

Today's first outing was by waterbus from Grado marina to a nearby smaller island where, before we could even revive from our hotel breakfasts, another 4-course spread featuring the loal frutti del mare was served. Brian Scott-Quinn from my table pronounced himself unable to eat seafood but was soon seen tucking into a plate of marinated sardines or the like on the basis that these were "fish" not "seafood" which he said was the term for "crustaceans" (sea creatures with exoskeletons)  and invertebrates (with none). I reserved judgment on that one and laid into my squid and shellfish melange.

In the afternoon we uninstalled ourselves from the Astoria Hotel in Grado to a second hotel in Trieste. Running late as usual and having been last into the garage the night before (and therefore first out), I had left the key in the car in case it needed to be moved. When I arrived, Peter Bristow was about to move the car out of the way and I adopted him as my passenger for the afternoon. Not a good start however as, while waiting in line to exit the carpark, the car cut out and would not re-start until everyone had left.

After the carpark incident, Peter, was decidedly more edgy once I told him I was low on fuel ..... especially when the red light on the fuel gauge came on just a few minutes later.

En route to Trieste we visited the castle of Duino and its ruined predecessor castle nearby - both on spectacular rocky promontories. The castle is the home of the Thurn-Taxis family of which the current head of house Prince Charles has opened the castle to public viewing. This lot had a monopoly on postal delivery services throughout Europe back in the days and their yellow horse-drawn mail coaches which later also carried passengers are said to be the origin of the yellow mail service livery still found  in Germany and elsewhere in Europe and also the origin of the term "taxi" as well as the combination of both legacies in the "yellow cab" concept. I'm not too sure myself about the latter 2.

The traffic of busy  built-up Trieste required more concentration than the relaxed resort atmosphere of Grado and we all had to step up our concentration and navigation efforts to make our way to the NH Hotel (formerly Jolly Hotel) located almost at the centre of this busy historic city port. Then the car performed its "mysterious sudden death" trick again as we queued in heavy city traffic waiting to enter the hotel carpark. This has happened once or twice lately and the fix simply involves reefing open the fusebox (conveniently located in the glovebox) to adjust a few fuses and restore life to the ignition and related circuits. After I took possession of a junction box with a red traffic light against me (I thought the line of oncoming cars were parked!) we successfully entered the car park and Peter gratefully removed himself from my company!

Dinner (see further above for the general specification) was provided in an elegant hotel nearby and we passed the main square en route where we would display our cars the following day. Following dinner, some presentations were made to the organisers and I won a prize for the longest-travelled participant (1200 miles so far) - others had come from further away but had brought their cars on the train or by trailer for some of the way.

My brother in law Brendan had re-joined us today as promised  following his work commitments in Frankfurt and Oxford (via London and Stansted) and we took a walk around the lively bars and cafes of the main square and grand canal area, finding a life-size bronze statue of James Joyce on one of the bridges.

Sunday 26 September - Castle Miramare and Car Display in Piazza Unita Italia

Details to follow but here are the pics and a summary:

Morning visit to Miramare Castle built by Maximillian the governor of this area who was also apointed Emperor of Mexico until they shot him. Andrea gave us the detail before we toured the castle and gardens.

Lunch at Tre Noci restaurant (see further above for the general specification) ....

Afternoon return to Trieste to display cars in main square. I accidentally took a picture of cars with Brendan without realising he was in it.

Gala dinner in Lighthouse restaurant, speeches, presentations, thanks,  etc.

Monday 27 September - Departure: Italy and Austria

More pictures to come and I'll fill in the detail but here is a summary

Farewells and departures from Trieste in convoy with Angela again. Didn't go over the Grossglockner pass again partly due to the look of the weather and partly due to my delaying our departure and at lunchtime. Did a mini-pass instead before heading for the AutoZug (car/sleeper train) in Austria that would take us overnight to Dusseldorf, Germany. Fine pizzas and beers in the station diner with Bert, Pia, Roy and Margret while waiting for the train.

Both our computers died on the train and the camera with them as I was writing up Friday and Saturday's blog. Found a plug in a tiny washroom but it died too after a few minutes. Haven't slept on a train since inter-railing in 1986 or thereabouts. There were 4 people in our 6-berth compartment which was fine.

Drove about 240 miles today.

Tuesday 28 September: Germany, Belgium, France, UK and Home to Ireland

Got breakfast on the train before arrival in Dusseldorf at 7.30 - an hour later than scheduled. The unloading took a while too as other car carriages and passengers had joined during the night in Munich, including about 40 bikers whose bikes were individually lashed to the train at 4 points and took an age to unload.

A lighter if unfortunate moment in the proceedings was when one elderly lady couldn't find her car on the train. Turned out either she had boarded the wrong train after loading her car in Munich or else her car had been mistakenly sent to Hamburg (where it would presumably cause particular trouble to unloading the train  there without the keys!).

We got out of rainy, misty Dusseldorf in morning rush hour quite well but then took the wrong direction on a motorway. All these delays meant we were not going to be in Holyhead for the 5pm ferry so my sister Sue researched and booked a later one for us by exchanges of text messages as we drove.

Meanwhile we headed for Calais and the Euro Tunnel - a journey of about 350 miles from Dusseldorf which we made in about 5 hours by 1pm. We were loaded and across the channel in less than 70 minutes from time of arrival -  a significant time saving on the boat crossing and not too dear either.You stay with your car on this train which has closed carriages.

Once in the UK we texted Sue again for the AA and RAC websites prognosis on the M25 roadworks and traffic situation and made a good call on whether to go east or west of London. We had a good nourishing BK lunch at Oxford services and fuelled up the car for the last time - over €60 for 40 litres (€1.50 a litre). We had paid between €1.27 and €1.47 for petrol on he continent (cheaper in Austria than in Belgium, Italy or Germany) but that was for 98 octane as opposed to the 95 octane we have at home. They had it in Oxford too but for more like €1.70 a litre!

Pressing on up the M40, M6 and then over to the A55 in north Wales the traffic moved well and we had no delays before making Holyhead at 8.30.

I am writing this final instalment on the ferry home to Dublin. The car (aka "Philip") ran faultlessly throughout the 2200 miles we covered in the past 8 days and delivered about 300 miles to a 50 litre/10 gallon tank which is 30mpg .... all done at cruising speeds of 75 to 80 with the odd burst to 85 or 90 for which the engine is very eager. The only casualties were the light in the clock and the air-horn hose!

Thanks to John, Colm and Dave for their support in preparing the car over the past year or so!

Also looking forward to keeping in touch with new Lancia friends met at this great event!

I'll add the remaining pics when I can extract them from  our phones and from other people's cameras.

And I can post a few vids to Youtube

"You are so controversial Brian ... you really should be more sensitive to the feelings of the owner of that car - especially since you don't even know them!"

It wasn't my intention to offend anyone and I did say no doubt others would disagree, but I generally don't think whitewall tyres do anything for most cars, and as I was around when whitewalls were fitted to new cars, mainly as an option, I don't remember them being fitted in vast numbers.

Anyway, I do know some Dutch Lancia Club Members, it's possible I might know the owner ;)
I've just looked up my photos of a Vignale to see if I could see if it's the same one that was on Frank Dehlers 4th European meeting, when we went to Lake Orta and Fobello back in 1997, unfortunately I can't see the registration Number.
Great photos so keep clicking.

Brian
8227 8)

Here are Dietmar's pictures ....

www.movitcars.com/flavia50guarda (http://www.movitcars.com/flavia50guarda)

www.movitcars.com/flavia50guartogar (http://www.movitcars.com/flavia50guartogar)
 
www.movitcars.com/flavia50gradaqupalm (http://www.movitcars.com/flavia50gradaqupalm)
 

Much as I'd love to disagree with Brian - and much as I do like whitewalls - not on that car.

My positive is that I'd forgotten how stylish the headlining is in a Flavia. 

David

Well done Alan, I see from the pics you all had a great time. Really sorry I missed this one, maybe I might make the Fulvia 50th in 2013  if the car is finished by then ? ???

Not much to see here but just to prove the technology here are a few pictures of the preparation work on the car before this trip (gearbox replacement and subframe re-build) and also some videos from the Alps ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyUEPE6ANEs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyUEPE6ANEs)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsIOGVUSqAIv (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsIOGVUSqAIv)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L29I0HCti1s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L29I0HCti1s)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGvwvPwGxnw&playnext=1&videos=hbQB3Ig4BVo&feature=mfu_in_order (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGvwvPwGxnw&playnext=1&videos=hbQB3Ig4BVo&feature=mfu_in_order)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWBWHTUzYXc&videos=hbQB3Ig4BVo&feature=BF (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWBWHTUzYXc&videos=hbQB3Ig4BVo&feature=BF)

Very nice Alan ;D