Saturday, November 5, 2011

Trabi-Safari in Berlin


In 2009 and Shelly and I drove around most of Europe for a couple of months. We'd encountered Trabi-Safari in Dresden and Leipzig, in Germany and Krakow, in Poland but we didn't get to take a tour until we reached Berlin. Trabi-Safari Berlin is situated near Checkpoint Charlie. There are plenty of signs around to direct you. http://www.trabi-safari.de/index.php?language=en





There was a wide selection of cars available to choose from.



A pink Barkas van. In hindsight I'd have liked to have driven this. Barkas are very cool.

A convoy of Trabi's on a tour. Trabi-Safari offer a couple of drive yourself tours around the sights of East Berlin. You drive the car and follow the tour leader. They broadcast commentary through the car radio as you drive around.

We took a short half hour tour. It was late in the afternoon when we set off so the girl at the kiosk, locked up and acted as the tour leader. A couple of her friends who happened to be passing at the time hopped in her car and came along for the drive.

The spartan dash of a late 1970s Trabant. It reminded me of my parents old 1960 Ford Cortina.

The Trabant's handling is unique to say the least but it was a pleasure to drive such a simple vehicle and I couldn't stop smiling. The brakes were a little bit of a worry though. You can see here the very basic gear shifter on the steering column. It looks a lot like the early DKW gear shifters that were mounted in the dashboard - little more than a steel tube with a hand grip.

I was pretty damned busy driving the car but Shelly did get a few good photos of the scenery. Here is the Frankenkirche.

Safely back in the yard. It was a lot of fun and I walked away with a new appreciation for the Trabant and two-stroke cars. A highly recommended experience. http://www.trabi-safari.de/index.php?language=en

Trabant Drive in Budapest
During a visit to Budapest in 2016 we took a Trabant tour. It was mainly a tour of the city's communist heritage. It was a great and informative tour and at the end I had the opportunity to take the Trabant on a short drive. http://rentatrabantbudapest.com/


Friday, November 4, 2011

British Auto Classic 2011


Sunday 23rd October was British Auto Classic day in Waroona, south of Perth. Shelly and I popped along to check it out.

The oldest car at the show was this 1911 Star limousine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Motor_Company

The owner mentioned that he had not managed to source appropriate headlamps. Replicas could be manufactured but at an extravagant cost of around $2000 a piece.

This cute little 1914 Swift has been a regular attendee at Veteran Car Club rallys. See my postings for the Veteran Car days of 2010 and 11.

A rarity in Australia -a 1935 Jowett.





Morris-Cowley


1926 Bentley. A very beautiful machine. Interestingly the bodywork of this vehicle was covered in vinyl - like the early DKWs.

There was an impressive contingent of classic Rolls-Royce.

A big 1948 Jaguar Mark IV sedan.

A Jag limousine

Jaguar XK 120 sedan. A very nice restoration.

What Jaguar is most famous for - sportscars.

Jaguar E-type

The highly unusual Jowett Jupiter. It has an intriguing engine layout, with the fan cooled radiator mounted behind the flat four boxer engine, just as in contemporary DKWs. This isn't really a surprise when you realize some of the car's designers had come from Auto-Union. http://carclubs.shannons.com.au/jowettcc
Here are some more links about this interesting vehicle:
http://www.jowettjupiter.co.uk/
http://jowett.org/

MGs.

The MG TC is a gorgeous little sportster.

1936 Willys-Overland. Willys-Overland was an American company but they did build vehicles under license in the UK.

Open wide - A cheeky Hillman Minx

The British Ford Club was out in force again.



Ford Prefects



A Bedford Van. This was the only commercial vehicle on show.

An Oldsmobile T-75 sedan. Not really sure if this counts as British. Maybe they built them under license?

The Oldsmobile and a 1955 Hillman.

A Riley. I've always been rather partial to the stylish Rileys. They retained a quite old fashioned look right into the 1950s.

A rear view of another Riley.

A Riley and a Vauxhall. Once again the Vauxhall club put on a good display.

Vauxhall Vangard



Vauxhall Velox. I believe my parents once owned one of these.

Standard

A Vauxhall Velox cabriolet

1957 Nash Metropolitan. We seem to come across one of these at every car show or museum we visit.

Rover

Morris Minors. There was a large contingent of Morris'.

Austin A40