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Roadtrip from Italy to Luxembourg

5K views 25 replies 18 participants last post by  Lupo TDI 
#1 ·
or how I learned to live with 26hp, straight-cut gears and 4 drum brakes.
Some may remember my other thread from a couple of months back; I had this FIAT 126bis sitting in Italy waiting to be taken to Luxembourg where I would register it and use it during summer. The car was sitting partly disassembled but I had all the parts to do the job. My sister could source a rear bumper for me at a pic-a-part junker and I left the rims at a tyre shop so they could put new tyres on.

10 Days ago, I got my insurance and my license plates; so I booked a flight to Treviso; packed my bag with some wrenches and my soldering iron to address some issues I knew were bad.
Once there, I quickly put the car back together and could drive a bit in our yard where I found out that the brakes were bad; they just would not stop braking. It was the brake cylinders; they were all gone. Got the car towed to a garage where they could rebuild them. When I drove the car home I must have looked like this little guy here:
It's so different from anything I have ever driven until now.
Once home it was time to prepare for the long journey. I planned to cross the Alps on B roads as I feared the trucks on the motorway. This car has a top speed of 112kph but as soon as the road goes slightly uphill there is no way one can keep that speed. So my route for the 1st day was the following: Arba --> Cortina --> Innsbruck; 300kms roughly. During this part of the trip I had magnificent weather, little traffic and one smaller problem: I had to adjust the clutch cable as I forgot to tighten a nut when I put the car back together... In Innsbruck I could stay at a frineds home so accomodation was no problem. Would have stayed a bit longer there, but there were bad weather warnings for friday and going to an altitude of about 1200meters in a car without winter tyres would have been no fun...
Second day route was: Innsbruck --> Ulm --> Stuttgart --> Kaiserslautern --> Trier --> Luxembourg. One hour after driving off in Innsbruck I was slowly but steadily crawling up the 2 passes left before entering Deutschland. There I got really angry because the cars behind me just would not "be cool" and started tailgating so each time I downshifted from 3rd to 2nd they had to brake abruptly; and yet they did not overtake even when I would keep myself on the right side in order for them to pass me. Once on top of the Fernpass, I stopped to let the car cool down a bit and pened the engine cover. There I noticed that the oil dipstick had loosened himself a bit and some oil was thrown around... Filled up the missing oil, waited a bit and continued.
On the way down came my revenge: The car is terribly at ease in turns so that I actually had to slow down because of other cars "blocking" my way
.
The trip continued without complications or whatsoever, I stopped regularly to check the dipstick but it never gave me problems again. It started raining and I thought this could be a problem but fortunatley everything in the car is water-proof; the electrics as well as the window and door "grommets". I was in deepest Bayern when all of a sudden, approaching a roundabout I noticed, in front of a warehouse, a red 959. I took a closer look and realised I was driving along Ruf's headquarters...! I quickly grabbed my cam and shot some pics while driving. When I was in Stuttgart I decided to continue til Luxembourg as the car was going strong and I did not feel tired.
Unfortunately, 35 kms from Home after a longer Uphill section I had a bad, strong oily smell so I stopped ASAP only to discover the missing oil dipstick and of course the whole oil nicely distributed all around the engine bay... Fortunately, I was already in Luxembourg so I called my road assistance which promptly arrived despite being half past 2 in the morning; loaded the car on the truck and took me home. Yesterday I tried to fire it up; it starts but then has difficulties staying on; I will have a mechanic check it for me. I hope it is nothing too bad!
Now, the pics. The cam died on the 2nd day so I have very few pics of the second day, and most were taken by cellphone.
Plates and Insurance:







One of 3 cars I overtook on the whole trip:


Vajont Landslide: More infos . The whiteish part on the left is where the mountain came off and fell into the lake.

The dam:

A classic "Casa Cantoniera" along a B-Road in Italy; they are painted all the same red and were used as hotels a long time ago; nowadays they are used to store signals, salt and everything needed to keep the road in working order.

The 0.703 litre engine.

Uh-oh...!

No parking problem




A military cemetery. Big parts of WW1 were fought on the border between Italy and Austria.

Driving up to the Brennerpass:

Brenner (border between Italy and Austria):

On the way down:

Ruf:






Modified by Lupo TDI at 3:14 PM 10-19-2008
 
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#4 ·
Re: Roadtrip from Italy to Luxembourg (Lupo TDI)

Yay Fiat 126! My grandmother used to have one of those. I loved whizzing round the little country lanes in Cornwall (UK) with her to go for groceries!
Thats quite a trip in such a tiny little car. It looks in amazing condition for its age too. Congrats on a successful trip, and the photos look great http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
I bet you needed a few well deserved
when you got home!
Mikki x


Modified by MikkiJayne at 2:24 PM 10-19-2008
 
#7 ·
Re: FV-QR (djsheijkdfj)

You are a brave man... I've been driving my grandfather's 1981 Fiat 126p (600cc) for around 2 months in Europe and it was "always something"... the oil cap fell off and and the engine bay was covered in oil... twice. I had to find one at a salvage yard since the second time it made its escape through the bottom of the bay.
The 81' had a pull start lever by the e-brake... the rod connected to the started had bent, so you had to feather the start lever to get it started. The alternator bearings took a dump, so it had to be rebuilt... and don't you love the constant smell of gasoline and hot engine? Good times...
 
#8 ·
Re: FV-QR (VeeRSixOh)

Quote, originally posted by VeeRSixOh »
You are a brave man... I've been driving my grandfather's 1981 Fiat 126p (600cc) for around 2 months in Europe and it was "always something"... the oil cap fell off and and the engine bay was covered in oil... twice. I had to find one at a salvage yard since the second time it made its escape through the bottom of the bay.
The 81' had a pull start lever by the e-brake... the rod connected to the started had bent, so you had to feather the start lever to get it started. The alternator bearings took a dump, so it had to be rebuilt... and don't you love the constant smell of gasoline and hot engine? Good times...

Haha, I hear you
Each journey in those cars is an adventure!
 
#10 ·
Pro tip:
Whatever you do, don't dress up in field gray khakis, hop into a sahara beige VW Kuebelwagen with German plates, drive into Luxemburg and start **** with the locals there.
Found that out the hard way.
 
#11 ·
Re: (Kar98)

Wonderful travelogue!
Fantastic pics. While the trip in the old 126 might have been a bit risky, it sound like a fun adventure too.
The tex wants more things like this!!!!!!!
The Travel Channel should hire you. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
 
#12 ·
Re: (botanator)

Quote, originally posted by botanator »
Wonderful travelogue!
Fantastic pics. While the trip in the old 126 might have been a bit risky, it sound like a fun adventure too.
The tex wants more things like this!!!!!!!
The Travel Channel should hire you. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif

Agreed x2! Thank you for posting!
 
#15 ·
Re: (Kar98)

Thanks again for your words!
Quote, originally posted by Kar98 »
Pro tip:
Whatever you do, don't dress up in field gray khakis, hop into a sahara beige VW Kuebelwagen with German plates, drive into Luxemburg and start **** with the locals there.
Found that out the hard way.

Sounds dangerous... when did this happen?
@Son... :
The Case Cantoniere were built to provide a home to those that worked to keep the road in working order; now nobody lives in them anymore (except few exceptions), they are mostly used to store things like "Streusalz" (salt), sometimes the Snowplows too and all that kind of stuff.
Unfortunately I did not stop in Ulm, partly because of the weather and partly because I did not want to be late at home which happened anyways... Ulm has the highest Church Tower, right? I still have to go there.
 
#16 ·
Re: (Lupo TDI)

My mom had one of these back in Poland. So loud. We never drove with the radio on. Either because it sucked or you just couldn't hear anything over the engine. I want to import one to the US just for fun's sake.
You have some balls to take that thing on a road trip http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif Looks fun!
 
#18 ·
Re: (Lupo TDI)

Quote, originally posted by Lupo TDI »
@Son... :
The Case Cantoniere were built to provide a home to those that worked to keep the road in working order; now nobody lives in them anymore (except few exceptions), they are mostly used to store things like "Streusalz" (salt), sometimes the Snowplows too and all that kind of stuff.

Thanks. The name sounds a little like "singers' house" to me.

Quote »
Unfortunately I did not stop in Ulm, partly because of the weather and partly because I did not want to be late at home which happened anyways... Ulm has the highest Church Tower, right? I still have to go there.

Yes! Das Münster. Everytime I see it, I just stand in awe infront of it, it's just that tall, 161 m, IIRC. Ulm's got a few nice blocks in the old town and it's really nothing that special from many other German towns, but I've naturally got a more personal connection to it.
I enjoy the atmosphere there.
Anyway, I'll have to get back to this. Don't have the time to read it, but looks interesting.
 
#22 ·
Re: Roadtrip from Italy to Luxembourg (Lupo TDI)

Quote, originally posted by Lupo TDI »


Wow--this picture really makes me miss living in Italy (2 years: 1990-1991). The only car I ever got to drive there was an early '80s 600cc Fiat Panda, which (for those who don't know) is essentially your 126 but front-engined. The Panda also had a 4-speed transmission (unsynchronized, even), and your story brings back those memories in vivid detail.
Thanks for sharing.
 
#24 ·
Re: (Son of a B...5er!)

Thanks again!

@Son of a B...5er!:
I really hope to go there the next time I'll drive to Italy.
@TurboMinivan:
Where did you Llive in Italy? The panda must have had the 34hp engine and the semi-closed front grille, right? I kind of miss the noise they made; they are getting areal rare sight in italy too.
@Kar98:
Must have been a kinda awkward situation

@Wimbledon:
Yes, the body is in real good shape. Only rust spots are where the previous owner had put a dent in the car. Paint is far from perfect and on the roof it had small cracks on the surface (car sat 6 years outside) therefore I just wet-sanded it with 1200 to smoothen it a bit. It will get painted as soon as the mechanical problems will be sorted out.
 
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