On Thurs 12/10 Foggy and I set off from Belper with his old, battered but suprisingly ok 245 and a hired car trailer. We drove to South Wales to collect a Volvo 66GL and then headed for Pettaws place in London arriving at 03.30!! After a few hours sleep we set off for Dover and the ferry. All was well so far apart from an entertaining moment on the long descent on the M20 into Dover when a 'tail wagging the dog' situation occured, but that was soon dealt with and we arrived just in time to miss the 09.30 (check-in 09.00) crossing!!

Here we are at Dover;


Due to the springs being a bit weak the rear of the 245 was sagging a fair bit, but the trailer was perfectly balanced so it didn't cause any problems.

After a stop in Calais for some fuel we set off across northern France and into Belgium. Somewhere between Ghent and Brussels we pulled into a service station for a driver swap with Andy taking over from me;


After a while spent in very heavy traffic on the Brussels ring road we finally made it to Leuven where we met Aymat. Here is his beautiful 345;


We had intended to stay for 30mins or so as we were running late due to the ferry and Brussels traffic, but 2 hours later and after a swift Duvel we set off for Deutschland with Foggy at the wheel finally arriving in Hellefeld at 11.45pm. After ein Bier we finally retired to bed at about 1.15am.

Following mornings pic of the Gasthaus;


having delvered the car to Benni and Marcus we had a few hours to kill before the DAF Club of Germany's meet so we went for a drive around the surrounding countryside including a stop at the Sorpesee (Of the Dambusters raid fame);



Andy and Foggy looking out for Lancasters;


Off to the meet with many examplesof beautiful 33's, 55's and 66's on show;




Pimptastic 70's decals;




Centre exhaust;


Only 3 front spoilers are known to exist, here's two of them;





The reason for the trip - Foggy's pile of parts;




Some other classics on show;



At about 7pm it was time to head for the Gasthaus with some of the club members for dinner. After an excellent meal of Schnitzel and a few drinks most people drifted off between 11pm and 1am. However one not so you fool, Marcus and Benni (our hosts), and three other members stayed up nattering until the small hours. At about 3am Marcus and Benni departed along with another member and myself, Stephan and Harry continued setting the world to rights over more bier and schnapps until 05.30 when I headed off to bed!

At 07.30 (OH NOES!!!) it was time to get up ready for an 8am departure to make our ferry at 3pm - needless to say I didn't drive, Foggy took that honour. A quick thrash through Holland and Belgium with a driver swap near Ghent (Andy's turn to drive) saw us reach Calais at 2.15pm in time for the 3pm check-in;


The White Cliffs of Dover;


I took over the driving as we left the ferry and managed to have our ony breakdown of the trip when the car popped its head to heater matrix hoses on the long hill climbing out of Dover. A quick stop on and Industrial Estate in Folkestone saw us looping the other heater hose around to bypass the heater and we were soon on our way again ready to contend with the heavy M25 traffic arriving at Andys at about 7.45pm. After a break for some nosh Foggy and I set off for Belper at 9pm reaching it at 11.15pm where I got out and Foggy headed for home.


A great trip with many hilarious and embarrasing moments for all of us (I'll let the others explain....) and I feel the need for something similar very soon. Luckily we made a good impression with our German friends and have been invited back next year, something I think might very well happen. Needless to say I'm shattered having had little sleep over the last 4 days, but it was well worth it.

Some great pics and a nice write up Rupert, looks like an awesome trip - and my god them Daff (33's??) look awesome with that front lip spoiler!

Those are 66s too...the Volvo ones were just rebadged with different bumpers. I knew you'd like them Steve

More to come later....just had to fix my PC (thanks to Nibbles for his input!)

cheers

James

Looks superb guys! Seems very cool.

It's funny, to me that orange 66(?) estate looks a bit like a bmw 3-touring after having been crushed in between 2 trucks

foggyjames wrote:Those are 66s too...the Volvo ones were just rebadged with different bumpers. I knew you'd like them Steve

More to come later....just had to fix my PC (thanks to Nibbles for his input!)

cheers

James

Well, someone has got to be useful in the household!

You just dont know how much I am going to charge for it yet.

V6 Man wrote:On Thurs 12/10 Foggy and I set off from Belper with his old, battered but suprisingly ok 245 and a hired car trailer. We drove to South Wales to collect a Volvo 66GL and then headed for Pettaws place in London arriving at 03.30!! After a few hours sleep we set off for Dover and the ferry. All was well so far apart from an entertaining moment on the long descent on the M20 into Dover when a 'tail wagging the dog' situation occured, but that was soon dealt with and we arrived just in time to miss the 09.30 (check-in 09.00) crossing!!

Here we are at Dover;

Due to the springs being a bit weak the rear of the 245 was sagging a fair bit, but the trailer was perfectly balanced so it didn't cause any problems.

After a stop in Calais for some fuel

hope foggy had nothing to do with that

I'm not sure I have much text to add (good work Rupert!) except that the Germans were not too impressed with the state of the car, as I think they were expecting something which wasn't in need of restoration, so it looks like we're going back again in the not too distant future with a cleaner car I've now tracked down. Watch this space! Anyhow, on with the pics!



Rupert and Andy with Aymat










Rupert and Andy


cheers

James

Oh yeah...R-Sport rimz beyotches


cheers

James

Pimptastic rims! Looks like a grand time was had by all! So, what were the embarrasing moments chaps? And the close encounters with the trailer?!
Pete

Rupert came out with various war references..

"Bloody hell guys, we're making good time....if we keep going like this VE VILL SOON BE INS POLAND!"

"Ah yes, the Sorpe Dam....that's the one that 617 squadron blew to piec.....oops"

The trailer incidents...Rupert was fiddling with the stereo instead of driving, and got some serious arse end action on the go (and I had to change my underwear). I came into an ever tightening sliproad spiral a bit fast, and broke a strap under heavy braking, and about a mile from home at the end of the trip (with my toe down just a bit) I had to do an emergency stop when I realised a roundabout exit was randomly shut. At least it proved to me that even when hooning I allow enough space to stop in the distance I can see to be clear

We also got various pictures of Grandad asleep & snoring, etc

cheers

James

glad you guys all had a good time and got home safely
pictures are great

In my own sick way . and with all due respect to Andy,I think there must be a caption competition for this one





perhaps something like Andy saying ,
leave me alone you two you have already had my dinner money

Rupert saying

Oi mate want to buy some gear , take a puff of this and tell me what you think

Looks like you had a great time. That's a nice way to spend a weekend.

I'm certain I tried to post this photoshop last night. Possibly having a "late in the evening" moment.
I thought something had gone wrong with the perspective, and that andy was really stood farther back... something like this