Haha... it wasn't actually intended... but....

Well, we made it all the way to Prague with no mechanical dramas (not due to the car itself anyway) and the battery light stayed on all the way. The diff finished sealed up with Duck tape and she now has a brand new rear tyre.

She did not go to a scrapyard and was given to a local dealer who (even though all he had to do was call us a cab) I think still isn't sure who got the best deal.

Pics are uploading now and I'll pop a link on here ASAP.

well done guys .

cant understand why you just didnt turn around and drive her back again though lol

Mainly the very odd "thud thud thud" from the back end that seemed to be getting louder the further we went.

In fairness, the real reason was that I was the only one with the time and I didn't really fancy 700 odd miles on my own across the autobahns. It would have taken two days in reality and I just wanted to be back.

I was kinda sad to see her go but as least she didn't get crushed!!

stemll wrote:Mainly the very odd "thud thud thud" from the back end that seemed to be getting louder the further we went.

I doubt that'd be diff related, when my old car blew its diff it was extremely sudden with no prior noise of warning!

Really didn't sound like the diff, we taped that up to stop it leaking on the nice pedestrian bit in Bormio when we did the parade.

It sounded more like it had a square wheel! It got quicker with road speed rather than engine speed and did seem to get louder the more miles we put on. I think it might have been either a bearing somewhere or a UJ in the back end.

I'm sure(ish) that it would have got back if we'd had the time. If anyone wants it DaveP has the business card of the guy we gave it to and I suspect he'd be more than happy to sell it!

Sounds like a wheel bearing to me... the diff is a classic one for leaking at these car ages now.

Glad you had a relatively uneventful trip in terms of car repair though overall

Pictures are now up

http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/n314/fpahtk/

then click the Czechwrecks2006 link.

More will be added later together with a video of the 2CV at 130kph!

Some great pics there, looks like some lovely scenery. Looks like the project was overrun by Volvos!

There was us, a 240 GLT estate and a saloon and a 940 or two and probably some 7s too.

We also got a big wave from the driver of a 340 somewhere in the middle of France.

In reality there were probably more BMWs than anything else but I think all the Volvo's made it to the end apart from one that was refused entry at the Czech border.

did you see the other guys with the bat300 ?

Didn't see any of the Student Gumball but rumour has it (could be completely wrong and totally unjustified) that the arrival of 150 student gumballers into the Czech Republic just before us was contributory to our grief at the border.

Would love to know (when they get back) how much grief they got.

no cavity searching with rubber gloves I hope !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Redline!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Have a look here, should be able to read the forum and find lots more pics from other teams.

http://forum.staples2naples.com/viewfor ... ebcf75c33f

redline wrote:no cavity searching with rubber gloves I hope !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Would have been the closest any of us got to any action!!!

Thankfully they just wanted to cross ref the chassis no (not the VIN, though - they wanted the actual stamp. Took us a while to find) with our passport no.s so that they could trace us if we dumped it in the river, or whatever...

Really appreciate all the help, guys. I miss the old beast. I just have my daily drive 940 Wentworth now to remind me what I'm missing. It now has a small Prancing Moose sticker on the back in homage to the 360....