Kermit and co - the Pub2Pub TVR, and other steeds.
Discussion
Hi folks, thanks for all the positive comments on our Mini-trip to South America, I'm glad you enjoyed reading about the drive. I now have some catching up to do in this thread however, as I've just completed my second road trip of the year.
It all started with a flight to Munich at the start of March, with the idea of purchasing a Mk1 Renault Twingo, and driving it home. I've always had a soft spot for these quirky little cars, which due to being LHD-only were never properly imported into the UK, but sold like wildfire on the continent. This fondness might stem from their characterful looks, their overwhelming Frenchness, or the liberal covering of parking dents which most of them possess. Whatever the reason, as a petrolhead I've always considered my appreciation of the early Twingos to be a guilty pleasure, and have often toyed with the idea of buying one somewhere and bringing it home.
Fast forward to around ten days ago, when I found myself viewing this fine machine near Augsburg:
It's a 2003 Twingo 1.2 16v, in 'initiale' spec. This means it's powered by the same 75hp motor found in many Clios of the period, and as the top-spec model, is surprisingly well equipped, with such luxuries as aircon, leather, remote central locking, a fully opening roof, electric windows and the like. In short, in initiale spec at least, it's far from the utilitarian motoring experience I was expecting. A quick check-over and a drive around the block and a deal was done, with much assistance from a German-speaking friend who was helping make this rather strange ambition of mine happen.
A few days later, following a relatively painless visit to some government offices in Munich to complete the paperwork and get export plates for the Twingo - once again aided greatly by having a friendly German present - we hit the road back to the UK. Or not strictly back to the UK, as we first elected to detour in the other direction to Austria, before setting course for the channel. The reason for this was to drop into Salzburg, and also visit Red Bull's Hangar Seven, which is free to enter and must surely appeal to any petrolhead:
From Saltzburg, we spent the next few days driving the Twingo to its new home in Devon, covering 1,800km and crossing 6 countries in three days, before getting home last Thursday. The little car proved to be a good, dependable companion on the road, if a little unrefined when pushing on, and the next challenge is now underway - getting it registered and legal in the UK. I'll let you know how that goes in the coming weeks. But until then, here are a few more pics from last week's drive across Europe:
It all started with a flight to Munich at the start of March, with the idea of purchasing a Mk1 Renault Twingo, and driving it home. I've always had a soft spot for these quirky little cars, which due to being LHD-only were never properly imported into the UK, but sold like wildfire on the continent. This fondness might stem from their characterful looks, their overwhelming Frenchness, or the liberal covering of parking dents which most of them possess. Whatever the reason, as a petrolhead I've always considered my appreciation of the early Twingos to be a guilty pleasure, and have often toyed with the idea of buying one somewhere and bringing it home.
Fast forward to around ten days ago, when I found myself viewing this fine machine near Augsburg:
It's a 2003 Twingo 1.2 16v, in 'initiale' spec. This means it's powered by the same 75hp motor found in many Clios of the period, and as the top-spec model, is surprisingly well equipped, with such luxuries as aircon, leather, remote central locking, a fully opening roof, electric windows and the like. In short, in initiale spec at least, it's far from the utilitarian motoring experience I was expecting. A quick check-over and a drive around the block and a deal was done, with much assistance from a German-speaking friend who was helping make this rather strange ambition of mine happen.
A few days later, following a relatively painless visit to some government offices in Munich to complete the paperwork and get export plates for the Twingo - once again aided greatly by having a friendly German present - we hit the road back to the UK. Or not strictly back to the UK, as we first elected to detour in the other direction to Austria, before setting course for the channel. The reason for this was to drop into Salzburg, and also visit Red Bull's Hangar Seven, which is free to enter and must surely appeal to any petrolhead:
From Saltzburg, we spent the next few days driving the Twingo to its new home in Devon, covering 1,800km and crossing 6 countries in three days, before getting home last Thursday. The little car proved to be a good, dependable companion on the road, if a little unrefined when pushing on, and the next challenge is now underway - getting it registered and legal in the UK. I'll let you know how that goes in the coming weeks. But until then, here are a few more pics from last week's drive across Europe:
Hoofy said:
Will you be taking it on a Twingo Twek?
Hi, not sure what the plans for the Twingo are - I've got enough coming up over the next few months, without trying to shoehorn a Twingo trip in there. But, we'll see..In other news, Daisy the Mini is back from South America. Having arrived in the Port of Felixstowe last weekend, a few days ago she was released by customs, and on Wednesday I drove her the 300-odd miles back to Devon.
The Mini is in the workshop now, awaiting some TLC, of which plenty will be needed after its trip around South America...
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