Monster road trip ,3000+ miles in old FIAT
Discussion
Now it really is time to depart Italy .
After a frustrating drive round the Modena Tangenziale ,ring road ,I cannot find an exit for the Autostrada I think I want.
The signs gave a choice of Bologna ,east or Milano ,west ,I thought I didn't want either of these ,thinking I wanted Verona
or Brennero ,north.
Turns out I DID require Milano ,for about 1 whole mile before the A22 autostrada junctions off to the north for Verona
and ultimately Brennero ,where Austria appears.
I was going to go to another museum but looking at my detailed directions ,a further 6 hours from the border was just too silly
and opted to go to.....
Without a Satnav or any directions I found it first time ,just used my initiative on the Munchen inner ring road and pot luck helped out.
The differing shapes of 3 series ,it's predecessor and the timeline.
The first BMW X1 ^^^^
E46 M3 GTR V8
A diorama of the M1 Procar racing
BMW artcar lives on.
and that's just about everything.
I then had about 11 hours to drive the 600 odd miles to Calais.
Weather ranged from sunny to torrential rain ,traffic jams are also a pain in Germany too.
Having been a few times to the same areas ,there is an awful autobahn bottleneck at Pforzheim ,where it goes from
3 to 2 lanes ,Stuttgart has busy traffic on the A8 and A81 ,seemingly all day.
I'm already thinking of the next trip but using a different route as Belgium also suffered jams and has some awful road
surfaces too.
That was 3164 miles door to door total in 2 weeks ,2 days of which the car didn't move at all.
The 21yo FIAT was 100% reliable ,I checked the water a couple of times as the heater matrix is a little leaky but absolutely
nothing else went wrong.
Made up....
After a frustrating drive round the Modena Tangenziale ,ring road ,I cannot find an exit for the Autostrada I think I want.
The signs gave a choice of Bologna ,east or Milano ,west ,I thought I didn't want either of these ,thinking I wanted Verona
or Brennero ,north.
Turns out I DID require Milano ,for about 1 whole mile before the A22 autostrada junctions off to the north for Verona
and ultimately Brennero ,where Austria appears.
I was going to go to another museum but looking at my detailed directions ,a further 6 hours from the border was just too silly
and opted to go to.....
Without a Satnav or any directions I found it first time ,just used my initiative on the Munchen inner ring road and pot luck helped out.
The differing shapes of 3 series ,it's predecessor and the timeline.
The first BMW X1 ^^^^
E46 M3 GTR V8
A diorama of the M1 Procar racing
BMW artcar lives on.
and that's just about everything.
I then had about 11 hours to drive the 600 odd miles to Calais.
Weather ranged from sunny to torrential rain ,traffic jams are also a pain in Germany too.
Having been a few times to the same areas ,there is an awful autobahn bottleneck at Pforzheim ,where it goes from
3 to 2 lanes ,Stuttgart has busy traffic on the A8 and A81 ,seemingly all day.
I'm already thinking of the next trip but using a different route as Belgium also suffered jams and has some awful road
surfaces too.
That was 3164 miles door to door total in 2 weeks ,2 days of which the car didn't move at all.
The 21yo FIAT was 100% reliable ,I checked the water a couple of times as the heater matrix is a little leaky but absolutely
nothing else went wrong.
Made up....
Squadrone Rosso said:
Wow. Quite a trip. Good to see the little boat is still doing you proud 
Love this car ,can't fault it's reliability.Just enjoying it for as long as possible.....
I cannot stress enough how good the Mille Miglia is ,good food ,the people ,the sights ,oh and the 450+ cars.
What on earth is there not to like ?
absolutely fantastic trip, great pics and huge respect to Fabio for making it intact and unscathed!!!!Pericoloso said:
Love this car ,can't fault it's reliability.
Just enjoying it for as long as possible.....
I cannot stress enough how good the Mille Miglia is ,good food ,the people ,the sights ,oh and the 450+ cars.
What on earth is there not to like ?
Been to the MM several times, including in my old Spider. Last time was 2012 so well overdue a visit again. Just enjoying it for as long as possible.....
I cannot stress enough how good the Mille Miglia is ,good food ,the people ,the sights ,oh and the 450+ cars.
What on earth is there not to like ?
Squadrone Rosso said:
Have you ever stayed at the NH Lingotto hotel in Turin? The old converted FIAT factory.
The only way you can get on the roof
No ,only been to Turin once for the car museum and my sleeping quarters are free at sister's house ,so never stayed in any The only way you can get on the roof
Italian hotels.
MDL111 said:
Thank you for posting all the pics - impressive trip
Suggest you go up a5/a3 rather than a8 to get to Calais - a little less traffic usually - although nowadays it seems there is always traffic in Germany ....
Thanks.Suggest you go up a5/a3 rather than a8 to get to Calais - a little less traffic usually - although nowadays it seems there is always traffic in Germany ....
When I got home I looked at maps online.e to see the suggested route for Munich or Stuttgart to Calais,it wasn't the route I chose.
Mileage is pretty similar at roughly 600 but going via Nuremberg was about 2 hours less in time.
I will add,I used the route I did because I had already been down that way this year and was relatively fresh in my poor memory.
I don't use a sat nav but I do carry some rather dated map books.
The route was if you're familiar,Munich,past Stuttgart on A8, up to Landau,onto the single carriageway to Pirmasens,that was where the tunnel was and the road got flooded due to torrential rain on Thursday.
Then Saarlouis,Luxembourg etc north.
Not the best route by far.
I don't use a sat nav but I do carry some rather dated map books.
The route was if you're familiar,Munich,past Stuttgart on A8, up to Landau,onto the single carriageway to Pirmasens,that was where the tunnel was and the road got flooded due to torrential rain on Thursday.
Then Saarlouis,Luxembourg etc north.
Not the best route by far.
Thanks very much for the posting and the pictures - what a trip!
We were at the MIlle Miglia this year for the first time; attended the blessing in Brescia Cathedral, watched the stamping of the cars in Brescia, saw them coming through Desenzano and then jumped on the boat to see the time check at Sirmione.
On the final day, drove over to near Chiari to watch them on the road then followed on; waved through Concoglio and Rovato on the actual route and then sent round Ospitaletto then on to Brescia again.
Great atmosphere and the locals are really enthusiastic - bet they loved the Barchetta.
Great trip and back over the Brenner and up via Germany on the longest stretch of de-restricted Autobahn we've ever been on. There's a motor museum where we stayed in Langenburg but we had to leave before it opened at 11 (next time?)
Already want to do it all again.
We were at the MIlle Miglia this year for the first time; attended the blessing in Brescia Cathedral, watched the stamping of the cars in Brescia, saw them coming through Desenzano and then jumped on the boat to see the time check at Sirmione.
On the final day, drove over to near Chiari to watch them on the road then followed on; waved through Concoglio and Rovato on the actual route and then sent round Ospitaletto then on to Brescia again.
Great atmosphere and the locals are really enthusiastic - bet they loved the Barchetta.
Great trip and back over the Brenner and up via Germany on the longest stretch of de-restricted Autobahn we've ever been on. There's a motor museum where we stayed in Langenburg but we had to leave before it opened at 11 (next time?)
Already want to do it all again.
Same here Mishima.
The car ,with it's large Italian tricolour stripe on bonnet certainly got some looks for the whole week I was down there.
On the Friday after finishing watching the cars from my layby ,I headed for home ,using the MM route and when I went through
both Fucecchio and Monte Carlo ,no not that one ,I was directed by police to stay on the MM route ,rather than the diversion for
normal cars ,kids waved and everything.
As I said earlier ,this was my 4th time at the MM .I would go every year if it wasn't quite so far away.
I love it !
The car ,with it's large Italian tricolour stripe on bonnet certainly got some looks for the whole week I was down there.
On the Friday after finishing watching the cars from my layby ,I headed for home ,using the MM route and when I went through
both Fucecchio and Monte Carlo ,no not that one ,I was directed by police to stay on the MM route ,rather than the diversion for
normal cars ,kids waved and everything.
As I said earlier ,this was my 4th time at the MM .I would go every year if it wasn't quite so far away.
I love it !
Finally got round to reading this, great pictures!
Although old American cars do have their own style I do think European ones have that little extra bit of “cool” about them. I can’t think of a direct example, but it’s a bit like the american ones are a bit “Posh and Becks” with the euro stuff being more “George and Amal”. Less shouty, with that understated confidence. IYSWIM.
Although old American cars do have their own style I do think European ones have that little extra bit of “cool” about them. I can’t think of a direct example, but it’s a bit like the american ones are a bit “Posh and Becks” with the euro stuff being more “George and Amal”. Less shouty, with that understated confidence. IYSWIM.
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