Driving Tour of Europe in a 1987 corolla.....In Detail!(pic heavy!)

ep71

Well everybody, I’ve had this epic drive in the back of my mind the last few years and a couple of months ago myself and Flo decided that we were going to make it happen this year at the end of October, we roped in another recruit Liam and proceeded to do absolutely nothing about it until Flo landed this dinger of a ke70 Corolla estate in need of some loving, we set about an extremely ambitious plan of getting the car nct’d and road legal with a plan of doing approximately 1000 miles on irish soil before taking a chance and heading overseas. We spent a few long evenings sorting out rust and mechanicals before the car was finally almost ready for testing, got the test after sorting out a few minor bits and a visual retest and all of a sudden the plan was all go! Sorted time off work and booked ferries and channel tunnel crossings and set the date for Friday the 21st October returning on Monday the 31st just after the long weekend.
After a few minor hiccups involving fuel pump and other bits and pieces we had approximately 500 miles up on the car and it was time to hit the road
Anyway enough talk time for evidence! Some pics by me but most taken by my mate liam.
The Car


The Plans, some addresses and grid references

And the guys!


And this is how it all turned out! 13 tanks of fuel and 3760 miles later

View from the corolla getting off the ferry at fishguard in wales

A few checks before getting the channel tunnel

On the tunnel

Luxembourg


Strasbourg

Random little flying club we came across


Zurich

ep71

Liechenstein


Climbing the alps

ep71

Stelvio pass, the highest road in Europe, 2800m above sea level at one point

ep71

IMG]http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc124/pjcs2007/24102011058.jpg[/IMG]
Going down the far side, mad yoke!



Stayed in munich that night and went to the Toyota museum in Passau the following day






Went on the audi factory tour the next day and to the audi museum in Ingolstadt germany

ep71

The following day we went to the technical museum in speyer germany, absolutely mind blowing place! Mad!

ep71

Kamikaze submarine found while dredging a river in Holland!


Stayed in Koblenz that night after we picked up two more lads at franfurt Hahn airport who flew out to meet us needless to say it was quite cramped inthe car with 5 guys!

Passed through hochstadt on the way to the airport which is twinned with castlebar where im from!


Then on to cologne

ep71

Also visited hockenheim and spa though they were closed!


Also went to the ring where me and one of the lads did a lap of the nordschleife in the corolla, €24 for the lap and worth every penny, didn’t get any track pics unfortunately but it really happened, got some strange looks of the guys in porsches and Ferraris!





Then went to bruges Belgium for a look around, such a pretty place!

Then drove through the night to the channel tunnel, got the train and drove across England and wales back home. Covered 10 countries altogether in as many days!

bbam

Epic Stuff there lads...

TigerTim

That was some trip. Well done. Didn't know about the Toyota museum. I see a MR2 MK1A similar to mine on one of the pics - just similar but a lot cleaner!.

T.

Practical

Thats class! Thanks for sharing

CharlieCroker

Brilliant!!!!

bijapos

ep71 wrote: »

Stayed in munich that night and went to the Toyota museum in Passau the following day

I imagine carchaeologist is now booking his holidays.

I met the guy who owns that museum about 10-12 years ago. I went with a mate to buy an old Toyota, the deal was agreed then he showed up and convinced us to let him have the car. Seems he was a Toyota dealer before, one of the first in Germany, he started after he found by chance the first car he ever sold in a field somewhere. I'd forgotten about him.

Epic trip, love the car too, nice rat look to it.

gyppo

Thoroughly enjoyed this - well done!

Bigus

Great pics and great to see somebody doing rather than just talking.

Any chance you could tell us about the highs and lows and the costs ?

Bigus

PS what was the flat out speed of the corolla estate up the hill at Spa through Eau Rouge ? and where's the pic

ep71

Bigus wrote: »

Great pics and great to see somebody doing rather than just talking.

Any chance you could tell us about the highs and lows and the costs ?

hmm, highs are plentiful, being on a ferry for the first time in ages, being on the channel tunnel for the first time ever, coming off the tunnel in calais and realising that i had to drive on the wrong side of the motorway immediately!
drinking beers in what could only be described as an old shed under a bridge in zurich! the stelvio pass was truly epic, leaving the hotel at 3am in munich to go to the nightclub and coming home at 7 was brilliantly different to being at home, that technical museum in germany was absolutely mind blowing and the toyota museum was like being in heaven especially as there were no other people there and the door was effectively closed behind us to spend as long as we wanted to in there, driving the nurburgring in a ****ter of a corolla estate while there were porsches and ferraris lining up alongside us was brilliant, i even overtook three cars during the lap, bruges in belgium was probably the prettiest place ive ever been which was a nice surprise as we hadnt planned on going there at all it just happened when we saw the sign

lows id say there was only one and that was the fact that we hadnt made any accomodation plans as we didnt know where we were going to be on any given day or if the car would make it! this meant that we had massive difficulty finding hotel/hostel accomodation often spending 2 or 3 hours looking before we found a place to stay. this meant that it was often too late to go out on the town or else we could only find accomodation in places where there was no nightlife, we spent one night in particular looking for a hotel in frankfurt, at frankfurt hahn airport and several other towns along the way before finally getting a room in koblenz at 4am and being wrecked tired the following day.

didnt get a run out at spa or hockenheim as they were closed and it was dark, top speed we got from the corolla was 110mph on the clock on the autobahn but the satnav reckoned we were onl doing 95mhp, oh well!

ep71

id say i spent around €800 all in so not too bad, the other lads spent a similar amount, it was fairly brilliant that we paid a toll in ballinasloe and didnt pay another until italy!

PanhardPL

Thanks for a sharing your pics of a great trip.
Next June the NSU Club of Ireland have organised a trip to Neckarsulm and one of the museums that will be visited, will be the Speyer and after seeing your fantastic pics, am certainly looking forward to it.

VolvoMan

Epic thread!

Did the Corolla let you down at all during the trip?

ep71

not really, we changed the fan belt in koblenz, the exhaust seals in cologne and had a wire come off the starter twice, we also had to adjust the carb every now and again

carchaeologist

bijapos wrote: »

I imagine carchaeologist is now booking his holidays.

Lol..never even knew about that museum, contemplating holidays alright after seeing that!
Epic trip lads, thanks for sharing!

_Conrad_

great trip and some very nice pictures

no1beemerfan

Savage trip lads. Thanks for sharing and proving you don't need to be anal about it and plan every detail....not knowing where you going the next day must add to the fun!

Thanks for sharing

Dades

Fantastic journey and brilliant pics!!
Looks like a blast.

LOL - so not used to seeing cars like yours posing at the top of the Stelvio Pass.

That Technical Museum looks AMAZING. Have to get there some day...

hi5

I'd love to do a road trip like that some day,I expect petrol was the biggest expense,unless of course you do it like this lad!
http://hondavstheworld.com/

macplaxton

Excellent stuff. It's handy enough when you're sharing the cost of petrol, although the E10 stuff is crap.

Hermy

Brilliant post. It's something I hope to do myself someday.
I don't think Stelvio is the highest pass in Europe but it must be one heck of a drive.
What was it like?

kindredspirit

Respect.

unkel

Epic trip - thanks for sharing

Didn't know the Stelvio pass was still open so late in the year - I thought the Alps already had a dose of snow last month!

ep71 wrote: »

Never seen that language before, is that Romansh per chance (a very small minority in Switzerland speak it). It looks more Romanian than Italian or Spanish

ikb

Its a wonder you can sit down in that car...Ta liatharoidi an-mor agut !
Well done, Thanks for sharing:)

okistag

Well done lads, Epic.

Would love to do something like that myself and have thought of doing one for some time but you guys put it into action!!! Where as I am still dreaming

unfit2006

Excellent trip lads and great photos to remember it by.
It will be something to look back on and have a laugh about in years to come.

bijapos

unkel wrote: »

Never seen that language before, is that Romansh per chance (a very small minority in Switzerland speak it). It looks more Romanian than Italian or Spanish

Its Swiss German or Schwyzerduetsch. Essentially the dialect thats spoken in Switzerland though this has also dozens of local variations. Its almost intelligible to ordinary German speakers.

The Swiss write German the same as ordinary German, but some still write it as its spoken.

Think of it as a strong dialect like Glaswegian English. Its the equivalent of writing:

"Ah kim fi Glasgoo".

Instead of:

"I come from Glasgow".

Sorry, but thats the best way I can explain it.

Incidentally Subaru are huge in Switzerland because of the 4X4 systems. The fact that they are petrol doesnt matter as Switzerland, because of the cold winters still has one of the highest percentage of petrol cars in Europe.

unkel

bijapos wrote: »

Its Swiss German or Schwyzerduetsch.

I don't think it is. I know the sound of Swiss German, recognise it and can even understand it a bit (spent a lot of summer holidays as a teenager in northern Italy very close to the Swiss border). But as you say, written it is the same as German

That language on the sign is clearly a romanic language, not a germanic language

And you're right about Subarus being popular cars in many an area in the alps

sellerbarry

Excellent pics lads! Thanks for sharing...........

wesf

wow, amazing trip! well done, some day!

Standard Toaster

5 star thread, nice one OP. Pics are class.

ep71

why thank you! getting the itch again big time!

kermitpwee

Class trip lads, yee were fairly moving in that mk2 golf on sunday back from claremorris. Now for a trip in the vw!

thewintermute

The 'war office' is not going to be pleased with the content of this thread. She has suffered much on previous (motorcycle) road trips. I've been around France and Holland by Vintage Vespa. I know the hopeful/fearful feeling of tootling around without a safety net. Much respect.

ep71

kermitpwee wrote: »

Class trip lads, yee were fairly moving in that mk2 golf on sunday back from claremorris. Now for a trip in the vw!

indeed i was! what were ya driving yourself?

ep71

thewintermute wrote: »

The 'war office' is not going to be pleased with the content of this thread. She has suffered much on previous (motorcycle) road trips. I've been around France and Holland by Vintage Vespa. I know the hopeful/fearful feeling of tootling around without a safety net. Much respect.

why thank you!

kermitpwee

ep71 wrote: »

indeed i was! what were ya driving yourself?

Let me introduce myself! I looked at your mk2 golf when you had it for sale with my uncle outside woodies.
I was just after coming back from buying a mk1 jetta when I spotted your golf heading out the balla rd from claremorris, I was driving a carina e at the time. I also own 6 mk2 golfs, one of them I use as a daily its a big bumper diesel that needs paint badly!

Capri

Had Corolla van version of that model. U Got there before me - I had thought of doing something like that but thru Scandanavia and Eastern EU as well in a Citroen Berlingo / Renault Kangoo ex-Post van ( Modern day 2CV /R4 ??? ) -someday !

How about doin it in a Dacia ? :eek:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHV3pEbrUOA

My Beautiful Dacia

The first Dacia cars were made in 1968, as part of Romania's dream of self-sufficiency. But when the Ceausescu regime collapsed, the country's automotive industry was sent spiralling into oblivion, as liberated Romanians rushed to buy western cars.

True Stories presents Julio Soto and Stefan Constantinescu's light-hearted portrayal of Romania's development from communism to capitalism, told through the Dacia.

Among those featured in the film are Mrs Dobrin, who preserves her Dacia as a memorial to her late husband; Dumitru Burlan, Ceausescu's double, who accompanied the Ceausescus in their Dacia on their ill-fated escape attempt; and Constantin Stroe, general manager of Dacia.

With Renault's help, the Dacia Logan is now taking on the tough world motor market, and, whatever happens, the Dacia will always remain one of the most iconic emblems of late-20th-century Romania.

galwaytt

..dunno how I missed this thread, just saw it now for first time, after a reference in Classics thread.

Epic, just Epic, brilliant !

Btw, if you love Speyer, you'll love Sinsheim too. http://sinsheim.technik-museum.de/en/en/aircraft