Ciao retromonkeys... 
The start of May signalled the end of the snow season and after a cracking six weeks in France it was time to ramble on. Given that I don't have to be back in the UK until the Classic Ford show on the 10th of June it would have been rude to not take a wander, seeing as I was so close to the Italian border. Also, as my directional sense seems to be dictated by which way the wind blows at the moment, I figured I'd check out a mates place in the Soca valley, Slovenia.
Which meant another road trip.
A little disappointed with the lack of retroness around Tignes and Val D'Isere where I was based, I checked the levels on the Volvo and loaded up. Only to see this on my way out...
A lowered 240... Who would have thunk it eh? Did a double take and checked it out, definitely lowered but no owner present to talk spring rates with ;D
Then lo and behold a beach buggy, somebody was trying to tell me something, considering these are the only two decent vehicles worthy of posting here I saw in six weeks.
Dropped a friend off at the train station further down the valley and stumbled across this, love the rake and lack of rear window, does it all for me.
I also had a couple of mates in tow in a Cavalier, or more precisely a Cavalier with no brakes... So after asking in every garage for thirty kms if anybody could sort it, we finally found one, and my amigo could stop driving with sweaty palms and one hand hovering over the handbrake.
We already knew the rear drum brake cylinders had packed in and he'd had the foresight to get some sent out from the UK, the only trouble is somebody had borrowed the Cav whilst they were dying and topped up the master cylinder with power steering fluid... Which blew its seals.
So picture the scene, one non-French speaking owner, my pigeon French translation skills and the need for a RHD spec '92 Cavalier master cylinder. After a phone call to the nearest Opel dealer left us with a potential five day wait for one to be sent from the UK, the garage owner relunctantly called the nearest scrapyard... Who had one on the shelf 6kms away. Happy? Oh yes... I can only guess that some unfortunate UK Cavalier owners loss was our gain.
Having only made 50kms in 24hrs, we now wanted to make our destination in Slovenia by that night, it was now 12.30pm. Oh, and Slovenia was the Mont Blanc tunnel and a traverse across the top of Italy away. So it wasn't good when the Cav started overheating in the Alps near the tunnel, on the French side... Oh yeah and we were on a remote enforced detour after a road closure.
Having topped off with mountain spring water, I then had to teach my friend about the cooling qualities of anti-freeze. One garage stop later and 2ltrs of the stuff added to the pure water content, and we were rocking.
31 euros for the Mont Blanc tunnel lighter and we emerged into Italy, finding our way down onto the A4 motorway which passes Milan, Brescia and onto Venice. A ball ache of a drive, we hit 100miles of 20mph traffic, on one of the most boring motorways ever built. Straight and flat, we amused ourselves by 'Ciaoing' anybody in the traffic around us who looked like they needed cheering up. The Volvo got some serious Italian respect too, I was asked to rev it up (oh dear
) and even do a burnout by a bunch of builders in a Fiat van. It would also appear chicks dig stripped Volvo estates...
Anyway, we arrived late into the night after a very amusing border crossing and I've been checking out this amazing country ever since.
I'm currently sat on the lobby floor of the local library using their wifi connection, so I'll bug out now and try and find some retro tat to take pics of.
The start of May signalled the end of the snow season and after a cracking six weeks in France it was time to ramble on. Given that I don't have to be back in the UK until the Classic Ford show on the 10th of June it would have been rude to not take a wander, seeing as I was so close to the Italian border. Also, as my directional sense seems to be dictated by which way the wind blows at the moment, I figured I'd check out a mates place in the Soca valley, Slovenia.
Which meant another road trip.
A little disappointed with the lack of retroness around Tignes and Val D'Isere where I was based, I checked the levels on the Volvo and loaded up. Only to see this on my way out...
A lowered 240... Who would have thunk it eh? Did a double take and checked it out, definitely lowered but no owner present to talk spring rates with ;D
Then lo and behold a beach buggy, somebody was trying to tell me something, considering these are the only two decent vehicles worthy of posting here I saw in six weeks.
Dropped a friend off at the train station further down the valley and stumbled across this, love the rake and lack of rear window, does it all for me.
I also had a couple of mates in tow in a Cavalier, or more precisely a Cavalier with no brakes... So after asking in every garage for thirty kms if anybody could sort it, we finally found one, and my amigo could stop driving with sweaty palms and one hand hovering over the handbrake.
We already knew the rear drum brake cylinders had packed in and he'd had the foresight to get some sent out from the UK, the only trouble is somebody had borrowed the Cav whilst they were dying and topped up the master cylinder with power steering fluid... Which blew its seals.
So picture the scene, one non-French speaking owner, my pigeon French translation skills and the need for a RHD spec '92 Cavalier master cylinder. After a phone call to the nearest Opel dealer left us with a potential five day wait for one to be sent from the UK, the garage owner relunctantly called the nearest scrapyard... Who had one on the shelf 6kms away. Happy? Oh yes... I can only guess that some unfortunate UK Cavalier owners loss was our gain.
Having only made 50kms in 24hrs, we now wanted to make our destination in Slovenia by that night, it was now 12.30pm. Oh, and Slovenia was the Mont Blanc tunnel and a traverse across the top of Italy away. So it wasn't good when the Cav started overheating in the Alps near the tunnel, on the French side... Oh yeah and we were on a remote enforced detour after a road closure.
Having topped off with mountain spring water, I then had to teach my friend about the cooling qualities of anti-freeze. One garage stop later and 2ltrs of the stuff added to the pure water content, and we were rocking.
31 euros for the Mont Blanc tunnel lighter and we emerged into Italy, finding our way down onto the A4 motorway which passes Milan, Brescia and onto Venice. A ball ache of a drive, we hit 100miles of 20mph traffic, on one of the most boring motorways ever built. Straight and flat, we amused ourselves by 'Ciaoing' anybody in the traffic around us who looked like they needed cheering up. The Volvo got some serious Italian respect too, I was asked to rev it up (oh dear
) and even do a burnout by a bunch of builders in a Fiat van. It would also appear chicks dig stripped Volvo estates... Anyway, we arrived late into the night after a very amusing border crossing and I've been checking out this amazing country ever since.
I'm currently sat on the lobby floor of the local library using their wifi connection, so I'll bug out now and try and find some retro tat to take pics of.
is proper numb from sitting on the floor... So I gotta go. 
