A 5,500 Mile Real-World Review: Of Course You Can Use Your Classic for a Holiday Drive!

We were five classic cars away for a week and the 5,500 of the title of this piece was our aggregate miles. Here’s a report on our combined technical issues – which of course shouldn’t keep you from doing what we just did.

As an editor here at ViaRETRO, I obviously can’t spend my holiday without classic cars, can I? Of course not! So the first week of my holiday was spent with good friends in their classic cars. And what was I driving myself? Well, my new (old) company car, a 1986 Mercedes-Benz 300 SE, better known as “the S-class”. More on that later, as it was really the new kid on the block. “Kid”, for sure – a mere 34 years young; barely worth mentioning at all!

The four of us had been on tour together previously when we visited the Le Mans Classic in 2018, three of us in classic cars as well. With the ravaging of a disease over much of Europe, we did not dare plan for such a long trip as we were setting out our goals during this winter/spring. Instead, we opted for Northern Germany this time. By means of classic car, of course, as I must stress that car holidays are the perfect answer to avoid infection as much as possible, and indeed we had a wonderful trip in northern Germany. If the pessimists are right about this disease not going away any time soon, at least car holidays look safe in the days ahead. Especially in classic cars. But since there will always be pessimists (another type, maybe – or the same ones?) who maintain that they do not dare to venture on a car holiday in a classic out of fear of breaking down or simply becoming too sweaty in a car with no aircon, my dear friend, Peter Sejersen (driving the 1967 Alfa Romeo Duetto), composed a summary of our trip in terms of technical defects. Because obviously something happened along the way – just nothing serious. Read his summary here:

Some enthusiasts chose not to use their old cars for longer trips. Their explanations are many and complicated, but behind it all is usually some common denominator based around a fear of a mechanical breakdown, and the thought of suddenly finding yourself stranded somewhere in Europe. However, practical experience tells a different story (here Claus can chip in with mention of his trips to Italy, England etc in Volvo and Triumph).OK, thanks Peter. And so I will: On an Italy trip taking in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix as well as the Mille Miglia, the generator on my Triumph died, but I got a new one fitted and was only delayed by half an afternoon. Otherwise, I’ve been to Goodwood, to the Silverstone Classic, to the Festival of the Unexceptional, to Tuscany (the gearshift mechanism under the gear lever cracked a plastic bowl, but it was emergency repaired), to the Spa Six Hours four (or five?) times, to the Nürburgring twice, and probably several other long trips without problems. Yes, ALL of them in classics!

Our latest holiday trip confirms that you can indeed calmly commit to and use your classic car for long trips. We were in four classics varying in age between 57 and 48 years old, as well as a youngtimer of 34 years. They each drove about 1,800 kilometers on country roads, highways and in cities, some 9,000 kilometers or around 5,500 miles combined. The problems were small, and here is a review:

The first problem might not count at all? At least during our many stops and talks, we agreed that it was only new problems which should count. And the green Alfa Romeo GTV had a little trouble with the turn signal even before we set off; it would only flash a few times and then just stay lit continuously – or  it chose not to do either. If the problem existed in advance, then it was not due to the 1,800 kilometers journey. Nevertheless, here’s a photo of Peter messing around with the turn signal relay a bit, while the owner gentlemanly holds the door:

Much later on the trip, the horn of the Alfa Romeo Duetto began to  spontaneously blare at a certain steering wheel position. Rather annoying and there were also quite a few Germans on Rügen who clearly wondered what all the noise was about every time the Duetto turned another corner. The problem is probably due to a worn wire in the steering column, and it was – temporarily – solved by pulling the wire from the plug to the horn relay. Remedy time: About 10 seconds. But admittedly, the troubleshooting is going to take longer when the car is back home in its garage.

The next problem arose when the Lancia Flaminia Coupé GT would suddenly only idle. It was immediately obvious what the fault was: a cable between the artfully crafted accelerator drive and the carburettors had broken. The interim solution was a piece of wire which was tied to the accelerator drive and the carburettor by means of a simple reef knot. This solution was later upgraded with an electric socket, which was purchased at the local hardware store: The broken ends of the steel cable could be inserted into each end of the socket, which could then be tightened with an ordinary screwdriver. Finally, the cable at the carburettor was readjusted using a 10mm socket wrench. Repair time: 15 minutes.

The youngtimer Mercedes-Benz turned out to run hot while queuing in traffic in Berlin. Not critically hot, but somewhat warmer than usual. It turned out that the electric fan did not start. However, such an overly-solid S-Class from 1986 is equipped with both an electric fan in front of the radiator and a classic crank drive with viscous clutch, and the latter worked fine. A jarring sound turned out to be from a plastic cover which sat crooked and thus just touched the crank fan. That problem was temporarily solved by removing the cover. Repair time: 30 seconds. The fan will be attended to next week.

The last problem was with the windshield wipers on the beautiful ISO Rivolta. They worked fine every time they were switched on, but they would not always stop again when the switch was flicked to turn them off. This problem was elegantly solved as the rain stopped, so that it was no longer necessary to start the wipers. The problem can be traced to the connector, which then needs to be replaced or repaired.

From experience, the incidents that do happen are most often electrical faults which cause the engine or other equipment to stop, so a test lamp, some ignition parts and a few pieces of wire are always fine to bring with you on the journey.

But the whole moral of the story is obvious: Long-distance driving in a well maintained and serviced classic car usually does not cause serious problems. By far most of what might occur along the way can be repaired in the blink of an eye and with simple tools too. And should you be so unlucky as to suffer one of the rare but major engine breakdowns, remember that your insurance often covers transporting your car back home. You then have to suffer the torture of driving the rest of the trip in a rented Opel Astra or Ford Focus – unless of course one of your driving companions drives an S-Class.

The above were the words from Peter in the red Duetto. But I’ll chip in: No matter what your classic car is, just get out there and drive! And if at all possible, join forces with like-minded friends, as it always seems to make the driving much, much more pleasant with good company and a permanent view of the other classic cars around you.