Day zero
This is Hugo´s name for the route to Born, right next to the
Volvo factory (S/V 40) we assemble....
It´s a lovely summer day, 25 degrees(C) and together with my
co-pilot
Robert, we pack the V70.
Volvo has been very generous to us; we have the luck to use 3 V70´s.
Our car has 1600 km on the clock, in other words "brand new".
Once in Born my cellphone rings for the first time....
It´s Hugo, somewhere in E-Germany, an Amazon 130 has lost the
front
steering bar attachment... "Could you be so nice to bring me a new
one?" Hugo asks..... I tell him with the calmest voice "No problem"
Shit ! We’ve not even left the building and group one is in trouble.
Day 1 Born-Weimar 609 km
First coffee at the local Volvo dealer and off we go...
"Straight through Germany" is the title in the route book. Hugo is
right,
just autobahn and a big straight, by the way the V70 does reach 200....
In the afternoon we reach Hotel Intercity in the centre of Weimar,
it
even has underground parking where our mechanics find themselves
hustling with old Volvos until 3 o’clock in the morning....
Did we replace the clutch or did we need to replace it....anyway it
was
replaced that morning, the mechanics were just in time for breakfast.
Hugo called....sounds like trouble... a bridge is blocked on our way
and
we have to by-pass it, just some 80 km extra.
I hand out the route instructions as if it’s the morning paper....
Ed
