The Cars of Kitzbuhel 2010

Found this morning the Web site of a photog who snapped a lot of cars at the 2010 Alpenrallye. A good handful of nice 356s in the mix!

Was F1 maestro Michael Schumacher in last year's race? He was at the 2009 race for sure, co-piloting a 1937 Lagonda and registered under a pseudonym. He is at 1'10" in this clip.

First week with the LAF 1113 fire truck

So our first day was retrieval of the truck, air in the tires, general survey, and Uli the former owner saying all along that the truck would start right up on the first try. After a few seconds of cranking the truck fired up immediately with utter smoothness. Runs great, and we were able to drive it around before loading it up for the journey home.

Once we had the truck at the shop it was some time to get familiar with functions, translating some of the tags on the switches, and a few "hot laps" around the block.

Lights were checked, few burned out bulbs replaced, contacts cleaned, fuses replaced, and getting better at understanding what everything is and does. We have figured out what all the levers/switches are and we now have everything working mechanically and electrically. There are still fluid changes, flushes, and then onto the bodywork. The "glass-man" will get the cracked drivers door glass replaced as well in the coming days.

During all this daily work, many people have stopped by, or made comment as "Where did you get that?....What is that?....What are you going to do with that?" All the while everyone is smiling at the old beautifully constructed truck!

We all continue to brainstorm about the possibilities of what the truck "could" become...but we keep coming back to leaving it as it has been. The doka fire truck!! It will house the mobile workshop, be the Chipotle bus at lunchtime, and be our pal at the local car shows....not to mention the snow storms during the winter months.

More updates on the repairs, and resurrection as we go.

New Shop Truck, Pt. 2

New Shop Truck.

This 1964 Model 1113 Mercedes fire truck came home to the shop today.

After sitting for over a year, it took just 2 fresh batts and a pull of the big starter button to run and drive. Not far - only around the field and onto to our trailer. But everything's really tight. 6-cyl turbocharged diesel. Four-wheel drive. Seats for six. Working lights. Lots of storage lockers, a big working pump in back and a 2,400 liter water tank. 16,000 kilometers on the odometer.

Weeping Radish Brewery owner Uli owned this truck for 11 years, using it for brewery ops and local parades. We promised Uli we'd take good care of it-not to 'murder it out' with primer black everywhere, black wheels and nothing shiny anywhere. That was just a little road trip joke, Uli.

It was a full day, leaving from Richmond at 7am. Home by 6pm.

Here is a virtually identical truck, apparently awaiting service as a beer cannon. More tech description in the post.

And now what...? Shop truck, crash truck, car shows. Clean it, tune it and translate all the labels on the dashboard. And maybe a return trip across the pond one day...

This is "Snowflake."

This is "Snowflake," a C model that's bound for Alpinerallye glory. I'll let Robert complete the post with details of this car's provenance. The plan is to kit it out in mid-1960s rally gear.

On vintage restoration with a goal: Kitzbuhel Alpine Rally

Are we crazy? Yes. And, no. The current fantasy: prepare a 1965 365C Porsche for a classic car rally halfway around the world. Kitzbuhel, Austria, to be exact. Date undetermined, but we're shooting to make this happen in the next 5 years.

This is our first blog post. Thought it right to make it a big one. We've never been to Austria, and we can't even read the official rally site. But we've got the beginnings of a car and a start on a chase vehicle.

Watch this space for build pics and progress reports and various exclamations in bungled, mangled German. We're excited.

Here goes...Prosit!

Greetings

You can find more information, pictures, and news over at our parent site http://www.lufteknic.com