I had a very enjoyable trip into mainland Europe with the
GT6 with a visit to the International GT6 weekend at Bad Vilbel, near
Frankfurt.
I decided to make a bit of a tour around my visit with
overnight stops in Dover, Aachen (Germany), Kerkrade (Holland) and Ashford to
break the journey up into an enjoyable break.
The GT6 ran faultlessly covering 1125 miles, although I made
a check under the bonnet each day the only attention being required during the
whole trip topping up the washer bottle and fuel tank. A bit of preparation
with a full service, check over and attention to a few bits and pieces before
the journey really paid off.
On the way through I called in on a Triumph friend at his
place of work near Brussels. Wim de Pus works at a college where they run
automotive courses and it was great to see a number of classics being worked on
in the workshop there. I also introduced the GT6 to Wim’s Spitfire, known as “
The Fox”, Wim does a serious amount of mileage in his car having covered
123,000km in the 4 years he has owned it.
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| My GT6 meets "The Fox" |
The International GT6
weekend
The GT6 weekend is independently run by enthusiasts rather
than being associated with any individual Triumph club and moves location each
time with new local organisers putting on the event. It was in it’s 4th year
this year.
This year the main organisers were Harald and Natascha
Hummel although they were ably assisted by many of the other local German GT6
owners.
This year the event centred on a Hotel in Bad Vilbel just
outside Frankfurt and attracted GT6 owners and their cars from Germany,
Holland, Switzerland and the UK. I’ve realised now that I didn’t actually count
up the cars but there were approximately 20’ish GT6s in attendance. When you
consider there are a lot more GT6s located in the UK and we got around 70 at
the TriumFest 50th anniversary, 20 GT6s at a mainland European
gathering is quite an impressive number.
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| GT6s getting ready for a Trip out at the City Hotel Bad Vilbel our base for the weekend. |
On the continent, convertible GT6s (AKA Gitfires, Spit6s
etc) are pretty popular and I reckon around a 3rd of the GT6s at the
meet were soft top conversions including Harald’s one.
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| Harald's GT6 Convertible |
Most people arrived on the Friday and after a meet and greet
in the Hotel Bar we went off to a nearby Restaurant situated in a nearby park
overlooking Frankfurt City for a meal.
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Some of the cars lined up in the restaurant car park.
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On the Saturday we had a drive out during the day, with stop
offs at a campsite restaurant for lunch and a tour of “Burg Ronneburg” Castle.
Various GT6s on Saturday getting ready for the drive out.
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| Cars parked up at the lunch stop |
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| GT6s in convoy in the German countryside |
GT6s at Castle Ronneburg
After the convoy back there was a
dinner arranged in the Hotel Restaurant. During the meal an announcement was
made regarding next year’s event, which will be held at Großenkneten near
Bremen in Germany between 5th and 7th October.
On the Sunday we had a trip into
Frankfurt to a classic and sportscar meet up at “Klassikststadt”. Translated
Klassikststadt = Classic City, it’s an old factory complex converted into high
end classic and sports car dealers, classic restorers and servicing, and high
value classic and sports car storage. once a month they have a classic and
sports car meet which is rather impressive...
Parking Spaces had been reserved
for our GT6s although I must admit the GT6s looked a bit downmarket compared to
some of the exotic machinery there. I got told off by one of the more exclusive
dealerships for taking photos as there was a no photography sign, the cheapest
car I saw in that particular dealer was a Triumph Italia at €120,000, most over
the other cars for sale there were €200,000 upwards. There were a few less
valuable cars for sale in other dealerships in the complex but nothing as cheap
as our Triumphs! Some of the cars in storage in glass partitioned walls were
pretty rare. Some of the repair work going on looked good to, like a modern
Lamborghini having an Engine change! Outside there were loads of classics too
look around, some live music, a bar and food outlets. A really nice way to end
the GT6 meet.
GT6s lined up at Klassikstadt
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| Panoramic view across the centre of the Klassikstadt complex |
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| Inside the Klassikstadt complex |
Some of the other visiting Triumphs
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| This rear engined BMW 700 convertible shares a lot of the looks of a Triumph Herald, not surprising actually as it is also Michelotti designed. |
A few of the other non Triumph Classics at Klassikstadt
After Klassikstadt most of the GT6 owners went on their way,
there were a few of us (including Mike and Sue from TSSC Essex) at the Hotel
for one more evening and we met up with Harald and Natasha and a Swiss couple
for a meal in a Pizzeria that evening.
Part of my journey back took me along the Rhine.
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| My GT6 parked up by the Rhine at Lahnstein. |
That evening I stayed at Rolduc Abbey in Holland, this is
normally the finish for the Club Triumph 10 countries run and is a nice place
to stay so I had booked in there.
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| My GT6 at Rolduc Abbey |
On the way back home I stayed in Ashford which was very
close to where I purchased my GT6 from just under 30 years ago so I thought I’d
swing by to take a picture.
I bought my car at the Lenham Motor Company in Harrietsham,
Kent back in March 1988. The more
observant of you will recognise the company name as they used to manufacture GT
fast back hardtops and bonnets for Triumph Spitfires back in the day.
At the time I paid the princely sum of £1700 for the car
having knocked the dealer down from £1795. It’s increased in value somewhat
since then by about 650%, I’ve just checked on line and inflation over that
same period is a mere 150% so not a bad investment as long as you ignore the
thousands of pounds I’ve spent on the car over the years!
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| Original Lenham Motor Comapny advert from 1988, my car is at the bottom of the list |
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| At The Lenham Motor Company the day I bought the car in 1988 |
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| At The Lenham Motor Company the day I bought the car in 1988 |
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| Back to the future, visiting Lenham Sports Cars October 2017 |
