Through Five Countries in Nine Days
Page 45
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
AN eventful journey has been made by the mobile exhibition unit of Trico-Folberth, Ltd., Brentford. Since 1948, the company have run a Thames long-wheelbase vehicle with Luton body to carry their exhibition equipment from one motor show to another. This year's tour included Brussels, Amsterdam, Geneva, Stockholm and Turin.
In January, the vehicle set off with its crew of three for Brussels and then proceeded to Amsterdam for the show which opened there at the end of February. From Belgium it joUrneyed through Germany and Denmark to Sweden to the Stockholm Show. After this the crew werefaced with a trip of 2,000 miles to Turin with only 16 days available.
Packed in a Day
Normally it takes two days to dismantle a stand and six days to erect it. A special effort was made and the van was packed in a day. The first night's stop was scheduled at Jonkoping. On the way to Stockholm, there had been low bridges every few miles, and the only way to get under them was found to be to let down the tyres. It was thus decided to take a devious route to avoid them and Jonkoping was reached at 8 p.m.
There was, however, no hotel accommodation available in the town, so the crew carried on through the night, eventually arriving at the coast at Halsingborg at 3 a.m. By now they were two days ahead of schedule.
The night stop on April 7 was at )dense and the next day the Danish 3erman border was crossed at Flens
'tug. The first night in Germany was pent in Steinburg, north of Hanover. ippalling roads were encountered on he route through Hanover, Hamburg nd Northeim. At Hanover a puncture aused 1+ hours' delay. This was the rat puncture the vehicle had in 41,000 tiles.
On the Autobahn
Most of the fifth day, April 10, was 0ent on the autobahn from Northeim Karlsruhe. The crew wondered tether it would be possible to cross e frontier the next day, as it is Tmally closed to commercial traffic on Sunday. A number of telegrams was ;patched and the right impression was iated, for the van was cleared in half hour, and at 10 a.m. on Sunday it s in Strasbourg.
!lie route then taken was through lmar, Besancon, and on to Poligny, 1 195 miles were covered during a iod which, it had been expected, aid have been spent at the frontier. )n April 11, the vehicle travelled nigh Bourg, Lyon, Valance and gnon. The crew were beginning to extremely tired and the vehicle urgently needed servicing. Few garages, however, were interested in performing such an operation, and it was 7 p.m. before an Esso station was found to do the job. That night was spent at the small town of Cavaillon and the next day the French Riviera reached.
The night stop was made at Menton in readiness for crossing the border in the morning. Customs delayed the van at Ventimiglia until 12.15 p.m., and for the last day's run to Turin it was necessary to take a Customs security guard as the only alternative to depositing a large sum of Italian lira. The last stage of the journey was through mountainous country, but the Thames behaved well and Turin was reached at l 1 p.m. on April 14, two days ahead of schedule. The total journey across five countries was 1,956 miles long and had been completed in nine days. The amount of petrol consumed was 211 gallons and had been paid for at up to 7s. a gallon.
Apart from the puncture, the only mishaps to the vehicle were a blown fuse, a detached plug lead, a broken exhaust pipe and a short circuit in the head-lamp wiring.