39th International Meeting in Portugal

[Bill Oldham]

We are in Andorra, with deteriorating weather. I will switch route tomorrow to Zaragoza instead of the Tourmalet pass; too cold and wet to bike anyway.
Weather was nice, if cool, yesterday at the Mont Ventoux, but I had a nice ride up the mountain.
Please note that there are two threads here with almost the same title; I will ask if Greg can merge them. (The other one which I have been posting on is "Porsche 356 International Meeting, Portugal". )
Bill

[Craig Richter]

Mandy and I will arrive Salamanca Monday evening (our Memorial Day). Weather has been a bit sucky (Speedsters leak!), but hopefully the top comes down tomorrow for some nice sunny cruising into Estoril. Everyone seems to be funneling nicely to Portugal, so we'll see ya'll there, if not before...

[Bill Oldham]

Something rarely seen on the way to North Meets South:
We are in Parador de Lerma tonight, almost to Portugal. We looked out our window to see Mamma Stork taking care of two young ones on the church tower next door. I wonder how they sleep when the bells ring... actually it might be kind of loud here too!

[Brian R Adams]

Something rarely seen on the way to North Meets South:
I wonder how they sleep when the bells ring... actually it might be kind of loud here too!

It's possible they refrain from ringing the bell when the nest is occupied.

Brian

[Jim Liberty]

Hi, we are staying two hours north of Estoril today/night. We have also seen storks along our route. Sure is not Newport Beach. The French and Spanish countryside are the best in most of Europe, OK the Italian Alps are nice too. Wine at 1.5 Euro is reason enough to be here.

Tomorrow the main event. More reporting to come. ................. Jim.

[Gert Vandam]

we are staying one hour east of Estoril,

Gert van Dam
Holland

[Bill Oldham]

BROWN CARS SPOTTED IN ESTORIL
Yes, despite the California ban on brown sports cars, at least two Togo Brown 356C's were spotted in Estoril today. Mark Higgins drove his beautiful SC coupe from England, and TUB TOGO made it the 3000 meandering miles from Rotterdam to Estoril (after an even longer sea voyage). Both cars raced on the Estoril Gran Prix circuit this afternoon. Fun. There are other cars here as well.

[Gert Vandam]

Gert van Dam

[Stephan Mangin]

lot of pics there: https://www.facebook.com/groups/55036685782/?fref=nf

[Mike Smith]

Code: Select all

BROWN CARS SPOTTED IN ESTORIL
Yes, despite the California ban on brown sports cars, at least two Togo Brown 356C's were spotted in Estoril today. [b][i]Mark Higgins [/i][/b]drove his beautiful SC coupe from England, and TUB TOGO made it the 3000 meandering miles from Rotterdam to Estoril (after an even longer sea voyage). Both cars raced on the Estoril Gran Prix circuit this afternoon. Fun. There are other cars here as well.

Actually the UK car belongs to Mark Wrigley

[Craig Richter]

If you go on Facebook "ford ranchero", Mandy has posted some fun pics, and will be posting many more. Sorry I'm not savy enough to set this up as a hot link, but if anyone out there can, that would be nice. Thanks.

[Bill Oldham]

Now that the meeting is over we can reflect a bit on it and compare with other 356 events. The team in Portugal truly did an amazing job of logistics, beyond choosing a fabulous site and specific agenda items. Heck, what other 356 rally begins with some spins around a race track on the evening of arrival? The "Road Book", that was to guide us through a number of street runs was just amazing... detailing each turn and intersection. A photo of each car with a list of the owner/participants was very helpful, especially for those of us for whom this was their first Euro event. One thing most appreciated by Hank Tarbell and I was the technical support supplied by Garage Joao Gomes. Hank got a wheel bearing replaced and Jose supplied me with a replacement brake light switch Sunday morning before I left Estoril (to be installed within a few days somewhere in Spain). BTW,I will add brake light switch to my spares list (especially important for those of us who use DOT 5 brake fluid). I hesitate to name the organizers for fear of leaving a key person out, but the entire crew was wonderful. Personally I dealt mostly with Yousif, who helped me on several occasions. Thanks to the entire team; I only hope we can in the future repay some of the enormous, gracious hospitality and incredible organization effort when you come to the US.
Bill

[Tim Havermans]

some pictures at Liebe zu Ihm

[Jim Liberty]

Tiff and I just returned from a month of travel through Western Europe in our '59 Coupe, together with our cousins in their '65. We traveled 3,700 miles from Stuttgart south through France, Spain to Portugal where we attended the International Meeting in Estotil. Coverage of that event will be in the next Registry issue beautifully done by Diane Morrill. She and John Hern tended the Goodie Store, and John did his expert job of photographing everything. Look for their coverage.

From there we traveled to Gibraltar, then proceeded north up the Spanish Mediterranean coast. The highway system and the scenery are second to none, and the countryside is some of our favorite anywhere. The two cars suffered a fouled plug, and a loose pinch bolt at the steering box. A thirty minute repair for both. Not amazing for these German wonders we love so much. Daily drives averaged three hundred miles, with many multiple days in several of our favorite places along the way.

We kept a log of costs, drives, hotels, and cities visited. I anyone is interested in the numbers, I'll try to put this in a format that is easy to read. ...........................................Jim.

From there we traveled

[Greg Bryan]

One of these days, we're going to get you to post a picture!