As some of you are aware, my brother and I have been planning an extended driving trip which we have called Perth to Paris. The car we have chosen to do this trip in is none other than an Alfa 75! Any way, I will go into more details in future posts but the quick synopsis so far is we have managed to import the car from Melbourne into Singapore and have just crossed the border into Malaysia. The car is going well so far. I have attached a pic of the car on the docks in Melbourne.
Well done! Keep us informed. Best wishes for the trip from the Alpine Chapter Inc.
Cheers
John
Julian,
Best wishes and best of luck.
Truly a bucket list adventure.
cheers
Ace (Canbrah)
Fantastic! Look forward to regular updates.
Awesome! Looking forward to updates. Particularly interested in a little info on the logistics, permits required etc. Have a blast, and take lots of photos!
Glowing headers
Sorry for the delay in posting, however, all is going well so far. We have just driven into the heart of Bangkok and parked for the night. Today has certainly been the most interesting day of driving so far. Its amazing how you get accustomed to things quite quickly. Last night whilst eating dinner in a place called Prachuap Khiri Khan, I saw a scooter with three girls on it (none over 16) , all without helmets and driving done the wrong side of the road. What was really amazing was I didn't think anything of it!
I have so many things to cover but first the car (this is a car forum!). I know this sounds like the craziest thing to say but the Alfa 75 TS is the perfect car in southeast Asia. Ours is mostly stocked (albeit many parts rebuilt) however, the suspension is quite high (haven't measured it but I think it is actually original ride height) and we have put bigger than standard wheels (Yoko A drives 185/70/14). It rides well on the roads, its frugal, its small and nimble and we have managed to make the A/C work fine. So far the car hasn't missed a beat and there is nothing I would rather have been in.
I will try and post more details in the next few days re driving conditions, cars, permits etc. And I will try and work out the best way to get some photos up.
Julian
Fantastic adventure Julian. Really interested to know what your planned route is - are you following the approach that John Faine and his soon took:
http://melbournetolondon.com/
By memory they went north until they reached Mongolia and then turned left.....
Nothing really to add to this Julian, apart from letting you know that there is another forum member that is really looking forward to reading your updates.
A brave and wonderful journey!
Right, a lot has happened in the past couple of months but on the upside I get my laptop in a week which will make it much easier to update posts and keep people abreast. However, we hit a snag in Thailand. Basically, the plan was to travel SE Asia and then ship the car around Myanmar as we can't drive through there and we weren't willing to pay the exorbitant fee to drive through China (~$12,000!). So we organised shipping through a freight forwarder from Thailand to Calcutta in India. Just as we were dropping the car off at the docks the guy calls us and saids we have to pay an extra $683 to get a signature I know we don't need to pay for. So we made a quick decision and I have had to drive the car back to Singapore to ship from there. much cheaper but I miss out on a week in Vietnam which is where we are going to spend the time while the car is in transit. of all the countries we have been to, the only one we have had any trouble in is Thailand (trying to extort bribes etc). Everywhere else has been smooth sailing. India could be interesting but we are really looking forward to drive in the Himalayas. Let's see how high the old girl can go!
A real Boys own Adventure. I do hope you are taking copious notes, photos and/or even video footage as it is worthy of a book or a film. So few will ever have an adventure like you guys are. All the best and have an amazing trip, which I can only imagine you are.
Good news - the website is finally up and running! My brother is hand coding it as we go along (not bad for a first timer!). We still need to back fill plenty of content but there is something there now. Address is www.perthtoparis.com
Bad news - a few days ago we were in a toll both queue in India when the truck in front decided to back up so he could change lanes without looking. This is not surprising given Indian driving habits. Not surprisingly he drove into us. Mostly the damage is just a broken headlight although the panel above the light is also buckled slightly.
So, I'm chasing a LHS Headlight for an 89 75. Does someone have one out there?
Thanks
Julian
Julian,
Great to hear from you. The update and website are fantastic, keep it up.
The roads look horrendous.
Looking forward to more.
Neil
Nice work on the website + fantastic story.
Holy Crap!
Fantastic :)
A new follower.
Keep us abreast!
Well, another chapter completed today. Loaded the car into a sea container destined for Dubai. It is too dangerous to drive through Pakistan and thanks to US sanctions it is too difficult to go direct to Iran, so we go to Dubai first and then take the ferry to Iran. Should be fun maxing out the 75 on the dessert roads of the UAE!
Good to see you found a headlight. Website looks great BTW.
If you look closely at that picture, it looks like that headlight is suffering from a severe and chronic lack of glass....
Quote from: Nate Dog on August 02, 2013, 11:17:53 AM
If you look closely at that picture, it looks like that headlight is suffering from a severe and chronic lack of glass....
If you look closely at the buy/swap/sell section, GTVeloce said he has sourced a new headlight......
Boom!
Burned,
So he did.
Quote from: Nate Dog on August 02, 2013, 01:27:33 PM
Boom!
Burned,
So he did.
Ouch it hurts ... the internet can be so unforgiving ;D
My pride is somewhat bruised.
Its more my ego im worried about..
Julian,
Great blog site with nice photos. I have to admit I was following along OK until Melanie arrived on the scene, then it was hard to concentrate!!!! ;D
Agree terrific blog, but who is Melanie ? The 75 ??
Quote from: Nate Dog on August 02, 2013, 05:33:55 PM
My pride is somewhat bruised.
Its more my ego im worried about..
No offence Nate Dog. My tongue was firmly planted in my cheek....
None taken, was extremely funny
Really enjoyed going through this blog last night. I learnt a lot more about these countries than I knew (have only been to Vietnam out of your list).
Sense of irony when I read how wonderful the cuisine in India was...until...the inevitable happened.
I also applaud your sense of bravery in driving through these countries, in an Alfa no less - spare parts may be tricky if anything breaks?
Good luck for the rest of the trip...looking forward to future instalments!
Torben
Thanks for the comments guys. We still have some more blogs to fill in the other places we have been to but not written up yet.
Melanie is Andrew's girlfriend, not the 75...
That said, we have still not come up with a suitable name as yet for the car so happy to take suggestions.
Currently we have just arrived in Dubai and waiting for the car to get here. It should arrive in only a few days but unfortunately the arrival coincides with the end of Ramadan and everything shuts down for festivities so we will be delayed a few more days.
As to the spare parts: I attempted to replace all the parts that are the most common cause of issue before we left. I have also brought some of the more important (I think anyway) spares including a spare coolant reservoir bottle and an ecu.
So far no real problems from the car (excluding the headlight). One of the four motronic relays played up but I just swapped it for the fog lights relay. We cracked the exhaust manifold but it is a very minor crack and hasn't got any worse so we haven't done anything to it yet. Also, we ran out of fuel once but I suspect someone had siphoned the last of our fuel while it was on the docks in Calcutta.
Generally the Alfa has been an excellent choice of car for this trip. We struggled occasionally with ground clearance in India but we got by. You certainly don't need four wheel drive but our larger than standard wheels and the LSD has been very well used!
Please keep the updates coming.
We salivate over your amazing road trip.
Super impressed with your 75. What an absolute trooper! That LSD is a huge help. Single wheel drive might've seen you stuck in a few places.
As to the name for your little beast,
you could always go with the motif on the badge and call it the grey crusader ;)