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[mokancraig]

Hello! Not been very active on the forums since I joined back in April, but they were very helpful on our trip to Germany. It was a few weeks back and I thought I'd tell you all how it went.

The Plan
Buy an Omega in Germany, have my friend ready it, fly in and drive it from Germany, through Denmark, take a ferry to Norway, drive from there to Stockholm and yet another ferry to Finland where the car would stay until I pick it back up in January for a meet on a snowy airfield. Overall the trip would be something like 2500 km.

The Reality
Car was ready. We flew into Frankfort, took a couple trains to my friend's place near the Belgium/German/Netherlands border. He picked us up in the car. It's not the nicest, the body has some damage in a few small places and the paint is looking a little tired, but it will do for the purpose. We spend the next couple days touring the area, visiting the Nurburgring (and taking a lap in a friend's Tesla), the tri-border point of the aforementioned countries and doing general tourist things. A grand time was had, the car didn't miss a beat and was a delight to drive.





Note the Cadillac Catera grille I brought over with me. 

That was Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday will be the day for the road trip to start. We have a ferry to catch at no later than 18:30 and we are taking a few small detours that get us to 1000 km in a day. To my American mind, this is certainly doable. I've done 1000 miles in a 15 hour day of driving, what's less than two thirds of that? 

We left at 05:00 to leave plenty of extra time, met with a friend for breakfast about 08:30 and continued towards Hamburg. This was the place I was worried about, I've head the Elbe Tunnel can be a problem. So we had made plans to go on the east side of the city and cross on the bridge on highway 1. And.... It all was fine. No problem getting through Hamburg, but then, somewhere on the northeast side of the city, I went to downshift into 4th to pass a truck that had come into my lane only to find I the clutch wouldn't disengage. I managed to find a gear, and limp along to the exit where I was to meet another friend for lunch. I was floating the gears, something I've had to do in one of my other cars before when a clutch cable snapped. We did find our way to the safety of a McDonald's parking lot. Where the friend met with us and we started diagnosing the issue. We even bled the secondary/slave cylinder, but still no clutch. This took time and that was going to weigh heavy on us.



The decision was made to try and continue on to the ferry. We weren't sure if the ferry company would allow as semi-broken car to load, but if we can make it to Oslo a friend there has access to a garage with a lift/hoist. Continuing on the Autobahn I realize if I have any hope of making to the ferry by 06:30 that I am going to have to use those unrestricted zones the best I can. Even then, we just aren't making the time we need.

About 100 km from our stop near Hamburg I decide I need four things, water, fuel, a WC and a plan for the rest of the trip. So I pull off on the motorway services at "Rasthof Hüttener Berge" near the town of Rendsburg. I take care of the first three things on my list, then go to move the car away from the fuel pump. It was not happy about starting in gear. I was also nervous in doing so with families and kids running around. I eventually get the car started and move to a parking spot. The wife and I talk it over and decide to go forward. Except, the car really doesn't want to start this time. I coast into another spot and we get out of the car. It smells of fuel (flooded) and we change our minds, it's time to abandon Omega.

A call is placed to ADAC and the car will be towed to Fockbek and, this is ADAC's words, not mine, on to my friend's place in Jülich within 10 days. The only problem is, since the car is in that friend's name and so is the ADAC membership, the tow truck driver can only take us as far as the tow yard. So now three American's, their luggage for a two week trip to Europe and whatever else we figure we can't leave with the car are now hoofing it to the nearest place we can get some food and drink, an Edeka supermarket.



We arrive at the Edeka, luggage and everything, looking rather homeless and hatch a plan with the friend from Hamburg to rescue our dumb asses. He rents a car, drives the hour up to get us. I can not tell you how appreciative I am of him doing this. I of course paid him back for the rental, but the fact he would do this for us was beyond amazing. After he dropped us at our hotel for the night I started looking at options to get us from Hamburg on to our next ferry, so maybe we wouldn't have to eat that booking as well.

Part 1 complete, part 2 coming.

[mokancraig]

I am not adept at this non-car travel. It's not something I do much of in the US. I fly somewhere, I rent a car. I drive somewhere, I have a car. It's what I know. Kinds why I wanted a car for this trip.

After a couple failed attempts to figure out a non-bus route from Hamburg to Stockholm. At first I booked a car. Got a call within a minute. They don't actually have any cars. Then I booked a train. Only, the train is sold out. Guess we'll have to fly. One thousand Euro bucks, a short Uber ride to the airport and we are off to Stockholm via Finnair.





This gave us time in Stockholm we weren't supposed to have, we'd booked a hotel in Oslo after all, so we found a self-check-in "hotel". Which was actually great, no issues there. Boarded the ferry the next night and that took us to Turku, Finland. A friend picked us up, again, supposed to have a car, I bought him breakfast and he dropped us a the bus terminal where I bought tickets (the cheapest tickets I have ever seen, 25 Euros for all three of us) to Kamppi bus terminal in Helsinki.



In Helsinki I was reunited with Lucille, a 1972 Ford Country Sedan wagon. I helped a German friend buy her back in 2014. He took the car for a US road trip and then exported it back to Germany. The car then went to Helsinki with him when he moved there. I had not driven the car since October 2014 when I left it in Chicago with a friend of his. Was good to drive her again and the power upgrades he has bade in the last decade plus were a welcome addition.

We continued our vacation from there. Not a single issue, just without a car. Now, back to the car for a second. A week went by and my friend back in Germany hadn't heard anything about the car from ADAC, no updates, no "It's on the way", nothing. He calls and they tell him that the repairs are more than the value of the car, so they aren't ging to do anything with it. This was a shock to us all, I guess the tow yard told them it was an 1800 Euro job.

My friend, I can not express how valuable he was on all of this, found a, as he described it, a Polish man with a van that would haul it from Fokbeck to Jülich for the sum of 400 Euros, the tow yard wanted about 225 in storage fees and it was finally back to his house about two weeks after it was picked up.

We were all a bit miffed that a clutch disc and pressure plate were not readily available for the car. One of the guys in Finland even thought he had a line on a new old stock unit, but his source came up dry. We managed to find a disc, 380 bucks, and the same place said they can rebuild the pressure plate. This was all in preparation of replacing the clutch "while it's apart". Assuming that the only issue was the secondary cylinder. Which, the hydraulics were all easily found.

Not sure if this is universal in the English language, but you know what happens when you assume?

The boys got the car apart today and just about everything in that clutch was toast. Disc was missing one side of the friction material, pressure plate was now two pieces and yes indeed, the secondary cylinder was DOA.

Tune in next time when I try to get the car to Helsinki again. Did I mention I found a ferry directly from Germany to Helsinki? 

[TheBoy]

Well, what an adventure!

Shame the clutch was so problematic, causing a radical change in the holiday, Ingress that is the risk of buying blind.  Omega clutches aren't generally considered problematic.

[johnnydog]

A great read about your European adventures! Shame the clutch on the Omega gave up the ghost, but at least you enjoyed the drive until it packed up! There's always some excitement about a road trip in an older car, which you tend to accept that breakdowns are part and parcel of the 'fun'.

[STEMO]

I enjoyed reading that 
The one advantage you have, being a bit older and wiser, is......money 
Some daft sods try to do stuff like that on £100 or something and, when things go wrong, they are truly stuffed.

[YZ250]

.....
The one advantage you have, being a bit older and wiser, is......money 
.......

And some very good friends by the sound of it. 

As said, a good read. 

[mokancraig]

Thanks everyone! It certainly was an adventure. The wife wasn't even too grumpy about it either. 

Honestly she's ready to go back in some cooler weather and get the car to Helsinki. I think it's mostly her wanting to go back to Helsinki.

YZ250 is correct, this all would have been a lot harder without the support of friends.

I forgot to include the photos the boys sent me of the clutch after they got the car apart.







As you can see it's all proper f*cked. I have driven a lot of manual transmission cars in my years driving, I've had one clutch burn up on me (my own fault due to maladjustment), but I have never had one come apart like this. It'll be fixed next week and ready for more adventures.

Oh and STEMO, old, yes. Wise, debatable. Money, let's just say my credit card company is going to make money off of me. 

I'll add those further adventures here. With more photos of the car next time.

[ronnyd]

Enjoyed that read and can't wait for the next "season" haha. Did i read right that you have two kids in tow too? That's brave? in an old banger bought blind. All the best from now on.

[mokancraig]

Enjoyed that read and can't wait for the next "season" haha. Did i read right that you have two kids in tow too? That's brave? in an old banger bought blind. All the best from now on.

Just the one kid, he's 15, so semi-capable on his own. Though I suppose from my wife's perspective she has two kids to take care of... 

[Varche]

Great account. Enjoyed reading it.

[BazaJT]

Real adventure there! Enjoyed reading that must say I've never seen a clutch as bad as that. Seems you did well to get as far as you did with it.

[TheBoy]

You gonna use the Omega again for the return trip?

[mokancraig]

You gonna use the Omega again for the return trip?

That's the idea. It has a valid Tüv until March 2028, so I plan to drive every time I am in Europe. If it survives all that and isn't too rusty, I may bring to the US, but we'll see.