Setting off on a 3k round trip in any car is a daunting task…..especially when it is a classic!
Between us in the Porsche 944 and Triumph Spitfire we took what we thought were the basic spares and tools, and of course a trusty Haynes Manual!
We also took a pair of 2 way radios, Binatone 550. These are highly recommended. They have a range of 8km. Don’t be fooled by this. Between cars it is more like 1km! They still proved very useful in communicating between the cars and prevented us getting split in built up areas. A huge saving on mobile phone bills abroad and great fun!
Sat Nav was a huge help to our trip. I used a PDA with Tom Tom Europe uploaded. It gave us accurate estimates of journey times as well as nearby fuel stations and other points of interest. I also loaded up POI’s of all the campsites in Europe from www.archiescampings.eu/eng1/ which was incredibly useful. There are something like 21,500 campsites across Europe on the file which is only a couple of MB in size and very easy to install (drag and drop) on your sat-nav. Because there are so many camp sites in France it meant that we could just drive without booking a spot and then when it came to the end of the day just find a suitable campsite nearby on Tom Tom and get directed to it. This meant we were completely flexible in where we stayed and allowed for any breakdowns or other problems. It was also much easier than trying to follow the ‘interesting’ French signs to campsites!
A Power Inverter was another useful gadget for the journey. It allowed us to charge phones, radios and laptops on the move and a campsites and removed the need for visiting power sockets.
The spares list consisted of:
Spare Bulbs
Fuses
Fuel pump
Brake and clutch master cylinder rubbers
Points
Distributor cap
Condenser
Spark plugs
Exhaust tape
Spare fuel pipe
Fan belt
Engine oil
Gearbox oil
Brake fluid
Very, very smart! You are so kind and helpful to others. Being prepared make a journey lots more enjoyable.