Jalopnik: German Christmas

Match Made in Heaven: Skoda Delivery Fun

bwojdyla — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 12:45:00 EST

You didn't think we could actually make it through any trip without bringing you local Camino action did you? Here's a bitchin' Skoda Felicia Fun doing its duty as a pizza delivery truck/car in Schesslitz. Way more dignified than the last Fun we brought you. Could there be a better match? Pizza delivery, Camino-ness, fuel economy, plenty of room for cases of bier in the back... it's perfect! There's something so right about that missing hubcap too. Ristorante bei Peppo Skoda-camino driver, today's real Bavarian hero.

Akl Shows Off 1974 BMW 2000Tii Touring

bwojdyla — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 15:00:00 EST

Earlier we introduced you to Akl's garage, now we're going to show you Akl's daily driver. Parked right in front of that bitching treasure chest is a 1974 BMW 2000Tii Touring. That's right the BMW boys built a touring model of the uber-tossable little sedan - sort of the German version of a shooting brake. While there are probably only about a hundred of these in all of Germany, Akl puts twenty thousand clicks on his, thumbing his nose at the namby pamby preservationist sissies. Putting on all those K's would seem like a tedious business given the stop-go and heavy truck traffic of the modern, EU border crossing free Autobahn. That's were Akl has a clever little trick up his sleeve. He has equipped it a 1600E Becker Mexico vintage modern stereo system. Yep, the one that looks old, but hides the CF and SD reader built into it. We can't help but wonder if this was the inspiration for that M Coupe that's perrenially on our list to Santa. Dig that copper paint job.

More German Garage Pr0n

bwojdyla — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 13:00:00 EST

Alexander "Akl" Z. is a man living what many of us would consider "the dream." He has a nice big house in the German countryside, not one, but two, two lift garages, a positive pressure paint booth, and more automotive treasures than you can shake a schweinebraten at. Keeping messy garages full of cool cars must be a German national pastime. Under the vintage black Mercedes is a competition ready BMW 2002 set up for hill climb racing. Against the back wall is an E21 set up for cup racing. Under the mint condition BMW 3.0 CSi is an old Escort destined for rally time. Another something sits in the middle of it all after a fresh paint job. It looks French, but that's highly doubtful in Germany, anybody know what that is? We especially dig the palm trees littering the garage, it makes things feel so exotic. We're used to the girly posters and smelly old dogs, but this works too.

Dieter Lets Us Peek Behind the Barn Door

bwojdyla — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 13:00:00 EST

A man like Dieter is never content with just one barn full of cars and tools and gadgets. Less than a kilometer away from his shop, Dieter has his treasure barn. From the road it's so unassuming that you'd never know it could contain an 850Ci and a 440 Duster. In addition to those, there's at least an ancient Tatra, a pumped up BMW 2002, the skeletal (and really cool) remains of an Opel Speedster and a rack of about 50 various hoods for some reason. This is also where Dieter keeps the molds for a BMW M1 that's he's recreating. Oh yeah, that wooden frame upside down on the red car, that's the body frame for the BMW 328 we told you about earlier. This level of chaos in our own garage would drive us bonkers, but damn, this place is awesome.

Legendary Project Car: 1937 BMW 328

bwojdyla — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 11:30:00 EST

Our German buddy, The Bouncer, was a garage rat growing up. We could clog the tubes with his stories of Deutschland hoonage in hypermodified BMWs and mythical Porsches. As a result of this, we've got the inside track on some of Bavaria's most respected garages and their automeisters. This particular fellow is Dieter W. His full name and location will remain anonymous for reasons that will become evident shortly. Dieter is a BMW guy. His garage services only the steel of the Bayerische Motoren Werk and he's got an unbelievable little secret in one of his work bays.

In his unassuming garage in the German country side, buried unter various parts boxes and old blankets, are the bits and pieces that make up one of 462 known worldwide examples of the original BMW 328 - the car that defined BMW's as ultimate driving machines in pre-war Germany. Built between 1936 and 1940, 328's won the Mille Miglia in '38 and the RAC Rally in '39. They were even in the running for the car of the century back at the end of the 1900's. These are some of the most sought after BMW's in the world. Ladies and gentlemen of the audience, please direct your attention to the gallery where you can see the car as it stands today. Would you believe us if we told you those parts are right now worth three hundred and fifty thousand Euro. Yeah, our jaws hit the floor too.

As you can see, the coach work is being painstakingly rebuilt from the ground up. All of that glimmering steel is hand worked to replace the lost or damaged. Each hammer stroke along the door frame can be seen, though only from the soon to be polished away scuff mark. The curve is smooth to the hand - planished to perfection. The manually rolled steel around the hood vent is so symmetrical it looks as if it just came off the press.

The engine (the one laying on its side, on a hand truck, under a blanket) was sourced from a technical school somewhere in Russia, and alone cost 25,000 Euro. Those are three original Solex carbs topped with steel mesh filters. Check out that cast aluminum radiator fan. So. Cool. We don't even know what to say more than that. Letting the pictures do the talking is about all we can do. How often do you fly into Germany and stare face to face with a legend being remade? Never, that's how often.

VW Golf Country Makes Tiguan Look Like Sissymobile

bwojdyla — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 14:00:00 EST

Oh sweet Christkindle, we've found VW's best car ever and it's called the VW Golf Country. Just as we were ~~being raped at the gas pump~~ filling up, the traffic cleared and this came into view across the street. You all should have been there to see the frantic scramble for the camera as we raced against the owners' intent to scramble with our new found love. Even though these picture make us feel like half private eye, half stalker, we can't help it; seeing this super rare, four wheel drive, Mark 2 Golf is like catching Sasquatch riding the Loch Ness monster like a big wet pony. We're loving the high res shots showing the bashed front fascia and busted up fender flares, the field repairs on the wiring, the chintzy 80's style decals, oh my, it's almost too much.

It's incredible that this car is dead stock, right down to the brush guard, but totally true. Apparently this was a very popular car with Germany's hunting population, which is both small, and insanely regulated. The little cars could get into and out of the Hinterlands without a problem and still return fantastic mileage. We're thinking US hunters would have a slightly different opinion of the car, probably involving a lot more laughter, but we still want to add it to our collection.

DOTS Germany: Supermini Substop Delivery Truck

bwojdyla — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 15:30:00 EST

Job one when we made our way into Bamberg on the first day was to replace the anemic and poorly appointed Mercedes B-Class rental (seriously, how does that thing wear a star?) with a far more capable and comfortable Audi A4 mit 2.0 TDi. While we were on this mission, we came across this spectacular beauty. Making kei-cars look like my Lincoln, this "Substop" delivery truck was like manna from bizarro heaven. We're pretty sure that it's worn as a backpack during delivery runs. The utter hoonage that could result from matching this with a Hayabusa mill and cheater slicks is unfathomable. They should be distributed in pairs, one for each pocket.

Jalopnik in Germany for Fun, Not Shows

bwojdyla — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 14:00:17 EST

While Jonny was being such a crybaby about the hanging out in lousy old California in Saturday's QOTD, I decided to go to Germany to escape the thirteen inches of snow that fell in good old D-town. You'll find the reasoning here is solid; After years of half-assed jokes about Germans and their preoccupation with automotive perfection, (as well as myriad poorly spelled jokes about various aluminum und schteel loving brands) it was decided that the time had come to check the place out in person. Sure, we've been all over the übershow that is Frankfurt, and we've shown you what comes out of Essen, but we've never really gotten to know Germany. It was mostly just a relationship of convenience where we never called the next day. This time we're serious, we're committed, we want to know all of Germany's friends and hang out in the cold drinking Gluhwein at the Weihnacht's Markt. Oh yeah, and completely geek out over the cars. Stay tuned for Deutschland-centric craziness.