The passport collectors
11/10/2012
When we were recently editing a historical test report, we came across the forgotten term "pass collector".
Let's flash back five or six decades, when the Alps and other mountainous obstacles could not yet be "driven under" by kilometers of tunnels, when the roads over the passes were narrow, steep and poorly constructed, when cars were still judged by their climbing ability and the brakes had little to offer against the long descent and were in danger of failing. Back then, driving over a mountain was still an adventure and a challenge for many.
And accordingly, it was also an achievement to conquer the Susten, Nufenen, Grossglockner or the 2,860 m high Col de la Bonette. Many a driver became a pass collector and lined up pass summit after pass summit, documented by a photo at the summit.
Those days are long gone, of course, because in a modern car you hardly notice a gradient, power loss at 2,000 meters is also a thing of the past since the demise of the carburettor and the adventures of yesteryear are history. Only classic car drivers occasionally experience the satisfaction of seeing their old vehicle successfully complete many meters of altitude.
The test report with the crossing of the Col de la Bonette can be found here .
