Coffee and cold feet
01/05/2025
Sometimes you get fed up with holidays and the like. I feel the same way with all the food, listening to "Last Christmas" for the umpteenth time and so on and so on:
It's always good to get some fresh air during the time between Christmas and New Year. And so on December 31, there was a great opportunity for some petrolheads to meet up on the Albis, Zurich's Haus Pass. Although the amount of snow would have made it perfectly possible to drive up the pass even with summer tires, the amount of salt was very large, as the road inspectorate is always trying to keep the route, which is also used by Postbuses, free of ice. As the pass is usually very close to the fog line, icy conditions are of course a constant issue here.
As a result, there were only a few intrepid riders who showed up for a coffee from my camping kitchen and panetone from colleague Chris Wyer from The DriversApp with the classic.
But the selection of cars I brought along was all the more interesting: Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, Subaru Impreza Sti, VW Golf Caddy, a Daimler Sovereign S1 or a Jaguar Mk 2 were lined up in a motley collection. The much younger Aston Martin DB 9 or a Porsche GT3 RS 991 were not ignored either. My 2007 Fiat 500 was certainly not worth a glance, and with its 271,800 kilometers it is probably one of my very personal classics.
But the dose of petrol talk just before the end of the year was just right. And the meeting was also proof that the sociable part of the rusty hobby can play at least as big a role as the driving. The fact that there was no fog on the Albis thanks to its location and that the sun was shining brightly was a welcome side effect.
Incidentally, the longest journey was made by a colleague from the Emmental in his 1961 Jaguar Mk 2 3.4-Litre. He is currently, as I write these lines, on his way to the French Mediterranean coast, so the car will have to undergo a thorough cleaning one way or another. But if the brown plague does indeed bite into the Jaguar's woodwork, the owner will be at the source to repair the traces of winter: He is a Jaguar mechanic.
After about two hours, however, we packed up our things again, got into the car and turned the heating up to full blast. Because even if these micro-meetings, which are simply organized and carried out with minimal effort, are certainly heart-warming, in winter - cold feet are a threat!
The pictures were taken by Ulrich Frede, I was too busy with small talk and making coffee, thank you my friend!
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