Tempest

Coventry could stand a fair chance, I reckon. :roll: Tempest

Engine tranplant for the Rado anyone? :lol: Let's face it: Nice engine, shame about the packaging :lol: Tempest

That picture has popped up a few times before, was it on some US-site? Can't remember ... Tempest

Which I somehow received as a present, great stuff, Jim, thanks again :-) That keyring has, however, wandered into my carefully treasured box of Type 53 goodies, that I normally only take to shows, as I felt it would sustain too much damage in the long run when left together with my Rado-keys. Jim, did I get the impression, that you only hesitantly handed back my Rado-keys last Monday, when I dropped you off home? :lol: @ Chris: You lucky man. We had to pay for the stuff, as the story is as follows: The top guys at Karmann wanted a clear-out of all the what they viewed as trash in the basement below the private car collection. They simply chucked it away :shock: One guy got hold of all these items, and was now flogging them at the Karmann meet, for what I felt some tidy profit. @ Zoran: What as many as a few minutes? :lol: Good luck fixing that, as you'll need it in good working condition again by the 8/10/2005, when you're off to another rolling road day ("P*nis size competition", as someone just called it over the phone :lol:), according to Dirk :-) Shame, as there's quite a bit going on here in the VW and Corrado-scene as well. Well, at least I'm not the only one longing back to last week at Karmann, when at this time I had just finished the translation of the guided tour at Karmann, and we were about to clog up a roundabout in Osnabrück on the way to the camp site, due to the incompetence of a certain US-spec white G60 Corradodriver ... Jim !!! :lol: Can't remember who was driving :lol: Tempest

@ Zoran: Welcome on-board of probably Europe's largest Corradoforum :-) Good to see you here, mate :-) Hope you had a good trip back home as well with Dirk at the wheel Why not get Dirk across here, too, and we'll all teach him some proper English Any chance of you coming to the UK again sometime? @ Chris: You wouldn't have left some personal marks on that Rado, now would you ? :lol: We nearly did some Corrado loving, ahem ... 'nuff said :lol: @ Sean: You certainly have :-) Everytime again, I just love the sound of a comparatively rough sounding 70s/80s engine (compared to today's modern rubbish) with mechanical tappets, makes me go wild :-) Nice piccies, Jim, need more. I can't believe it's already a week ago. Anyway, just to keep spirits up, a little cry from Coventry: TIMMMMMEEEEE!! :lol: Tempest

Hi Sean, good to see you on this "side of the fence", well, I as a Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3 Rocco owner couldn't care less, they're all Roccos, they're all made by Karmann. Fancy getting Breford's Corrado then, mate? Will email you later. Tempest

Yes, this is, of course, as we were explained, based on the character from South Park by the same name, Timmy, the chap in the wheelchair. :-) South Park fans in Germany ... :lol: Tempest

Jim's already answered that one. I still have to develop my rolls of film, other piccies of the museum can be seen on the links I've posted in earlier postings on this thread. Bear in mind that very much like last year the lighting inside the "private car collection", as Karmann would like us to refer to it, may be sufficient for the human eye, but many a camera falters :-( I can also confirm that they had re-arranged the cars on display. They did already have the 3 Rados on display last year, this year they had added that white 16V GT2 Rocco alongside the Mk1 and Mk2 prototyp by Italdesign (which was rejected by VW). Unfortunately they did not have the Asso di Piche and Quadri prototypes on display this year. Tempest

Lining up his street with Rados? Yup, I'd be up for that. It's only been 3 days since I came back from the Karmann meet, and I'm already missing the heaven on earth feeling of that meet, where you were only amongst other Rado andf Rocco fanatics, you could only see Rados and Roccos. Then the reality after that set in again, when everyday life hit me again: My gosh, what crap do the majority of people actually drive, insane! Tempest

Some more highlights: Chris getting his prize, and Schwebe, our man at Karmann 8) Tempest

Had to lift this piccie from the above website, one of the posters that Schwebe had with him, when he talked about his years at Karmann. It says on that Corrado-poster: The first prototype with our long-standing chief experiment engineer, Herbert Exner. As Chief Construction Engineer: Longest development time due to constant concept and other changes by VW. I think that nicely summarises it ;-) Tempest

LOADS of pictures from this event, including ALL attending cars (Rados and Roccos) can be found here: http://www.lauinger-design.de/leeden.html Tempest

Don't we all. Unfortunately that attitude is what the powers that be are banking on in each single one of us, egoism! It would be interesting to see, IF the population were to behave differently, i.e. let's take the risk and let it get to the point where we simply don't go to work any more (as we can't due to extortionate fuel prices, lack of public transport etc.), can't pay the bills any more ... ultimately the whole country will come to a grinding halt, which may lead to revolutions and protests; an interesting thought that just never will happen, as humans simply are too selfish to think that far ahead, as it requires an individual human being to risk his/her own life. That's not how humans work, and the powers that be know this only too well, and happily abuse it. Enough rant, sometimes I wish I were a politician: Free fuel, loads of salary and all that for just ranting :lol: Tempest

Funny that, as I somehow managed to see exactly the same 3 Rados, all parked up nicely next to each other, with Karmann's ex-chief design engineer Schwebe even allowing us a peek under the bonnet of the VR6 :shock: Tempest

It's been confirmed: A DVD with loads of piccies and clips of the Karmann meet will be winging its way to me in the next few days. I can then produce further copies to distribute amongst those that are interested (primarily the folks that have joined in, I would have thought :-)). Allegedly the disk does contain uncensored material, gosh, I didn't realise we were that badly behaved. Tempest

We've got the trophy for farthest travelled club at that ICE show as well. Just had news come through :-) It's a 30 cm high jobbie, BUT best of all, or not: My mate, who collected the trophy on our behalf, and will keep it till when I go over again to collect it from him, got a snog from BOTH those lovely ladies on either side of Chris in 2cc's avatar :shock: Now, I bet that a certain member by the name of 2cc is just kicking himself for not having gone back to the ICE event on Sunday afternoon :lol: Tempest

We're just not reaaally letting on yet, if you ignore all those incriminating piccies on the German forum (those are only a selection, the real stuff is winging its way on DVD over to me). Thanks for the flowers, guys, but it was a pleasure to get involved in organising this trip, both on this side of the pond as well as on the German side (that's why I occasionally disappeared again, when there was a roll-call amongst the orga-team folk :lol:). Thanks also for actually joining in :-) Those pictures of long convoys are always a beauty to see :-) Seems some idiot in a white Rado is leading that one again :roll: :lol: Tempest

I forgot her name :oops:, but she's the girlfriend of the cahp wearing a black clothes in the centre of the group shot (2 left from 2cc). That would be Irmgard. She joined us later on that day as well together with Martin, effectively the head-honcho organiser, the guy with the contacts to Karmann. Yes, quite fascinating seeing the age range of enthusiasts. Roccos and Rados are simply for everyone with taste :-) I like those shots of Willi Schwebe in action, too, that one piccie where he told us about the rain drain, sunk into the roof of a Mk2 Rocco, the first car ever to have such a rain drain. VW didn't want it, and thanks to Schwebe our Rados now also have these rain drains. Obviously all cars today now have this type of rain drain. That man was full of stories of his time at Karmann, his 350000 km Rado (never needed a single G-Lader overhaul!!!, it's still running that car!!), the cars he designed at Karmann etc. Schwebe left with tears in his eyes that evening, wanting to have stayed so much longer, but his wife's friend had a birthday party that he needed to go to as well. Still we had Breford to ask all sorts of questions, and between them there was really nothing they didn't know. Well, the Sciroccoforum.de quietly allow that one, as the logo is still wrong, should ideally be a Karmann-logo :-) Tempest

Would be a perfect addition to my 3 generations of Karmann type 53s, as the Ghia is in effect the predecessor to the Mk1 Scirocco :-) Having just been at the birthplace of all those type 53s, Karmann in Osnabrück, where they had one in their museum again ... tempted. Tempest

For those already getting impatient, some piccies (not mine) on the German Sciroccoforum: http://forum.rowi.net/read.php?f=10&i=12966&t=12966 Note the piccies of OUR cars, folks! We must have impressed! Ignore that white Rado in the one picture waiting in front of a traffic light with loads of Roccos behind :lol: Tempest

Back again, well obviously, if Jim's back, so am I :lol: I assume everyone on my convoy, i.e. the GB and Eire parts (the latter still on a pan-EU cruise) had a good time ;-) I certainly did, even though I am struggling at work. Thanks to you all for joining in! :-) Our little convoy started off with my G60 driven by Jim to meet up with Pauli and Keith (Leningrad Cowboy) on the A12 to then join up with Chris (2cc) and Steve (Supercharged) on the way into Harwich, where we met up with Sean and his tidy Mk1 Storm from the Scirocco Register. On the Dutch side I then guided our 4-car convoy to the village where my parents live, had a bit of a high-speed play on the 1st bit of German Autobahn :lol:, and enjoyed our first beers on German soil. The next morning we set off to Osnabrück, being joined by a German mate of mine from the area with a tidy as heck 1974 Mk1 Scirocco (a minter). We arrived well on time at the initial meet-up place, where a good number of folks from the German Sciroccoforum had already assembled, including my mate Dirk with his Hornstein cabrio Mk2 Rocco. In a 20 or so car convoy we set off the last few km to Karmann, made a big U-turn right in front of their offices (they always love that), were guided into the Karmann car park by Schwebe and Breford themselves (Schwebe=ex-chief design engineer at Karmann, incl. Scirocco and Rado, Breford=responsible for plastic trim bits, procurement, design, still at Karmann). Shortly thereafter we were given a quick intro to Karmann, history etc. before going on 2 guided tours through the factory. We (all the GB and Eire folks) had our own guided tour (in German), with yours truly being the translator :lol:) Thanks for the interesting questions, folks! :-) The private car collection was next, with 3 Rados on display, one mint Mk2 Scirocco as well as various other design studies and production cars that Karmann have built throughout their existence. I was then entrusted with leading the whole lot of 20 or so cars to the camping site, immediately forgetting the art of how to get a 20-car convoy across the first roundabout :lol: This led to a bit of local roundabout blockage, honking horns etc. :lol: We got there in the end :-) On-site the BBQs were alredy running, we went for our 1st beers, pitched our tents, and just chilled out. The evening went on with more food, booze etc. Saturday morning after breakfast and some more instructions on how to navigate roundabouts without breaking the convoy (dead-simple, BTW!), 20 cars set off on the express route to a local car museum, where my mate Dirk left his Hornstein behind for display in the museum during the winter months. We then convoy'ed on to a local ICE exhibition, where it's pretty likely that we pulled off the cup for farthest travelled club :-) Back at the camping judging of all cars commenced by 3 judges, 2 of whom were Karmann employees (Breford and Mario, who still today work on the assembly lines, now builidng Crossfires). The great result was that Sean with his Mk1 Storm Rocco pulled off 1st prize for his Rocco and Chris walked away with 3rd prize best Rado :-) Well done, folks! That evening we all, after having listened to Schwebe and his endless stories from his time at Karmann, the Rado and Rocco, as well as Breford trying to sell a ultra-rare Rado (exhibition vehicle built for the Paris motor show in 1988, one-off everything, paintwork, leather trim, 16V KR engine, too much to list, €4000 and willing to negotiate!!!) and answer further Karmann questions, settled down to do some serious business :-) The next morning we were guided though the great scenery of the Teutoburger Wald around Osnabrück to Tecklenburg and did a bit of sight-seeing there, after the largest part of 50 cars had left by then on their homeward journey. Sunday evening we went to refuel in a neighbouring town (where they did have 98 octane fuel) only to find another local Rado pull up, inspect our Rados, and ultimately we joined them to a little local VW meet, 2 more Rados turned up :-) ) Sunday evening it was time for the last German beers, Monday morning we shortly before leaving for the ferry port again, raided the local Lidl supermarket :lol:, and went on our home journey (great thing to have airco with those hot outside temperatures is all I can say, not to mention the cruise-control that Jim seemed to enjoy most :lol:). Shame that because both Jim and I had to return onto the daily treadmill (have even got no time to write this without my business colleague throwing work at me), we couldn't do a quick stop at Supercharged's place to have a look at his 2 Rados. Well and that's all I can write, as I'm being tied back to the bench again :lol: Piccies galore will appear shortly, no doubt. Tempest

Very nice pictures, although the tasters here on the forum could IMHO, of course, have been a bit more Type 53 oriented :lol: But your site more than makes up for it. I've never seen that Rocco with flames on the bonnet before :shock: Tempest

Also try http://www.corradoclub.org/forum for events news (similar to here ;-) ) Tempest

Naahh, can't be nearly as good as the ultimate bash back in January 2005 in MK, where I forgot how many of this forum's Rados were making MK's Avebury Blvd. and roundabouts a slightly less safe place to cross the road :lol: That was one heck of a nice meet :-) Tempest

You know, I was thinking that, too :lol: Tempest