tips on driving in france

[n/a]

im driving in august from calais to the alps via paris and back. Wondered if anyone could advise on places to stay on route and if anyone knows any mercedes garages in france just in case! thanks very much for any tips ..nicola

[mdsalemi]

Nicola,

August, particularly mid August when seemingly all of Europe is "on holiday" is a tough time to travel.  I ran into bumper to bumper stop and go at 04:00, and ran into more "no room at the Pension" during August travels through France and Germany many years ago...I can imagine it has only become worse and I'm sure many of our European friends will weigh in here.  Good planning now, though..

http://clubmercedesbenz.free.fr/Page_E_presentation.htm

Make contact with Mercedes-Benz Club of France, see if they have folks who can recommend independent service along your route.

http://www.mercedesclub.org.uk/

One of your local associations might be worth a contact as well.  I'm certain they can help.

http://www.royalautomobileclub.co.uk/

Are you a member?  Perhaps they have tour books and info.  In the USA our American Automobile Association does.

Good Luck and safe travels.  Planning is half the fun.


Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

[AGT]

nicola

Sounds fantastic. I would love to drive my car down through France but have three too many children.

Most major French towns have a M-B dealership should the worst happen. My modern M-B's break down nearly every year (or so it seems) in France and there is never any problem getting them fixed although the vocabulary can be testing.

Try to get hotels with garage parking as a tourist soft top car is very vulnerable.

If you leave the spare tyre at home you should have room for a case of burgundy on the Cote d'Or on the way back up!

Regards
Andrew

[TheEngineer]

Leave early in the morning, like 03:00 and get to your destination for the day before traffic starts. This is true for the populated areas. Once you are in the alps and stay at out-of-the-way places, traffic doesn't build until morning. During special weekends, like Easter, the mountain passes become parking lots. Take your skateboard along: It's fun to skate down the road and walk back up past all the waiting cars.

[n/a]

quote:Originally posted by AGT

nicola

Sounds fantastic. I would love to drive my car down through France but have three too many children.

Most major French towns have a M-B dealership should the worst happen. My modern M-B's break down nearly every year (or so it seems) in France and there is never any problem getting them fixed although the vocabulary can be testing.

Try to get hotels with garage parking as a tourist soft top car is very vulnerable.

If you leave the spare tyre at home you should have room for a case of burgundy on the Cote d'Or on the way back up!

Regards
Andrew

[n/a]

thanks very much for your comments - all of them!  i shall take you up on your thoughts

[pierre]

quote:Originally posted by nicolacolley

thanks very much for your comments - all of them!  i shall take you up on your thoughts

Hello!
Here is Pierre, I live in France, in the mountains (not the Alps, the Pyrenes, between France and Spain)and I drive a pagoda.
Don't get afraid ! Sure, august is the "highest"  holiday month in France, with a lot of traffic on the roads.But the end of august will /would be much better, because some schools will begin in the end of august,so people will come back home earlier; and people often book their holiday before saturday the 19th. of august.
> avoid saturdays on the road: renting a flat usually beginns and ends on saturdays. So : people are on the road, then.
I live in the mountains, and if you leave the main road, you will be just pleased: nice places, no traffic somtimes.
I drive my pagoda here in the mountains in august, and never in a stop and go traffic.
 people having their holiday in the mountains like to climb somewhere or go for a walk; they don't like driving around, well our roads are not so wide and tourists are very slow...
france is a touristic country and you should avoid rush hours, when people come back from a beach, or after the week-end (sunday evening); and as I said, on saturdays it may be harder.
I send Some pics here, taken during the last months:
http://http://www.motorlegend.com/users/forums/sandorf/DCPMBEX1300.jpg
http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/14/1040409img0pa.jpg
http://www.hiboox.com/image.php?img=e55y-2m.jpg
http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/5742/230calmemaineige765vw.jpg

[mdsalemi]

quote:Originally posted by theengineer

Leave early in the morning, like 03:00 and get to your destination for the day before traffic starts. This is true for the populated areas. Once you are in the alps and stay at out-of-the-way places, traffic doesn't build until morning. During special weekends, like Easter, the mountain passes become parking lots. Take your skateboard along: It's fun to skate down the road and walk back up past all the waiting cars.

Very Important Information:

Option Code 999: Night Vision Goggles for seeing the lovely French countryside when leaving at 03:00!  

Option Code 998: Matching Skateboard, though most were delivered in 050 color (white) and usually on California coupes...

Option Code 997:  Skateboard Rack.  Very Rare.  I understand that only one was known to be in existence.  Somehow, Tom Sargeant found it (who else?) in eastern Europe, and just flew over there with Gernold for a look-see to verify authenticity!  

Now seriously, wouldn't that parade of Pagodas from Blacklick look good cruising towards the Alps?  Would remind me of the original "The Italian Job" sans The Mafia and their bulldozers...

Have Fun!

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

[Cees Klumper]

One place that is not overcrowded, even in August, is the vicinity of Avignon, in the Provence. I have gone there for the past couple of years on vacation and there are many quiet roads, a couple of nice mountains (Mont Ventoux, famous leg of the Tour de France) and I have been looking for an opportunity to take the Pagoda down there. I tend to do the 1,100 km drive there from Amsterdam at night, when there is very little traffic. The weather is excellent for continuous top-down driving and the scenery is very nice.

Cees ("Case") Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic

[psmith]

Please post some pics of your trip.  Somehow I think a pagoda in Paris would look great.  Could you try to pose it next to a Citron DS 21?  Two cars ahead of their time...

Pete S.

[Naj ✝︎]

Hello Nicola,

My brother and I have just been to the south of France and back thru Switzerland and Germany (to preview the new MB museum with the MB UK club).
Depends what your mission is:
You can get from A to B in a hurry on the excellent motorway network (most with tolls) but if you have more time, enjoy the scenic N and D roads which I would say are more suited to the Pagoda.
The speed limit on the motorways is 130 kph (about 80 mph) but most traffic moves at 85 to 95 mph and I do not think the Pagoda was built for that. If you have a partner/co-driver with good map reading abilities, touring thru the towns and villages,  forests and valleys is good is good fun. I loved it.

High Road or low - new bridge at Millau:
Download Attachment: MB06_010.JPG
23.53 KB

New MB Museum:


Download Attachment: MB06_326.JPG
33.55 KB

naj

[peterm]

I will be travelling from nice to zurich this summer anyone famiiar with the portable nav systems and how they work in europe?  thinking of tom tom anyone with experience??

[Naj ✝︎]

Peter,

quote:thinking of tom tom anyone with experience??

Couple of guys on our tour had the tom tom. They recommended it highly.
No personal experience though, we still on map books [:p]

naj

65 230SL
68 280SL

[RBurg]

A must see would be the national Bugatte collection in France. It is outstanding - granted it is not Mercedes.  Well worth the time. Plan for at least a 1/2 day.

Ron - Minnesota
71 280SL Tobacco "O GIGI"
97 E420 Silver Mist

[Naj ✝︎]

quote:A must see would be the national Bugatte collection in France

This it at Mulhouse in S.E. France not far from the German border.

Museum has been revamped and has a 'surprising' number of MBs, no Pagodas though.

Download Attachment: MB06_115.JPG
46.92 KB

naj

65 230SL
68 280SL

[Cees Klumper]

I have one of the TomTom systems (700 series I believe, with a 20 meg harddrive with most or Euope's detailed maps) and it functions just fine. Since it's portable, I use it in my 3 cars ...

Cees ("Case") Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic

[France]

Oh, heck, as long as you are going to Mulhouse, it would be a sin to leave out Ribeauville to sample some fabulous Gewurztraminer and Pinot Noir!  And then you could head north into the Vosges for some open mountain roads with nobody on them!

Trice
1968 280SL US, signal red/bl leather, auto, kinder
Sarasota FL; Alsace France
There's two theories to arguin' with a woman.  Neither one works.

[pierre]

I see that Naj wrote about a trip on the brand new bridge of Millau: a good opportunity to visit the real France: the roads beside the bridge are rather lost, but they make an efort because of the new tourism coming from the bridge ,which is a real sight-seeing.
here a rare picture from a member of the mercedes club of France: a pagoda on the "viaduc de Millau"

The Schlumpf Museum in Mulhouse with its unique collection of Bugattis has also nice and rare Mercedes.In the sixties, the brothers Schlumpf bought every interesting car they could find, and they found so many that they had huge debts. the french government took the collection after they died.

The highway can be interesting if you need more speed from one point to another. But the whole country is interesting if you're looking for nice roads, just leave the surburbs and prefer driving through the hills and the mountains...

[n/a]

quote:Originally posted by nicolacolley

im driving in august from calais to the alps via paris and back. Wondered if anyone could advise on places to stay on route and if anyone knows any mercedes garages in france just in case! thanks very much for any tips ..nicola

Nicolas, Let's me know when you will be travelling accross Paris and if you will need assistance, I might be still around.

For information: a mercedes garage on the West suburn of Paris, (in Suresnes, close to Porte Maillot, Bois de Boulogne):
They 're very good, and only specialized in 190SL, Pagoda
This is where I go.

Etoile Collection:
76 bd Henri Sellier
Suresnes, 92150
France
tel +33  1 47 72 34 72


Hervé
280SL 1969