MOT to SWITZERLAND
 

INTERLAKEN - 1985
 
ORGANISERS: Chris and Mary Hall (and the Swiss Morris Minor Club).
 
TRIP CHARITY: The Guide Dogs For The Blind Association - Total Raised £8,000.
 
CAMPSITE: Manor Farm
 

This was a more adventurous trip. A week in Interlaken, organised travel, overnight stop in Metz, rain in the mountains.

Chris and Mary Hall had told us of their weekends abroad with the Club, and how much they'd enjoyed the experience, so it was of little surprise when they announced that they had taken over the running of this annual event, and that they had a plan to organise a week-long rally with the assistance of the Swiss Morris Minor Club. They asked if we would like to come along, borrowing their maroon saloon, so we duly joined the MMOC, and that's how we got into Morris Minors.
With tents borrowed from Chris' Mum and Dad's youth club, and other scrounged equipment, we set off on the Friday evening with an appointment at a hotel in Dover. Just over half way there, having just come off a roundabout, Chris took an unscheduled sharp right turn into the car park of a 'Happy Eater' restaurant. There were nasty noises coming from their almond green saloon engine, not what you need when you're leading a large band of Morris Minors half way across Europe. Something wrong in the head was diagnosed, so off it came. When we found that a valve guide had dropped down into the cylinder and broken up, the need for another head became urgent. Too far to go home for a spare head, Chris made a frantic phone call to a chap called Tony Briance, who lived closest to where we were, to obtain another head. Unfortunately, Tony wasn't there, although someone took a message, but in the panic it hadn't been made clear for which size of engine the head was required, so this wonderful man took a head off each of three different Minors and brought them to us.

The third member of our little convoy, Philip Wright and his passenger 'JT', went on to Dover whilst we beavered away late into the night cleaning and fitting the head under the security light at the back of the restaurant. All mended, we continued on our way and made the ferry with time to spare. We were younger then, and not as tired as we would be today if we'd spent most of the night mending a car, but our weariness fell away at the sight of so many Minors lined up on Dover dockside, and we were all eager to be on our way.
Thankfully the rest of the day's journey was uneventful until, that is, we arrived at our overnight stop destination, a campsite on the bank of the Moselle river in Metz.
Now, rivers usually mean the presence of wildlife, water birds in particular, and specifically ducks. Campsites mean people, and people mean food, and as ducks aren't slow on the uptake this campsite was home to many of these creatures. The first inkling of a problem was when 'JT' said 'Oh no, not ducks' and started to sneeze - violently. This continued all night, and we didn't get a very good night's sleep, but our unfortunate travelling companion couldn't help it. He was, of course, ribbed mercilessly about his affliction, 'what car does JT drive - an Audi Quacktro', and 'what oil does he use - Duckhams', and 'I do wish you'd beakquiet', and 'get JT to pay the bill'.
Others decided on an early start; our little convoy decided on a leisurely breakfast before setting off on the second leg of our odyssey. The poor man in the first open filling station didn't know what hit him. On a quiet Sunday morning, when he was probably expecting just a couple of customers topping up on their way to church, what does he get, but a Morris Minor invasion. Nearly everyone wanted petrol, so it was chaos, organised chaos, but chaos none the less.
It has to be said that day two provided us with some marvellous countryside to drive through, the Alsace region of France being the first; we weren't to know until our return journey that this place featured heavily in Chris and Mary's plans for MOT the following year.
Having cleared customs at Basle, we eventually got on to the Swiss motorway, having previously paid an exorbitant sum for the permit, and the snowy Alps were in our view.
The warm welcome from the Swiss Club upon our arrival at Manor Farm, the campsite which they had arranged to be our home for the next few days, was matched by the weather, so erecting tents and getting organised was a real pleasure. (Some nameless wag renamed Manor Farm 'Minor Farm' - well, it was members of Lancashire Branch to tell the truth - enough said.)
Monday dawned bright and sunny, perfect for our run to the Swiss Transport Museum at Luzern. Little plastic drip trays were placed under sumps to prevent oily pools forming on the lovely white block paving of their car park. Unfortunately what they didn't realise was that Morris Minors have a habit of dripping oil from virtually every other place that is supposed to retain it, so there was a certain amount of embarrassment when we drove away.
Storm clouds on the horizon were the harbinger of rain to come, and sure enough it started that evening, and continued on and off until Thursday. Not that this dampened our spirits that much, we still went places and saw stuff, and the evenings were an ideal opportunity to party in local bars and
tents large enough to swing a corkscrew.
The Wednesday evening Celebration Banquet at the Interlaken Casino was a very posh do indeed. Concerned about the cost of the wine which had to be pre-ordered, Minors were dispatched to obtain supplies which were then smuggled into the banqueting hall in handbags and holdalls. Despite the precautions aimed at keeping all that glass quiet, clanking was inevitable, and the (albeit muffled) sound coming from under crisp white tablecloths of corks exiting bottles was sometimes worryingly loud. The meal was absolutely superb.
The Swiss Club had invited Mr Jack Daniels, one of the Minor design team, and his wife as their guests for the week, and they were Guests of Honour at the banquet.
Bob Finch, always one to get into the spirit of things brought along his 'mascot' Fritz, a stuffed toy dog suitably attired with harness and dark glasses; all in aid of the trip
charity, the Guide Dogs For The Blind Association. The raffle, which had some wonderful prizes, forty in all, from air tickets to a bag of marbles, raised a phenomenal amount of money. Fritz did his part, biting the ankles of those with deep pockets and short arms. JT was appropriately presented with a marzipan duck by the lovely Patsy Bradley, our Swiss Club contact!
Thursday was another day for sightseeing, or just relaxing prior to the rigours of the return journey the following day.
Despite the unmistakable sound of clanging tent poles at 5am, and Minors setting off home an hour later, we stayed abed until a more suitable hour. The Alsace beckoned, and a lunch of traditional regional food and wine as a taster of things to come, before our night's rest, again in Metz.
We all met up again at Calais, and Fritz mugged us and anyone else for left over loose change; even on the boat he was seen dragging Bob around demanding money with menaces. He was given a big wad of Israeli Shekels which turned out to be totally worthless!
Outstanding memories of the trip - where do you start? The mountains of course, the Swiss Club, the company, Amanda's hangover, the rain!
Some unfortunate things happened, Aubrey Batt had a rather worrying head-on collision, Andrew Salaman, having lost a great deal of oil so far on the trip, found that the recently rebuilt engine of his traveller was missing the front oil-thrower disc. A substitute was made from the lid of a baked bean tin!
Another chap was losing a lot of oil from the filter housing; it was found that during a filter change a new sealing ring had been fitted, but the old one hadn't been removed! - don't try that at home!!

Needless to say we were hooked, not just by the thought of future holidays abroad, but by the idea that so many like-minded people would venture out in their beloved Minors. No stranger to older cars, most of which are now deemed 'classic', it wasn't long before we bought Chris and Mary's maroon saloon, which we still have to this day, and which has in turn been loaned to give someone else the experience of Minors on Tour.

Ian Portsmouth
 
GALLERY OF PHOTOS OF THE RALLY by Ian and Sue Portsmouth

 

Read Mary's Rally Review which appeared in the Sept/Oct 1985 issue of Minor Matters by clicking here.