Well folks, it’s that time of year again, when no-one seems to know what day it is, turkey is permanently on the menu, and Die Hard is on the television (because it IS a Christmas movie.) And it’s also a time when we hit pause on life for a few short days to look back on how the previous twelve months have gone, and look forwards to the coming year.
For ClassicLine’s resident road tripper, Ben Coombs, 2024 has gone surprisingly quickly, and there barely seems to be a moment in it when hasn’t been dominated by cars and road trips.
My year began near the summit of the highest volcano in the world, my ClassicLine-supported, 1974 Mini parked 5,920 metres above sea level, which according to our calculations made it the highest car on the planet as the year began. From such a highpoint, one would imagine it would all be downhill from there, but in fact, 2024 turned out to be a bit of a classic.
Firstly, there were the road trips. I’ve ran six of them for Pub2Pub adventures, the highest number yet. And they’ve involved drives to everywhere that’s anywhere in European road tripping – the Alps, Pyrenees, Italy, the Route Napoleon, the Black Forest High Road, you name it, it’s probably rolled beneath the wheels of the ClassicLine Volvo, or the Mk1 Renault Twingo we brought back from Germany last March.
Ah, yes. The Twingo. That was 2024’s only car purchase, and was a car I’d always wanted to own, so importing one from the continent seemed a logical step. It made for a great little car for running around South West England – and the Pyrenees, come to think of it, when I pressed it into service as the support car for the ‘Mountains and Machines’ tour back in June. I sold it in August, however, to focus on the rest of the fleet.
And they’ve been getting rather a lot of attention. The Mini has been needing a lot of work, following its return from South America – work such as a full engine rebuild. So, when I said a lot, I meant a lot. Still, it’s well on the way to being back to its former glory now, meaning attention has finally transferred to Kermit, the well travelled TVR Chimaera. Which, following the removal of the fibreglass body, is now undergoing some deep restoration, before being reassembled in the Spring, ready for some serious use once the clocks have changed. Finally, there’s the ClassicLine Volvo, which keeps on plodding on. Never maintenance free, it’s also demanded a fair bit of work over the year, but I can allow it that – after all, it’s completed five pretty major European tours in 2024, for a start.
So, what’s in store for 2025?
More of the same, really. Much more. Pub2Pub Adventures is adding some additional driving tours to the calendar, so you can expect the year to be the biggest yet for the driving tours business, with customers being taken as far afield as the Arctic and Portugal, as the year unfolds. If you’re tempted to join one of these trips, you can read more about them here: www.planetpub2pub.com/drives
As for the cars, I’m looking forward to getting the TVR back on the road with a fully restored chassis, and it’s surely due some further adventures once the sun comes out. The Mini likewise – its engine hasn’t been rebuilt for it to sit around in the garage doing nothing. And the ClassicLine Volvo will be continuing its daily driver duties, as well as serving as the support vehicle for the various driving tours – it can expect its busiest year yet, for sure.
But what about the really big adventures? Well, with the Mini’s trip to South America now being a year ago, thoughts are turning to what’s next. But rather than spill the beans here, I’m going to leave that one on a cliffhanger. A ‘watch this space’ as it were. And with that, all that needs to be said is that I hope you have a great Christmas, a Happy New Year, and I wish you all the best for your automotive plans in 2025.
