Classic cars have a habit of turning every journey into an adventure. In this latest tale from ClassicLine’s resident road tripper, Ben Coombs, Pub2Pub Adventures heads far beyond Europe in search of the next great road trip. This time, the journey leads to Colombia, and the unlikely beginnings of a future classic car tour like no other…
Variety is the spice of live, as the saying goes.
For 2025, I saw in the New Year at the top of snowy Scotland, seeing in the new year with a trip to John O’Groats, in a friend’s Jaguar F-Type. So naturally, the only logical course of action for the New Year 2026 was to go car-shopping in Colombia, right?
Now, I imagine you can think of a few other more logical things to do, but there is some method to this madness. As Pub2Pub’s road tripping business grows, the tours are travelling further and further from home. Last year saw our customers head to the Arctic for the first time, while this year we’ll be taking our first trip into Africa. Of course, there’s still plenty to do in the less far-flung parts of Europe, but part of the fun of this journey we’re on is seeing where it takes us next.
And why not Colombia?
It’s an idea which emerged in November, while chatting with some old friends from the Pub2Pub Expedition, who I’d met in Colombia while out there with the TVR all those years ago. Why not indeed look into setting up a rally in Colombia’s beautiful coffee region? If the idea comes off, then great. And if not, well it’s a good chance fly out to Colombia and catch up with some old friends under the winter sun, anyway.
After flying to Bogota in late December, we met up with Alvaro for the drive to coffee country. Alvaro was very much part of the Pub2Pub Expedition, being the photo-journalist who co-drive Kermit across most of South America with me; an old friend indeed. And Alvaro now has a rather special daily driver, in the form of a 1961 VW Beetle. And so it was that on the last day of 2025, we found ourselves making an eight-hour trip across Colombia in a beautifully preserved classic.
Away from the big cities, Colombia offers a pretty appealing driving experience. The main roads are fairly empty, and surprisingly well surfaced; the minor roads often less so, but then that just adds to the fun, too. Petrol is less than half the price of the UK, the driving style can best be described as ‘spirited’, and the mountainous landscape makes for sweeping, interesting journeys. Oh, and the views are just great, the vivid greens being a real tonic after months at the mercy of the washed-out UK winter.
Alvaro lives in the country’s main coffee-growing region, and nearby there is another part of the Pub2Pub Exhibition’s story – the Steelhorse Finca. During the Pub2Pub Expedition I spent Christmas there, in the company of plenty of fellow overlanders, and rather memorably, we raced the TVR against a horse on Boxing Day.
Steelhorse has come on considerably in the intervening years. When I’d first visited it was a work-in-progress, recently bought by some overlanders who’d decided to make it their home-on-the-road. Now, it feels like the finished article; a country guesthouse with stabling for its eleven horses and mules, a chilled-out traveller vibe, hammocks hanging from the eves and a handy trade in riding tours and yoga retreats; a real credit to its owner, Yvette. And a perfect venue to see in the New Year next to a fire, with old friends, following an 8-hour drive across Colombia in a classic Beetle.
In early January, we started thinking about the idea of running tours in Colombia. Between us, we figured we had the skills needed – Alvaro’s local knowledge and photojournalism skills, Yvette’s guest house and experience running of running tours in Colombia – albeit horse-based, and of course, Pub2Pub’s track record of delivering driving tours. All we needed was some route plans, and some cars.
But what cars?
After chatting this through, there was only one option – the humble Renault 4. This machine is a local legend in a similar way to the Mini in the UK, or the Fiat 500 in Italy. Renault 4s were manufactured in Colombia for many years, and even today, locals describe them as ‘the car of Colombia’.
How cool would it be to have a fleet of them, based out in the Colombian countryside, for people to fly in and take on self-driving tours?
Fuelled by enthusiasm, we set about shopping for one, and bought the second one we looked at, a bright red 1991 model in what can only be described as mild Colombian chav spec. So, with the purchase agreed, all that was left to be done was the paperwork. I mean, how hard can that be?
Well, let’s just say the experience was a great advert for the DVLA.
The process took nine days in the end, and there’s no way I could’ve done it without Alvaro’s local knowledge and language skills. Some of the time it took was due to bad timing. To take ownership of a vehicle, both parties need to attend a meeting at the government transport offices. However, the backlog of appointments caused by the Christmas and New Year shutdown meant the system went down, and we were forced to wait a week for the meeting. Then, additional issues with £4.50 of tax outstanding on the car cost us another few hours, and it was late on the ninth day that we were able to finally hand over 10.5 million pesos and take ownership of the newly-named ‘Tomatito’ (Spanish for ‘little tomato’).
Driving out of town after collecting the car, we had a grand total of eighteen hours to enjoy it, before I had to fly home. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t get to put some miles on it, driving around the countryside until well after dark, before the flight home beckoned the following day. And Tomatito proved to be a great companion for the evening, scrabbling its way along all manner of bumpy tracks,
cruising along with the traffic on the A-roads, and popping and banging ridiculously on overrun, probably due to the carburettor running way too rich.
I’m back in the UK now, and Tomatito is currently living at the Steelhorse Finca, just outside the lovely little town of Filandia. Now, for running tours, a single Renault 4s isn’t much use, but we’re not planning on stopping here – the goal for this year is to assemble a fleet of 4s, and start running tours in Colombia in 2027.
This dream still feels a long way away, but with the journey to Colombia and the purchase of Tomatito, we’ve already taken the first step on the path to making Pub2Pub Colombia a reality. So, watch this space for further updates on how the adventure unfolds, and if you fancy a real adventure in 2027, consider setting aside a few weeks’ holiday to join us on the road out there.
