International Amphib meeting Italy 2006.

[bobassel]

Last week I was one of the 55 amphib vehicle guests at the
international amphib meeting 2006.
It was well organized by Mr. Alberto Dubini at the Lago Magiore
in Italy.
Well prepared I went to this event with my GPA on the back of my
1972 old Mercedes truck (60 hp) for this +/- 1200 km trip.
Because of the closing of the Gotthart Tunnel I choose for the
Mont blanc tunnel.
After a succesfull first day I finaly arrived the second day after
very hard climbs at the entrance of the tunnel.
Than the ticket agent and police told me that I was not allowed
to pass because of the age of my truck! :twisted:
The alternatif was all the way back to Albertville and than climb the
St. Bernadino pass which was more than 2000 mtrs high!
Most of the time driving 2nd or 1rst gear we finaly reached the other
side of the Alps.

After all this bad luck we reached our camping place at 23.00 hrs.
When my tent was standing it appeared that my air matras was leaking!
:evil:
The following days we had several wonderfull tours on the Lago
Magioro with a great variety of amphibs.
There were Dukw's,Duttons,Amphi cars,Swimmwagen,Gaz,Amphi rangers,
own build amphibs,amphibious bridge layer,a flying boat and off course Ford GPA's.



During this week no troubles with the Mercedes and no troubles with the freshly restored GPA.
I only once got stuck in the mud on the beach when I pulled a broken
down amphi car to the shore.

Wednesday was a free day for participants but most of the thursday program was cancelled because very bad weather :( :(
More than 24 hrs it rained very hard,thunder & lightning and hard wind!
My GPA was all day on land but I never pumped so much water
out when I was swimming with her!

I made a picture of a lot of GPA's at the Lago Magiore on the last day.
Unfortunaly a few had left and some others were allready loaded.
There were abouth 12 GPA's and 2 Gaz / GPA copies.


All and all we had a great week with several nice tours and beautifull
places to visit.
Saturday morning I left Lago at 8.15hrs and drove direct without troubles
to my home through the now open Gotthart tunnel.
I arrived sunday morning 01.00. o clock.
Dureing the farewell diner, it was anounced that Amphib 2007 will be held in Holland.

Bob[/img]

[leo verhagen]

Hello Bob,

Looks like you had a hell of a trip to get there, but the photos from Italy look great. I hope it was worth all the trouble at the end.

Did you manage to repair your air matrass? Or did you just eat a lot of onions and garlic and connect your outlet with the inlet with the air matrass :shock:

Thanks for sharing the photos, I hope the be part of the next years amhib with my GPA and/or M29C.

Looks like your captain's hat did survive well from all the suffering.

Take care, I'll speak to you later.

[Guest]

Bob,

Thanks for the account. Would you by chance have a date and place for the 2007 Holland amphib.

Cheers

Jerome

[bobassel]

Jerome & others

Amphib 2007 will be held near Oosterbeek at the location
of Erik Korevaar.
He is a member of this list and can be contacted.
I suppose he still has to make all the plans for this
but I think it will be begin of july.


Greetings Bob