
At this time of the year weather conditions in the Northern hemisphere
do not entirely ban any idea of a tour with a classic car. Despite cold
winter weather in Germany this 1932 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Continental
has been driven on the road. The car is the property of a collector from
Switzerland who didn’t hesitate to employ her in considerably harsher
conditions. A few days ago the Phantom II Continental had returned from
a 5,000-kilometre-rallye through Indochina; that had been a tour from
Northern Vietnam via Laos and Cambodia to Southern Vietnam. At tropical
temperatures the car had run absolutely perfect without missing a single
beat and maintenance over the whole distance had merely been to top up
some 3 litres of engine-oil. Even stop-an-go-traffic in Saigon had not
been any obstacle – although with monsoon pouring down (just for the
sake of it spark plugs became changed).

After the car had been shipped back and loaded from its container in
Rotterdam it took its way to Germany. In January 2019 with temperatures
of more than 10 degrees Celsius below zero (whatever that is in
Fahrenheit – it was cold!) the car did start on the first push to the
button and immediately idled smoothly. Should there have been need to
pave the way a considerable amount of sand and grit and dust could have
"been wiped off the car" because it still was covered with what it had
brought from the Far East. Not even the fact of no heater on this model
did spoil the fun of the winter tour.

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