From Stuttgart to Crete: Adventure in Fiat Panda

A 40-year-old Fiat Panda in Stuttgart, a holiday home in Crete – it’s clear that AUTO ZEITUNG photographer Angelika Emmerling has crazy ideas. For example, transporting a small Fiat on moving to the end of Europe.

Boom! I’m standing hopefully at the traffic lights in Stuttgart, thinking of nothing wrong, just dreaming of the next 40-year-old Fiat Panda’s trip across Europe to Greece, and then this old gentleman puts his Daimler on a beautiful Fiat crossover. . Just like that. Rumms. As a result of the heavy impact, the panda is left hanging slightly back, the tailgate is folded, something worse is suspected under the twisted apron. And Angelika Emmerling, AUTO ZEITUNG photographer, panda driver and fan of Greece, feels almost folded like a blue baby Fiat: Should all big transport plans be completed?

A few weeks earlier, the Fiat Panda had run out of space in the garage of its previous owner in Hamburg, and Angelika immediately found a solution to the problem: In the mind’s eye of the Stuttgart native, the small Italo model fits perfectly with the farmer’s house. that he adapted himself as a basic statement of Olivet’s work in Crete. After a short discussion it was clear that Fiat would receive his pension in Greece – now he has to get there. By yourself, of course. And Angelika happened to isolate herself: a few weeks before the planned transfer of the panda, the photographer met with the creator of the panda Giorgio Giugiaro as part of a reporting trip and accidentally told the star designer about the fate and whereabouts of the little Fiat, he asked. with the master’s autograph – and it was rejected. Instead, Giorgio gave Angelika his business card: Please let her pass Turin to the south, perhaps the panda has earned more than an autograph directly on the metal sheet. Also interesting: Tips for our products on Amazon

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Fiat Panda in travel fever – from Hamburg to Crete

And so it happens that a one-way ferry from Ancona in Italy to Patras in Greece is booked for the next few days of vacation, and one morning Angelika is driving through Stuttgart in a Fiat Panda, heading down the highway, heading south. Until that traffic light less than five minutes after the start. And rums. It’s good that Angelika still has a close relationship with Roberto, the Italian mechanic she trusts, from his early Alfa days. One phone call later, he starts the espresso machine and opens the door to the workshop. Angelika carries the injured panda to her yard for a walk. Fortunately, the investigation carried out a little later is not so serious: the little Fiat will suffer permanent damage, but nothing will stop the journey south. Moderate force will help the flap area achieve a temporary fit, and replacement parts can later be sent to Greece to repair the Fiat.

With her knees still weak, she looks frequently in the rearview mirror and with a new hope in her heart, Angelika takes off again and quickly picks up her passenger Heiko. Angelika immediately notices that the panda, now full and kneeling in her fur, is making strange noises. Heiko knows immediately: the folded rear apron is pressed against the tires when the springs are compressed. Luckily he has a chainsaw with him. Without further ado, the wheel arches are extended. Now we can finally start. Full speed ahead! Stuttgart, Zurich, in between a short photo stop at the Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen and then continue happily through Switzerland.

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First insight: a long journey in a Fiat Panda is very easy, you just have to lower your expectations of speed of travel and noise comfort. And because there is no car radio, sing it yourself. A loaded panda even manages to climb up to the St. Gotthard with grace. However, it is now raining heavily and the wet, icy mountain air seeps into the cockpit. Since the ventilation hoods cannot withstand this attack, we have to improvise again: thick fabric adhesive tape, the repair weapon of all types of photographers, reliably prevents ice drafts. And then the panda arrives in Turin as the night approaches – who would have expected that after the initial problems in the morning? The rain subsides, a panda wanders shyly in the city, 1000 lights dance on a crashed car. There is something. A small fighter. Many years old, and now he is on a big trip again. If only there wasn’t a red light in the cockpit…

The next morning, Giorgio Giugiaro was also more impressed with the Fiat Panda. The team is enthusiastically welcomed, entertained with all kinds of stories from the development phase of the “big box”, how advertising was then – and of course the little Fiat, the blue baby gets his autograph. From now on it will not be washed again. When the Panda team tells Giugiaro about the warning light, he immediately has the address of his Fiat mechanic ready. Here too: Immediate support, the cooling cycle is set continuously, and so in the afternoon, in the rain again, we can cross Italy to Ancona on the Adriatic.

The warning light stays on: What’s wrong with the little one?

A ferry ride later, the sun is shining in Greece – as is the Fiat Panda’s warning light. Fear is coming. What is wrong with this little one? Will Team Panda make it to the ferry to Crete in Piraeus? Three Italo technicians are following the course through a WhatsApp group: Giorgio body and stomach technician in Turin, Roberto in Stuttgart and Joscha, Panda family doctor, in Hamburg. Symptoms, diagnoses and diagnoses are changed in real time with the aim of getting the panda on the ferry without damaging the engine. Sometime shortly before Piraeus the cold fan went on strike and the 40-year-old thing no longer wanted to work continuously.

Angelika and Heiko let the Fiat Panda drive carefully – stopping the engine at every traffic light and gently stepping on the accelerator. Just stay as cool as possible. And sure: the panda stays brave until the crossing. The crossing point is flooded with flammable water on deck. In Crete, the big box will definitely make it to the Fiat workshop there on a flat track. And that’s how it’s done – sit tight, it’ll be fine. Quiet pragmatism is part of the Fiat Panda concept. And looking back, with a glass of Tsipouro in a hammock under the olive trees, it becomes clear: adventures can be very easy. You just drive away.