Easter Oppomeet 2019, France. A report.

"duurtlang" (duurtlang) 04/30/2019 at 06:46 • Filed to: oppomeet, europpomeet, france, Oppo Rally 2019

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After spamming you with reminders for months, it finally started April 15th; the week-long Oppomeet in France. 16 people, 15 cars and countless liters of alcohol fuel. Here’s a report.

My slighly icy (and 346k km) Peugeot 406 coupe, which I swapped for my 205 CTi convertible later that day, in the Netherlands.

I left Southern Germany (Munich, where I live) on Friday the 12th, to drive to my parents in my native the Netherlands. To finally get my convertible out of winter storage. A convertible with no interior, as the restored interior was still at the 205 interior specialist in Belgium.

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Sunday

Leaving early at 7:30 am there was still some ice on the windows of the coupe I was going to swap for my convertible later that day. Was this a sign for the upcoming week?

After getting the convertible out of storage I drove to Belgium, installed the restored interior and met up with a few others in Belgium and later in Luxembourg. We formed a convoy towards France.

Our first Airbnb was located in a village named Ventron, in the south of the Elsace region in North-Eastern France.

We rented two large Airbnb houses, one in each of the 2 hubs, Sunday to Wednesday in the first and Wednesday to Friday in the second hub. Why not over the weekend? Because 14 out of 15 cars didn’t come from France, and the one that did came from the south. So the weekends were used for travel. Most people had to drive a day (or more) to even get to France.

Kilometers driven so far (by me): 1600. In legacy units that’s 1000 miles.

Airbnb #1. It consisted of 7 appartments, most with multiple bedrooms per appartment.

The advantage of these larger houses is that they come with a common room (with kitchen). So the first thing we did when we arrived on Sunday in France was ordering typical French food: Pizza.

Pizza. With potato?

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Monday

Monday started with frozen cars, again.

Monday morning. My 1987 Peugeot 205 CTi convertible on the right. What you see on the bonnet is ice, not peeling clearcoat.

After breakfast and after letting the sun defrost our cars we started driving. I was instantly pleased with choosing to install heating elements in my seats while they were being restored. We starting with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! towards the very impressive !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! museum in Mulhouse.

Shortly after we left we received a message from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . His brand new rental BMW 540i Touring had went into limp mode and he had to swap it with a new rental. In Germany, as he rented the car in Germany. Not even that much later we received this picture.

French customs agents are, apparently, a friendly bunch.

He was stopped by French customs agents close to the border. Apparently he looked like a drug runner. As they couldn’t find his stash, he was free to continue his journey and trade his BMW 540i touring for an Audi A6 Avant. TDI. Especially this latter part made him incredibly... happy.

In the mean time we were at the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . This museum was rather impressive and most certainly something you have to visit when you’re in the region. It’s a Bugatti museum, of which they have a whole hall full of. Additionally to the Bugattis they have many more interesting vintage cars from other brands as well. Starting from 19th century cars to cars from the 1980s.

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After the museum we had !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ahead of us. Roads that mostly looked like this. The roads were in the middle of nowhere and were mostly deserted, so we could drive as fast as we wanted.

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But First: Lunch. We went to a supermarket to get some supplies and food foor lunch. But what would we use as a table? The answer is always the same: Miata MX-5.

Tuesday

Tuesday, Oppo rally day! For this day we had 2 planned 2 different rallies. During day time a rally losely based on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in the US, and at night a short !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Regularity rally

Source map on the left, herring bone conversion on the right

Being part of the organization of both rallies I started the day with doing a trial run of the regularity rally. So we could check the route and set a reference time (which we would keep silent) and an average speed. To increase the difficulty we required both a driver and a navigator, and handed out a map based on the image on the left. The entire route would take about 30-45 minutes and we would time the start and finish time.

However, things were not to be.

‘No access due to snow’. But how bad could it be? We had the top off the convertibles and hadn’t seen a spec of snow. Was this a case of a fence that was forgotten a month earlier? And that sign, isn’t that a one way road sign? We decided to continue on.

Snow! A patch of about 20 meters of snow. Not overly deep, but not flat either. The snow had become hard and the 4x4 Fiat Pandas from the forestry service had created deep tracks. This would scrape the belly of many of our cars.

As we couldn’t create a backup route in time or circumvent the snowy patch, we decided the cancel the regularity rally that night and focus on participating in the main rally. Everyone else had already started that rally already.

Regular rally

The rally consisted of 18 locations (way too many to actually visit) and a number of side missions. The locations were picked in such a way that the participants were ‘forced’ to included some culture into the trip and to actually exit their cars. It consisted of picturesque locations, a hike up a few hills to the ruins of multiple castles, historic city centers and a local distillery (plus shop!). Here are the sheets everyone received:

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Judging by the feedback we became the rally was a huge success, and will be featured in a next trip as well. Any tips to further improve this are welcome, and are not as easily forgotten when written down ;)

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Wednesday

On Wednesday we left our first hub Airbnb and did a photoshoot with all the cars.

From left to right:

Suzuki Cappucino (RHD)

Mazda MX5 2.0 ND1

Mazda MX5 2.0 ND2 (press car)

Honda Integra Type R

Subaru BRZ

Nissan GTR (R35)

BMW 525i Touring (E61)

Mercedes 500 SEL (W140) (1992) (RHD)

Mercedes 500 SE (W126) (1981)

Audi A4 A6 Avant diesel (rental)

Audi A3

BMW Z4 3.0

Peugeot 205 CTi 1.6 2.0 turbo (1987)

Renault Twingo mk2 (LHD)

Renault Twingo mk2 (RHD)

Note that there are plates of 7 different countries in there. Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the UK. Soon it will be 8, as the Mercedes 500 SE was bought in the Netherlands shortly before the meet but has since been exported (and driven to) Finland.

After saying goodbye to DutchieDC2R and his Integra (he had just started a new job and couldn’t take too many days off) we drove south, towards the Peugeot museum (Musée de l’Aventure Peugeot in Sochaux) and (later) the second hub.

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After the museum we had !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ahead of us. Nice curvy deserted roads for hours, which me might or might not have driven a bit faster than your average tourist. I think I can speak for all of us when I say we had a blast. Along the way mister !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! not found (who is a car journalist) spotted a nice location for a photo shoot.

My 1987 Peugeot 205 CTi, which has been restored, restomodded (cruise control, heated seats, remote locks, immobilizer) and engine swapped (2.0 turbo from a 1996 Lancia Zeta) was clearly rather dirty and the Nurburgring brake dust was still on the front wheels.

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For dinner we looked for a restaurant in a tow named Saint-Claude. Which was a deserted dump. Most restaurants were closed. The city center was under construction, and only populated by small groups of young men with gave a less than pleasant atmosphere.

We finally went into a restaurant, Le P’tit Machon, which I name because it has left a lasting impression. No only because of the impressive mustache of the owner. The female owner. None of the dishes we ordered seemed to have succeeded. The most impressive was the dish I ordered though. She misunderstood what I ordered, and when I received my dish I received an escargot (snail). Which doesn’t even sound to what I did order. After politely noting the miscommunication she turned around towards the kitchen, with a rather loud Putain! Which is a french curse that isn’t exactly polite or professional.

Thursday

Thursday morning took us on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to the Grottes du Cerdon caves.

After the caves there were was a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , although many cut this a bit shorter.

For diner ‘we’ actually cooked.!

Following diner, it was time to hand out awards . Mister 4Muddyfeet created stickers for these winners, which they displayed proudly on their vehicles. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! managed to speak French in such a convincing way, a French clerk gave him a tour guide in his native Dutch language, despite never mentioning he needed a Dutch one. This deserved an award. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! got an award fo r his abilit y to answer impossible questions. 4Muddyfeet was voted the most, what was it, impressive? And there was DutchieDC2R, who will get an award for his rally score.

Awards? What kind of awards? Well, there is a cup made out of a piston of a Skoda pickup. Sadly I do not have a photo of that price. What I do have, is a photo of the sticker all other winners received.

The Oppositelock ‘non, je ne suis pas le coq de la semaine’ award for brilliance.

Friday

We left on Friday. Some quite early, others a bit later. About half the group went to Besancon, for lunch, after which we went our own way.

Total kms I’ve driven that week: About 3000-3500 (~2200 miles)

Costs

So, what does a week like this cost?

Lodging (total, for 5 nights): €110

Fuel (3000-3500 km): €450. About half for the trip itself, the other half for driving to/from home.

Food: €100

Culture: €75

Total: €735 (roughly), all in, excluding souvenirs.

Cheers!

Join us next time!

Image credits: multiple participants, unless stated otherwise.

FSI > duurtlang 04/28/2019 at 02:35

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I really enjoyed Europpomeet 2019 and miss the athmosphere of hanging around with all of you!

Going to work this week had me Feeling like this:

MultiplaOrgasms > duurtlang 04/28/2019 at 03:05

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I was theren’t!

duurtlang > MultiplaOrgasms 04/28/2019 at 03:06

0

Where were you?

AestheticsInMotion > duurtlang 04/28/2019 at 03:22

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I need to find a way to join all of you one of these years

pip bip - choose Corrour > duurtlang 04/28/2019 at 03:26

1

good write up!

HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute > AestheticsInMotion 04/28/2019 at 03:33

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^

DutchieDC2R > duurtlang 04/28/2019 at 03:35

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This was, in one single word: Epic!

The atmosphere was, once again, top notch. I thoroughly enjoyed the drive, the laughs, the talks, seeing everyone and meeting new people, it cant get any better than that.

MultiplaOrgasms > duurtlang 04/28/2019 at 03:35

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About 8 hours drive to the north, somewhere near the dutch border, at work. Would have joined, but you know, Lancia happened. Couldn’t bring myself to ride passenger for the second time in a row

duurtlang > MultiplaOrgasms 04/28/2019 at 03:40

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I understand. A rental c ould’ve been an option, but it would also be an additional cost.

duurtlang > DutchieDC2R 04/28/2019 at 03:42

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Agreed! It was the combination of all those things that made it so much fun to do.

MultiplaOrgasms > duurtlang 04/28/2019 at 04:06

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And who’d want to spend their real money for  a week in a Fiat 500L?

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > duurtlang 04/28/2019 at 04:20

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Great write up!

I too had a ton of fun, and cannot wait to see where  the next adventure will take us.

duurtlang > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer 04/28/2019 at 04:22

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Will we do something this summer? If so, we have to set a date soon.

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > MultiplaOrgasms 04/28/2019 at 06:29

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I mean, I spent it in a diesel Audi, so, me?

duurtlang > MultiplaOrgasms 04/28/2019 at 06:30

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Just get a Twingo or Fiat 500 and be done with it.

MultiplaOrgasms > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 04/28/2019 at 06:38

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Are you suggesting that a sales rep special is less interesting than a minivan styled to look like a 1950s microcar?

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > duurtlang 04/28/2019 at 09:08

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Hey I have a rough draft for the poll ready. I added links to the trip descriptions folks made last fall. Couple changes I noticed I want to make. I have to fix so the results show  up google sheets. 

66P1800inpieces > duurtlang 04/28/2019 at 09:39

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This is just amazing! If this was in the Mid-Atlantic (middle East Coast) or North East (NY and up on the East Coast) US I guess the trip into NYC might be neat (although horrible for driving) but then what? Much in the states is very spread out and takes days of driving.

duurtlang > 66P1800inpieces 04/28/2019 at 09:49

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Well, you can always just join us. International airline tickets are not all that expensive.

4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 > MultiplaOrgasms 04/28/2019 at 16:00

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Perhaps. I'd have to try to find out.

MultiplaOrgasms > 4muddyfeet - bare knuckle with an EZ30 04/28/2019 at 23:03

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My dad had a couple of 500L rentals when he was working in Paris and says they’ re actually pretty good, but then again he’s getting old and boring as evidenced by his increasingly boring cars. 

pip bip - choose Corrour > duurtlang 04/30/2019 at 06:52

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who’s who in the pics!?!

duurtlang > pip bip - choose Corrour 04/30/2019 at 07:16

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There’s a picture of everyone standing next to their cars. I’m doing this by memory, so it will not be entirely correct:

Suzuki Cappucino (something like BlurpleToyotaDishwasher)

Mazda MX5 2.0 ND1 (Out with a W, something with the answer)

Mazda MX5 2.0 ND2 (press car) (505 morphine not found)

Honda Integra Type R (Dutchie DC something)

Subaru BRZ (not on Oppo)

Nissan GTR (Not on Oppo)

BMW 525i Touring (Klaus Schmoll)

Mercedes 500 SEL (W140) (1992) (Schaefft)

Mercedes 500 SE (W126) (1981) (karm...ja or something like that)

Audi A4 A6 Avant diesel (rental) ( 4muddyfeet)

Audi A3 (fsi)

BMW Z4 3.0 (texa)

Peugeot 205 CTi 1.6 2.0 turbo (1987) (duurtlang)

Renault Twingo mk2 (LHD) (bvdv the Dutch engineer)

Renault Twingo mk2 (RHD) (twingotamer)

vondon302 > duurtlang 04/30/2019 at 07:51

0

Sounds like a great time was had.

If you guys ever pick a date between June and August I'm coming over!

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > duurtlang 04/30/2019 at 10:14

2

This looks like so much fun! What a cool community. 

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer 04/30/2019 at 10:15

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It was cool to see you and your car! Looks like it was a ton of fun. 

duurtlang > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 04/30/2019 at 13:03

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It is! It's half the fun of the whole trip.

Future Heap Owner > duurtlang 04/30/2019 at 15:03

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Great planning, organization, and writeup! Seems like it was a wild success.

Schaefft > duurtlang 04/30/2019 at 16:22

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Actually! I’ve got the reward for answering Martin’s strange Quiz questions surprisingly correctly, Alex did win the driving award in the end which makes me wonder where his photo of proof is!

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 04/30/2019 at 17:09

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Thanks man! The Twingo conquered the mountains once again without issues

And it really was a ton of fun indeed!

duurtlang > Schaefft 05/01/2019 at 03:04

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You are right. My memory is failing me. I'll have to edit this.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > Schaefft 05/01/2019 at 05:49

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Didn’t he say it would be on the Legacy for a week? We need proof!

Fritzbaum80 > duurtlang 05/01/2019 at 07:07

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It was a genuinely fun week and I saw lots of new stuff: new people, interesting cars, cultural touristic thingies... And I also enjoyed doing something I hadn’t done for a while: driving for driving’s sake. I hope I’ll be in on the next meet, looking forward to seeing you guys again!

Wheelerguy > duurtlang 05/01/2019 at 08:20

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Subaru BRZ (not on Oppo)

Nissan GTR (Not on Oppo)

Get them on board the ship.

duurtlang > vondon302 05/01/2019 at 08:39

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We might actually do that. You can participate in our poll here: https://oppositelock.kinja.com/new-summer-fall-europpomeet-poll-1834402769

vondon302 > duurtlang 05/01/2019 at 08:41

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Thanks just did it.

Nauraushaun > duurtlang 05/02/2019 at 17:39

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I can’t believe how well organized you are, this is fantastic!

God I wish I lived in Europe.

duurtlang > Nauraushaun 05/03/2019 at 05:26

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Although I realize the cost will steep flying in from your neck of the woods, you are always welcome to join us!

Nauraushaun > duurtlang 05/03/2019 at 17:49

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I’m flying over in July and I’’ve got a full two months up my sleeve. It can be done!

I won’t have a car. And my hands are tied for much of the trip with other plans. And I won’t know most of ya’ll even by name. But if the timing lines up I’d love to pop in for a visit...

duurtlang > Nauraushaun 05/03/2019 at 19:01

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No promise, but it’s quite plausible we’ll organize something in summer. See the poll (by gmporschenut, who lives an ocean away as well)

Du ring each meet there’s at least one newcomer, usually more.

Nauraushaun > duurtlang 05/04/2019 at 02:05

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I’ll keep an eye out. Not a post happens on Oppo that doesn’t go by me. If things line up I’ll be there.

curbwatching > duurtlang 12/09/2019 at 13:18

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Great report! I’m looking forward to joining the 2020 Oppomeet in Europe!