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| Rover Mini Cooper 1300 with sportspack wheels and arches |
Leaving Prague was the only route that made the GPS useful. Streets are laid out like a spider web. Left turn, right turn, right turn, do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around. My English speaking GPS lady became my new best friend.
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| Volkswagen Group acquired control of Skoda in April 1991. VW is popular in the Czech Republic, with these two droptop Beetles outside the Coco disco. | The Czech car company Tatra manufactured the T97, which shared a number of design similarities to the KdF, a Beetle prototype. Tatra sued VW for patent infringement just before the start of WWII. Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia and took control of the Tatra factory, ceasing all production of the T97. |
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| The Skoda Felicia was actually the first model after the VW takeover, but Felicia was just a resurrection of the name used by Skoda for two seater sports cars in the 1960's. I can't say it was on my list of things to do but you can take a driving tour of Prague in one. It had a four stroke, watercooled, OHV 4 cylinder making 53 horsepower, with a top speed of 87mph. |
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| The Piaggio Ape is a three wheeled commercial vehicle. The engines are not powerful – think single digit horsepower! Top Gear referred to the Ape as “Italy's equivalent of the donkey.” | They use scooter handlebars to steer and are basically rickshaws, conveniently produced in India. They have decent torque but low top speeds, more suited for urban delivery jobs. |
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| Welcome to Germany! |
Crossing the border from Pilsen, CR to Germany was painless. The Rozvadov-Weidhaus former border checkpoint and customs office is now used pretty much as a speed trap. Of course, I had visions of the agriculture check / border crossing between Arizona and California and wondered if I should toss some fruit left from breakfast out the window. Not risking the fine for littering, I crossed into Germany and kept my apple for later.
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| Parallel parking in Bamberg. |
