mushroomman:
Hiya David, your last post has got me thinking, didn’t Ken’s white Fiat have two large Saint Georges flags painted on the doors.I am sure that if Ken was still going to places like Pakistan, Iran, Syria or Iraq with that Fiat then it would still be attracting a bit of attention from the locals.
I remember Ken telling me that back in the seventies, the water pump on the white Fiat packed up in the middle of winter somewhere in Hungary. He took the pump off and after spending sometime trying to get it repaired he ended up hitching to Budapest in the snow and he still couldn’t get it fixed. So in the end he decided to get the train back to Vienna where he knew that there was a Fiat agent and he managed to get a replacement pump. He then had to hitch back to get to the Fiat and if I remember correctly it had taken him three days to get it sorted.
How I remember this story is because Ken said that he had to catch The Orient Express from Budapest to Vienna and the train was a crappy old thing and that it was nothing like the one that they had shown in the film. Another driver started arguing with Ken and said that The Orient Express went from Austria into Italy and Yugoslavia and didn’t go through Hungary. I must admit that at the time I didn’t have a clue which way it went but wouldn’t it have been good to settle a lot of those trailer box arguments back then with access to Google.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient_Express
Budapest, Bridge Over The Danube.
3Yugoslavia near Nis.
2Belgrade New Customs Area about 1986.
1Jimmy Walker.
0
Hi Steve,
That’s an interesting story re Ken obtaining,eventually a new water pump for the Fiat,typical of Ken though,not many problems had Ken stumped.
When I drove the Fiat it was totally white and that sort of rust red chassis,no writing or anything on the doors,perhaps I am wrong,I just recall Harry telling me who he aquired the Fiat from,and in those days,Harry,Ken and John Roberts were great buddies.
David