Italy by vintage car....rented

I just saw this little article in the Sunday NY Times travel section. The article says that three women, an American, a Belgian, and an Italian, wanted to "offer travel experiences that would evoke the casual glamour of a Fellini movie"...I'm trying to remember all the Fellini flix to make sure there was not something too surreal among them

www.italybyvintagecar.com

I think it would be fun to try...perhaps a bit pricey, though the price includes a lot of amenities.

I know I'd be very reluctant to let strangers drive my classic car.

What do you think? Will this work? Would you do it?

I did a trip up the coast of Italy in a rented Smart Roadster. We started in Monaco and just headed up the coast. Absolutely worth the money as the scenery was wonderful and the roads were great and the food was pretty damned good too.

I did a trip up the coast of Italy in a rented Smart Roadster. We started in Monaco and just headed up the coast. Absolutely worth the money as the scenery was wonderful and the roads were great and the food was pretty damned good too.

Wow, that's a fantastic idea! I tried to look for a similar company in Western Australia, hoping that my partner and I could enjoy our honeymoon cruising the South West wine districts in a big Healy or E-Type Jag, but sadly nothing like this exists. Maybe it's about time I borrowed some money and did it myself???

Italy by Smart Roadster would have been fun too.

Hmmm, having served in the Navy over in Italy in the '70s(well, Sicily, actually) I did something like this back then. No, not in a classic car but in a Fiat 127. Back then I'm not so sure I would have wanted to try touring in a classic car...in case I ever broke down, and besides, there is enough to do/look at, without worrying about having a breakdown or whether your car will be stolen and/or trashed.

A "self-guided" tour, sure beats travelling around on a bus at someone else pace.

<a href="">I've looked into a couple of these companies when traveling to Europe but it never worked well with our schedule. I'm stilling looking for someone to rent me this for my trip back to Italy.

Dougie

Hmm, no mention of price but no doubt expensive. They were quick to mention what the penalty for cancellation would be ... stiff. Overall it'd probably be cheaper than buying a ’55 Lancia Aurelia coupe and then finding out you didn't like the way it handled.

There’s another company doing a similar thing with vintage Morgans in the UK and the wine regions of France.
And in New England there’s the very reasonable Classic Cars and Byways:

http://www.classiccarsandbyways.com/index.htm

Dougie, that's my GTO just let me know if you ever want to borrow it.

Btw, I hate diverging from the original topic...well I must not hate it cause I do it too often...but since it's my thread I'll forgive me this one time:

Have you guys ever seen that cool "old school" 8mm mini-documentary by Stephen Mitchell, him racing his GTO with Peter Helm in his Ferrari on Mulholland Drive in the 1960s?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCfItWwi2V8

Nick,

I may have to take you up on that. If haven't see this yet, take a look at Claude Lelouch's infamous 1978 "Rendezvous". This stars a Ferrari 275 GTB and an anonymous F1 driver full out through the streets of Paris.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfePhSLdVM8

Here's an option, you can rent a classic British sports car in Charlottesville, Virginia and cruise up and down the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive, check out all the local wineries, and have money left over for dinner.

dougie, that Rendezvous flick is one of my favorite, it is so classic it almost hurts...not to mention the 275 GTB is one of my favorite cars of all time.

Shinsen, is that available in Charlottesville?...or do you mean yours?