Our mission was a simple one: to get two Trabants from Banjul, The Gambia, to the International Trabi Treffen at Zwickau, Germany. The unfortunate cars in question had been gently melting beside a hotel swimming pool since completing the 2006-07 Plymouth to Banjul Challenge. Although inoperative, both, bizarrely, were MOT’d until the end of 2007.

Armed with a plethora of tools and Trabi spares - including a complete engine - intrepid Clivoneers Sam Glover, Matt Jones and Pete Hodgson set out from Heathrow airport on June 1st, giving us a mere sixteen days to get the cars running and drive them through the Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco, Spain, France and Germany.

Over the 4500 miles, Saharan breakdowns, gun-toting guards, daring escapes, camels, corruption, semi-submarine ferries, seafood surprise, minefields, mud and drunken Germans abounded.

The story was published in the August 2007 edition of Practical Classics magazine.

A proper run-down will follow, but here are some pics in the meantime.