Beginning from Amsterdam in 2006, their first stops were Italy, Greece and Turkey. In Turkey, the six men traveled to İzmir and Denizli. They will finish their tour in China in 2008.
An initial maintenance check was made by the men before starting the tour and the cars have broken down only twice so far. The group reads up on the next destination country before they set off, drawing up a route map and determining their rest stops.
While the sole purpose of the tour is entertainment, the drivers say they were very surprised by the interest people showed, especially in Turkey. Noting that they liked Turkey very much, the men each placed a flag of Turkey on the back of their car.
The first step in planning the trip was finding the best car for each driver, Schwirtz told Today’s Zaman. Schwirtz believes that driving old cars that have been around the block are much safer than modern day cars. “We are traveling just for fun. These cars are very simple and very easy to fix. Unlike modern cars, we don’t have to go mechanics. For example, even if our car breaks down in China, we can easily fix it. That’s why we chose old cars. A couple of days ago, the steering wheel of one of the cars fell off. We fixed it in one day,” Schwirtz said. He added they expect to finish their tour in Beijing, China in April 2008.
After the interview wrapped up the team got in their cars and continued their world tour.
