(first posted 11/27/2018) I somehow stumbled into these last night on my bed-time YouTube surfing. These are terrific, and feature great car spotting, even a fair number of American cars, which were quite popular with the Swiss back then. No big deal if you don’t get the Swiss-German commentary; it’s mostly self-evident. They document the challenges of summer tourists crossing the Gotthard Pass instead of taking the auto train through the tunnel. It shows lots of dangerous passing and other maneuvers. The narrator drolly mentions that on the prior weekend fourteen were killed and dozens were injured.
They remind me very much of how insane the traffic was outside of Innsbruck, over the old Brenner Pass road before the autobahn and the Europa bridge were built a few years after we left.
The second one, from 1965, shows the delays and waiting involved.
This third film will be harder to get if one doesn’t speak German. It’s a rather biting look at the German tourist invasion that descended on Italy in the 1950s. Some 3.5 million of them, to be precise. By the mid 50s the German economy lifted incomes to the point where the deeply ingrained wanderlust could be finally acted upon, en masse. Lots of shots of Germans driving over what I’m quite sure is the Brenner Pass, and then stopping there to put their passports and car papers/insurance in order.
The film shows them as the “ugly Germans”, flaunting rules on traditional Italian decorum and dress, even getting into a fight at the door of the cathedral of Milan for trying to bring a dog inside. The commentary is quite stinging.
I hate to say it, but a very similar type of film could be made today about the hordes of Chinese tourists descending on Italy, with similar breaches of etiquette. What goes around, comes around.
Somehow, the idea of driving a rear-engined Renault on wet stone streets at any decent rate of speed gives me the willies.
The 1963 piece makes it clear the SRF camera crew was driving a Volvo PV544. Good choice. Plenty of power and brakes to match, nice handling with no nasty quirks and then-state-of-the-art safety features including the world’s first 3-point seat belts.
Yes, I’ve done the “camping in Italy in the 60’s” bit, we weren’t far from Pisa but were more interested in the beach than the leaning tower. After a week it started to rain, so we packed the tents and drove to Austria.
So many pretty Renault Dauphines in the first film. Such a shame they wilted so quickly in damp climates….
My paternal grandparents were one of the guilty parties for invading Italy in the summers during the 1950s. My father and his siblings despised those road trips through Switzerland to Italy that went on for a several weeks at end. No idea why my grandparents insisted on visiting different part of Italy when they could visit other European countries.
Seven-strong family (children born in 1935, 1940, 1942, 1945, and 1948) in a small Mercedes-Benz 180 Ponton, check. A mountain of camping tents and gears with a few pieces of luggage on roof rack, check. Several more small luggage in the book, check. Small picnic baskets on the rear shelf that gave off the obnoxious odour as the temperature rose, check. Bottles of water and soda, check. Maps with plotted routes, check. Thick wad of Deutsche Mark, check. What else? Yes, ADAC member card and contact details for Switzerland and Italy.
The siblings took turn sitting on each other which increased in frequency as the trip dragged on. That and more bickering and whining as temperature rose and traffic backed up in Switzerland and Italy.
Wonderfully evocative, even if I couldn’t keep up with the German in the third film.
Strangely, the majority of stranded vehicles appear to be British….
The E-type and Midget. Maybe Brit cooling systems, intended for sporty driving, weren’t tested enough there.
What’s even more appalling are the hairpin curves where caravan [Am. trailer] towers had to intrude into the opposing lane. And that bus having to reverse to make a curve. Imagine a 40′ semi trying that!
While a Shoebox Chevy or Rambler don’t look too large for Alpine driving, that bloated ’64 does; no wonder it took the train. Naturally, towing would be a cinch with Yank Tanks.
I don’t speak German at all, never having been to Katzenschule but in the second video the narration is so droll, and the jazzy soundtrack so laid back it really makes everything seem alright.
Oh yes, there’s a car with the whole side stove in, no problem!
Very good music for the relaxing auto train trip though..
I don’t speak German either but, at least it seems to me, about every six or seventh word is close enough to its English equivalent that I can sometimes figure out is going on. As always it helps if there are pictures to go along with the narration.
By the mid 50s the German economy lifted incomes to the point where the deeply ingrained wanderlust could be finally acted upon, en masse.
And that’s still true today. I’m not exaggerating when I say that most if not all times I’ve traveled outside the US, or to a major tourist spot in the US for that matter, I have encountered Germans.
Visit a national park in the western US in summer and you’ll hear lots of German.
I’ll 2nd that. For example, along the South Rim, I once asked some pedestrians which way the Grand Canyon Visitor Center was (I should know but it’s been a long time), and ended up using my bumbling high school German. My daughter was impressed.
I heard they often rent RVs and “See the USA,” enjoying the relatively low fuel cost. At least we have that going for us on the trade-deficit front.
“And that’s still true today. I’m not exaggerating when I say that most if not all times I’ve traveled outside the US, or to a major tourist spot in the US for that matter, I have encountered Germans.”
You might say. “Volk ohne Raum.”
I can’t get over how they’re shown in very foggy conditions and nobody has their lights on at about 1:20. It seems that they all follow very closely, especially considering the brakes and tires of the day. Awfully reckless about passing, too. I think I’ll take the bus rather than murder my way through that road.
Cool!
I watched these before and I wondered how these German narrated videos would be received on these pages.
The TV pieces were important to persuade the Swiss voters to approve the building of the St. Gotthard tunnel. More recently they built a St. Gotthard base tunnel. There are some interesting videos on it as well.
By the mid 50s the German economy lifted incomes to the point where the deeply ingrained wanderlust could be finally acted upon
Reminds me of after the Berlin Wall when East Germans could finally travel, with their smoky slow Trabis wandering around Western Europe:
https://youtu.be/jPn2HWBdinE
In Sicily last year and the only tourists who ignored the decorum of having shoulders and knees covered going into churches were, you guessed it, Germans.
Canton Uri is one of my favorite places to visit in Switzerland, drove up and over Gotthard in August. Switzerland is the only place you can get a whole hotel and a key to yourself if you insist on visiting in August – this has happened to me more than once!
Picture is looking towards Italy on the way up.
KJ in Oz
Beautiful old european cars.
A wind of nostalgia comes to me when I see those Renault Dauphine, Citroen 2 CV, Peugeot 403 and old Beetles.
A piece of automotive history in a 5 minute video.
Back in the 50s and 60s no wonder the VW Micro Bus was so popular on trips over the passes. Didn’t need to be fast and you could enjoy the scenery with the big sunroof and all the roof windows! VW was pretty smart about producing a bus like this. Versatile in so many configurations. Many hotels/businesses used them.
I enjoyed the three films very much, particularly the last one and the acidic way that the tourists are shown. The cars, though, really made this fun. I could understand some of the German as Ich habe so vielen von den Sprache zu vergessen. Thanks for repeating this essay.
Watching the fully laden FIAT 600 passing the 2CV put things in perspective. The American cars looked absolutely wonderful. I’d never seen an Impala with a speed boat on its roof towing a caravan before. What a shame Detroit figured out that engineering was secondary in 1965.
63 Valiant Signet at 1.09 in the first video.
The first film proves what we always knew: Citroens are notoriously underpowered…
I imagine there were many mangled vehicles in this area back then .
-Nate