Mercedes

Vendemos el Bismarck, el Merche, el coche de mi padre.

/ antonioyrocinante / 1 Comment

Aunque a mi padre le gustaban los ordenadores (Apple), pasear por el Retiro, comer (y beber) bien, lo que más le gustaba eran los coches. Así que, en 1980, en la feria del automóvil de Frankfurt compró un Mercedes 500 SEL —que todavía no había salido al mercado. Unos meses más tarde, en 1981, lo recogió en la fábrica de Sindelfingen.

El Mercedes 500 SEL fue el mejor coche del mundo en su época: suspensión neumática, motor V8 de aleación, el primer coche con ABS, etc., etc. Mi padre nos dejó en 2015.

No puedo decir las veces que ese coche cruzó España y Europa. Viajes a Londres a visitar a mi hermana, viajes a Ginebra a visitar a mi otra hermana, viajes a Andalucía o a Euskadi a visitar amigos. ¡Cualquier excusa era buena para hacer un viaje de cientos o miles de kilómetros!

El Mercedes está en venta. Está dado de baja temporal en Tráfico, y lleva levantado del suelo, parado en el garaje desde 2012. ¡Si te interesa, contacta en comentarios!

Colecciones Reales, musings on new museums

/ antonioyrocinante / 2 Comments

New museums are rare, most of the stuff worth seeing is already being shown. Another key issue is that for most modern museums the building is more interesting than what is inside -think of Guggenheim Bilbao, or even NY- It is rare to find a new museum where both the container and what it contains are both at the same level of excellence. One such exception is the massive collection of “stuff” the Spanish Royal family has -which technically belongs to all Spaniards, as it is part of the national heritage which is being shown in the brand new Colecciones Reales Museum in Madrid.

This museum has been pending since 1934 with the advent of the Second Republic, but it was finally constructed right above the Royal Palace gardens and next to the Cathedral. It opened in June of 2023. Celia and I finally got a chance to go, and it was free since the museum was celebrating the 10th anniversary of the crowning of King Felipe VI. I liked it so much, I returned the next day with my niece!

The museum is massive all in concrete and granite with some wooden accents, it is really cool. The collection has artifacts from the Trastámara dynasty, the Hapsburgs, and the Bourbons. The collection includes carriages and cars, a ton of tapestries, a fountain! some religious items, books, a set of Solomonic columns, dinning sets, and obviously a ton of paintings, including a huge Velazquez horse, and oh, a Caravaggio!

The museum includes the de rigueur coffee shop and gift shop, and it is worth the visit, even if it is not free when you go.

Cars, cars, cars (and motorcycles)

/ antonioyrocinante / 2 Comments

Helmut
Horrible 4 door Jeep
The Bismarck
Didn’t really like the Highlander
2 of my babies at Newburyport High School
Antonio Balsón Sr. giving me his medal
3 generations of motorheads
4 of my favorite rides!
Not always in the driver’s seat
Defender in Asturias
My first trailer drive 700 Miles
Honda Pan European
Alfonso’s Kremer Porsche
Defender 90
My first Land Rover
Petra (circa 1982)
The UNC Gearheads
New Orleans
The almost 20 year old Disco still has great articulation!
Abuelo w one of his babies

My granddad´s family was in the horse and carriage business, but my grandfather Antonio soon saw the advantages of the new automobiles. So he sold his shares in the family business back to his siblings and went into the car business, moving to Barcelona and buying and selling cars, driving, whatever he could do to live his passion.

He eventually moved to Madrid where he became a driver for the US ambassador, driving US Generals and dignitaries to see the Civil War front. After that he became the driver for the British ambassador – he always claimed they had better cars. There he transported allied pilots and crews rescued by the Resistance from the Pyrenees to Gibraltar in neutral, but really Axis friendly, Franco ruled Spain.Changing cars in different locations and sometimes carrying my father and uncle Antonio as decoys. For that job he got a medal from the Queen of England which he bequeathed to me. Although most importantly, with infinite patience, he taught me to drive.

So my dad and my uncle grew up in embassy garages, driving around, tinkering with, and washing, lots of washing, cars. They both grew to embrace motoring both of the four wheel and two wheel variety, and both passed that passion on to me, which I have continued to cultivate. This makes me a certified petrol head. When the Newburyport High School where Tracy taught needed a van driver, I was in. When a friend wanted me to drive their car from New York city to Boston, I jumped. When a friend in Boston needed to pick up some luggage she had left in New York city we drove down, picked them up, had lunch and drove back. I jump at the opportunity to give anyone a ride. I love driving.

I learned to drive – as did most of my friends in an old Citröen 2CV “La Petra” in the countryside outside of Madrid where there was lots of driving around, tinkering with, and washing, lots of washing, cars. That simple two cylinder, air cooled, beautiful car is still in our country house waiting for some tender loving care to get her back in running order.

My uncle used to work for Exxon in Spain so he had a fleet of Land Rovers at his disposal. When some of these where decommissioned and auctioned off, he got one for me when I was 18 or 19. It was a topless short wheelbase V6 and it was a blast. That started an ongoing love affair with Land Rovers which progressed to a Defender 90 in 1992 and to a Discovery in 1998.

When I moved to the US in 2005 we got a Toyota Highlander, I didn’t like it so much, so when I hit an ice patch and crashed we found a great deal in an Audi A4 to replace it. I loved that A4 so much that when the financing deal expired I traded it in for the same model – only station wagon. That is Helmut, still with me seven years later!

In between there have been Renaults, Seats, Fords, VWs, etc.

When my dear friend Alfonso got involved in car racing – he even raced in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it was great fun to follow him around to his races around Spain. Eventually he would start his own racing team and is now a successful competitor in GP2, the class right under Formula 1.

At UNC I was in the founding group of the UNC Gearheads Club. It is now floundering a bit, but in its heyday we had great fun going to car gatherings and to a great Porsche exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Fine Art!

My dad’s old V8 Mercedes is still sitting in the garage, waiting, like “Petra”, for some tender loving care. But the days of blasting down the autobahn at 200 km/h listening to jazz are not going to come back, so who knows what will happen to the old Bismarck.