We officially have our Mongol Rally car!
This morning, we put a down payment on a tiny blue Fiat Seicento in Bielefeld, Germany.
As is the spirit of the Mongol Rally, we are driving a pathetic little car that is completely unsuited for crossing 3 mountain ranges and 5 deserts. This car has a 1.1 liter engine, and is just 54 horsepower! How it’s going to haul three full-grown guys, all of our gear, and dozens of rubber duckies from London to Mongolia, we don’t know. (We expect things to get especially hairy when we have to offroad in the Gobi Desert for the last 1000 miles of the trip.)
Many thanks to Pete’s parents for helping to find the car and negotiating with the German auto dealer in Bielefeld. We’d also like to thank our German friend Uli Weigel, the father of Paul Weigel who was an exchange student and stayed with Pete’s family for a year in 2002-2003. Uli went and checked out the car in person, and says that it appears in good working order (though he did remark “you’re going to Mongolia in THAT little thing?”)
Here are the specs for the car:
Make: Fiat
Model: Seicento 1.1 Active
Year: 2004
Body type: Small Sedan Hatchback, 2 doors
Engine size: 1108 cm3
Power: 40 kW / 54 horsepower
Fuel type: Gas
Color: Blue
Mileage: 175.446 km
Location: Bielefeld, Germany
And here are some photos of it from the dealer’s website:
In just under three weeks, Pete will be flying into to Switzerland, then he’ll head over to Germany to pick up the Fiat and get it ready to go for the rally. We’re planning to build a roof rack, reinforce the bottom of the car and the suspension, maybe install some bigger wheels for more clearance / traction, and do anything else we can think of to give the little car a fighting chance to make it to Mongolia.
Seven more weeks to go!
Best wishes for a safe and successful trip to Mongolia! I hope, the little wire-ducky in front of your fiats hood, one of the few stabil parts of your offroad-toy and designed by Paul, will always show you the right way to go. Come on boys!!!
Uli and of course the whole Weigel-Family