Hafling Treffen

[Julian B]

Just returned from a fabulous few days in Sud Tirol in northern Italy. Originally planned for May 2020 which was postponed to May 2021, which was also postponed. There were 130-150 Haflingers there, from Austria, Switzerland, German, Italy, Portugal, Lesotho (/Netherlands) and 2 from the UK. Glorious weather (zero rain), fab scenery, and plenty of laughter. My Haflinger drove well, with just one easily fixed issue on one of the off road trips. Most of the Haflinger driving was on well used forest tracks, but with a couple of fords and a little bit of rock crawling.

We drove just over 1,500 miles round trip, with just 57 miles driven in the Haflinger. It is quite a commitment in terms of time and money to get there, but I would _thoroughly_ recommend trying to get to the next one in a few years time.

There is a very interesting wikipedia entry for Sud Tirol - certainly worth a read; every town / village has two names - the German and Italian versions. If you drop the last “o” from Avelengo and say it out loud “Aaaaave - Ling” it sort of sounds like Hafling!

[heinkeljb]

Bit too far to drive Lurch to, so would have to think of someother way of transporting Lurch there. At least the Dutch Treffen is with in Driving distance...
The Cotswolds one is with in driving distance, so going to that one.

John

[jhon]

Well done Julian for making the effort to get there, as you say it's quite a commitment to travel that far. It's great that there is such enthusiasm for these vehicles that the organisers arrange such an event; it can't be an easy task. These kind of events will help ensure that the Haflinger will continue to 'live on' and hopefully interest upcoming generations - did you see many younger people attending?

I've watched a few videos from earlier events - I'd love to attend one one day!

Post up any more photos you have, particularly of any interesting variants.

[Julian B]

Sadly I didn't take many photos of individual Haflinger - I have so many from previous European trips! There was an EV conversion which was most impressive, and some incredible restorations, mainly Italian. I would say perhaps 30% were in excellent condition, 50% were used if not abused. Mainly military versions, but with a good sprinkling of civilian & Pathfinders. Not many Polycabs, and I don't think I saw a single rigid top with a metal front (like Lurch). I chatted to a chap that had a 1959 Haflinger (something like #70 !!!). Three Portuguese Haflingers won the "furthest away" prize, and IIRC the furthest _driven_ to Hafling was ~500km. Oldest participant was 81, with the majority probably 50-70; I get the impression that a large proportion of owners used a Haflinger during their National Service (CH & A), and so have one now for reliving their experiences.

Despite the warm weather, very very few took their roof off, and only 1 or 2 dropped the windscreen at any time.

My Haf did conk out at one point on a trail; no idea why (at the time), so I whipped off the air intake to see if fuel was getting to the carb, and by the time I put it back on again all worked fine. I later discovered that the jubilee clip on the fuel line by the tank was loose, so almost certainly air got in to the system. That is now sorted. The only other breakdown that I was aware of was a military Haf dripping a load of oil on the road, complete with white smoke. It pulled over and apparently the large nut holding the pulley on to the rear of the engine had gone loose, and oil was coming out via the crankshaft. A quick tighten and all was OK. Lucky it didn't seize!

[heinkeljb]

I have only seen one picture of a Haf with a similar hard top to Lurch and that was one that was sold by HaflingerTechnik I believe. I found one reference to a hard top in one magazine advert, but didn't manage to take down any details of the magzine so now have no idea where I saw it.
Maybe one day I meet up with that Haf!

John

[ogdenenterprise]

One day I will get the chance to visit one of the treffens, Its on my bucket list.
It will be without a Haflinger, its a bit far to drive from Australia.

Dave

[heinkeljb]

Plenty of spare seats when you get there, so you can drive round in a Haflinger along with all the others!

John

[Julian B]

For anyone with 30 minutes to spare, this is quite a well produced video of the recent Treffen in Sud Tirol. I think it represents the fabulous weekend well.

We get blink & you’ll miss it cameos at times 01:39, 11:48 and 21:25.

The commentary is in German, but I don’t think much is lost by not understanding it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaXSOiUQE_k

[jhon]

Yes, that was a great video, well produced. It does look like a very well organised, professional event - fantastic scenery, good weather and lots of driving. Everyone seems enthusiastic and most importantly - having fun!
Nice to see such a varied selection of vehicles and how the owners have modified them to suit their needs - the six wheeler and the electric Haf particularly caught my eye. Always interesting (for me) to see the different wheels/tyres that owners choose to fit.
Julian, were you the only UK Haf there and would not speaking German cause any difficulties over the w/e?
(nice hats BTW )

[Julian B]

There was one other UK Haf in attendance, and a Dutch one (with a Dutch driver & British co-pilot). Not being able to speak German was at first a bit of a pain, but there is always someone around who speaks sufficient English (including the organisers). Even the fire crew (who acted as Marshalls etc & drove around in the "canton"'s Fire Dept 1992(?) Defender Td5 ) spoke English sufficiently well to have a good conversation with. The only time not being able to speak German _if_ you didn't know anyone would be during the communal meals (2-3 per Treffen).

This was my 5th or 6th Austrian Treffen, and you get to recognise / know people / know who can speak English, and that does help with mixing etc. In general they are very welcoming, and always fascinated to see a RHD vehicle.

Certainly don't let not being able to speak the lingo put you off going.

One chap was disabled from the waist down and had designed & made & installed a system to control the throttle / clutch & brakes via levers and pulleys etc. so he was able to drive himself by himself. Hats off to him for doing so, and he was very happy to talk about how he had done it.

I will embarrass myself by saying that I have never been on a UK Treffen, but the standard of organisation of the Austrian(/Italian) Treffens really is first rate. The weather & scenery help to make it a very "wife-friendly" time. The Dutch ones are also very good on all of these points. Almost all of the Hafs are in good condition, but none of them really like getting stuck or muddy!

The only downsides are the cost of getting there & the long drive down.

[AustHaflinger]

I will have to go to the local German Club in Canberra and order a meal to work out what was on those food plates

Not our normal fair - not seen white sausages and those pretzels are100 times the size of what we have in little packets here. Not sure what they were pouring over the pretzels.

Garry

[Julian B]

The white sausage was actually "OK" - I did try it but can't say I finished it. It is evidently a regional dish and the others loved it. The Pretzels were lovely, covered in salt, and (I think) a sort of satay sauce? Can't remember. The cheese and saucissons at the start by the obstacle course was yummy. I didn't have any beer during the day, but the Germans & Austrians didn't hold back!!!

[heinkeljb]

European Treffens are different from British Treffens. Difficult to put your finger on exactly what is different, but things like European ones are usually based at a proper campsite, so all amenities on hand. European one have driving routes wich are generally a couple hours and then some sort of break to see something or vist some attraction, then another couple of hours driving with a another break for a meal or a snack. Similar in the afernoon but ending up back at the camp site.

British ones are similar, but tend not to have an attraction thrown in other than maybe somewhere like the beach.

The next Haflinger and Pinzgauer Club treffen in the Cotswolds should be good as the organisers (James and Ash) have both been to a couple of the Europen ones.

John