Known for his eye-catching Golf yellow group 2-inspired street-legal racer, Glyn is a regular at car shows across the UK. Living at the foothills of Snowdonia, he enjoys access to some of the finest driving roads in the country.  However, on this occasion, he and his wife embarked on a journey deep into the car’s Heimat – A trip that would soon take an unexpected and darker turn. 

My story of how our recent European road trip in our CSL left a bittersweet feeling.

My wife and I decided to use our CSL to visit the annual Laon Historic Festival in May 2024, and the car was running well on our 300-mile run down to Folkestone, through The Tunnel, and onwards to France.

To our surprise, the car started missing and cutting out as we neared Laon. So, we stopped and reset the distributor points, thinking this was the problem. After having stood still for a while, the car seemed to run a bit better, but it still wasn’t 100% right. Nonetheless, we struggled on through the next couple of days.

“Should we give up and go home?” soon became the next question. By now, we were well into France, and we decided to forgo the Laon Festival and instead keep going towards our ultimate goal: the Nürburgring. Although the car was still struggling and often misfiring, we managed to complete a full lap of the circuit. The car received a great reception from all the other petrolheads who shared the track with us. It was a fantastic experience, to say the least!

The next day, we took another chance by heading to Cochem, a small village south of the circuit with a beautiful castle overlooking the area. We stayed at this stunning scenic destination along the Moselle River for a couple of days, where we adjusted and cleaned the points many times, still thinking this was the problem.

Unfortunately, the final day had arrived, and we were on our way back home when the car decided to cut out completely. Thankfully, it happened in a small town called Mayen, just west of Koblenz. I checked the points again, and to our surprise, there still was a spark. So, I removed the fuel pipe and noticed no fuel was coming through. I guess it must have been the fuel pump playing up all along. We had no other option than waiting for our breakdown recovery to turn up, but after 6 hours of a no-show, I decided to visit a local car spares establishment, where I ordered a new fuel pump for the following day. The chap behind the counter gave me the name and address of a local garage nearby who promised to get us going as soon as the pump turned up. We had no choice but to book another night at a local hotel.

As expected, the pump arrived the following day, and I took it to the local garage, hoping to get it fitted so we could finally be on our way home. As if we hadn’t had enough problems yet, it turned out to be the wrong pump! At least we got our money back from the shop, as it was their mistake. “No worries,” said the garage owner. “Come back tomorrow; I have a pump that will get you home.” Another night’s hotel.

When we returned to the garage the next day, everything was locked up, with no sign of life and a “Closed” sign on the door. We waited around, hoping the owner would arrive shortly, but he still hadn’t arrived two hours later. I could see my car on the ramp inside through the window, and to our surprise, we saw the owner hiding behind some tyres! Our first thought was that he was trying to steal or keep the CSL, as he knew what it was.

The police were called, and they duly phoned the building’s main owner, who soon arrived with his master key to open the garage. We found the mechanic ‘sleeping’ in the back room. It turns out he had some alcohol and family problems and was well-known for his strange behaviour. We finally got our car out, and the breakdown truck then took us to the local BMW dealer just outside the town. Why on earth did we have to find this dodgy garage in the whole of Germany?! At least the car was safe now, even if it still wasn’t mobile.

The dealership told us they would help us, but as it was late Friday afternoon by now and they couldn’t get the correct pump until Monday, we were left with another weekend of hotel nights in Mayen. Expenses were now piling up, and a 20-mile taxi ride to and from Koblenz to pick up a hire car significantly added to the bills.

Finally, Monday morning came, and we were at the BMW dealership first thing, hoping to get the car fixed. Shockingly enough, it wasn’t until 3 p.m. that they decided to fit the new pump! They were still working on the car at 4:30 p.m., so I entered the workshop and finished it myself, as they would close the shop and leave the car until the next day. The bill we received from the dealership was a disgrace! They had the audacity to charge us €500 for the labour of which I did the majority myself, and another €380 for an electric fuel pump that only costs £130! A complete rip-off, and shame on you, ‘Autohaus Kainz’!

The car started, but she still wasn’t running well. Not wanting to spend another day in Germany, we decided to risk it and head for the Tunnel, where we finally arrived by midnight. We had used a lot of fuel during the journey, as the car was over-fuelling badly. It was a huge relief when we popped out the other end of the tunnel on British soil, and we continued to push on, so much was the need to get home.

Upon reaching Oxford Services, a big traffic ramp knocked the exhaust pipe off the car. At 4:00 a.m., all I could do was crawl underneath, pull the damaged exhaust off, and put it in the boot. We filled up with fuel, and off we went again. We finally got home by 8 a.m., having travelled for 15 hours nonstop. But boy, were we glad to be home.

Our adventures weren’t over yet; by now, my wife and I were feeling awful. We called our doctor, who advised us to drive another 38 miles to the nearest hospital, as it would be quicker than waiting for an ambulance. After various tests, we were told we both had severe carbon monoxide poisoning and spent the next hour on pure oxygen. The doctor told us that if we’d gone to sleep as we were going to do, we most probably would not have woken up… How close and fragile life is.

The CSL is now at a trusted classic garage, getting some much-needed fettling.

The moral of the story: Use a trusted classic garage for any work you have done to your E9, and whatever you do, don’t break down in Mayen, or you will pay for it in more than one way!