Motorail and Maserati alarms......Oh dear...

[ratbag]

Don’t laugh please....
Put the GT on Dutch Motorail last week (it was a bit of a tight fit) down to Italy as I couldn’t be bothered to drone down the autoroutes all day again….
As I boarded the car onto the train, the loader told me not to put the alarm on- me thinking I knew better turned off the “anti lift” and “movement sensor” bits of the alarm and left the alarm set.

Nice trip down, dinner and a nice bottle of wine in the restaurant car going down the Rhine valley, good nights sleep in a private cabin ,arrived to a beautiful day in Italy, got on the train wagon to disembark, the car was completely dead………. Clearly the alarm had been awakening Swiss, German, and Italian peasants all the way down for 800 miles…..

The GT was so dead I struggled even to open the door to get in. At this point there were 25 frustrated drivers behind me in their Porsches, Morgans, TR6’s and assorted classics on the rail wagon who were going nowhere with a fat dead silver GT going nowhere fast and blocking their exit from the train….….
Tried to put it into neutral so we could push it off…nope, not without power.

Have to open the boot and jump start it. Nope. Can’t open the boot without power.Grovel around on the floor for the emergency boot release and eventually get it open. Ok now I can borrow some jump leads off the Porsche two cars down and jump it off the car behind me…nope car behind is an MR2 and also has a battery in the boot and the jump leads won’t reach…


By now an assortment of people had gathered on the platform (including my wife who pretended not to know me) to watch the “stupid rich Englishman” and procede to take photos, laugh, and shout “helpful” advice…..
By now I had really no idea how I was going to get my car and 25 others off the train and I was in panic mode….eventually a jumper box was found by a angry Italian train man who was clearly shouting at me in Italain how stupid I was setting the alarm (OK OK I get it )

The car fired up, and the waiting drivers cheered and clapped and fired up their engines. Lots of warning lights were on, including “Steering failure” and “GO TO DEALER”.

Put it into gear- electric handbrake will not come off, tried everything to no avail- by now the drivers behind wondered why the Maserati had finally started but was not moving…in desperation I pitted 405 bhp against the handbrake and JUST managed to crawl off the train with the handbrake fully on….RELIEF and hide around corner.

Handbrake suddenly comes off, car will soon charge up, off we go, stop for petrol, fuel flap won’t open, panic mode again, electrics are still messed up, if I turn it off to reset everything will it restart?

It did and everything back to normal…great tour of the lake Maggiore, Lugano and Como,….coming back the German Motorail train broke down in the middle of Germany (terminally) at 6am, we were offloaded on a siding in the middle of nowhere, and told to make our own way 400 miles to Calais…..

Was it all worth it? Well the touring bit was great in the middle……

 

[Parisien]

RB...it could happen to the best of us, don't worry about it, glad it eventually worked out and thanks for sharing!


P

 

[Felonious Crud]

Quite an adventure, ratbag! I'm humbled that you did all the same things I would have done.. which clearly wasnt quite right. How do you not set the alarm?

Also interested to know what you thought of the train experience? Have thought about it but confesss to having been put off by the cost / fear of the unknown / prospect of a damaged car (although I think it was the old French motorail with the grim reputation?). Any and all comments and experiences welcomed.

 

[Emtee]

Spooky timing. I spoke to someone else just today who had exactly this same issue, though on a ferry rather than a train.

 

[CatmanV2]

All's well that ends well

C

 

[TridentTested]

Hilarious. This really made me laugh.

Having owned an Alfa Selespeed which used to stall at random, locked in gear and immovable, I know that feeling of panic and hopelessness while blocking a busy London junction at a peak Saturday morning busy period, trying to explain to irate drivers why nothing is happening while waiting for a battery reset.

How much did the train cost?

 

[2b1ask1]

A great read Ratbag thanks

 

[TridentTested]

Spooky timing. I spoke to someone else just today who had exactly this same issue, though on a ferry rather than a train.

I always lock the QP when on ferries with the key rather than the remote. It seems to work, I haven't had the 'alarm has sounded' indicator nor a flat battery yet.

 

[safrane]

French motor rail is dire and the carriage s are from the 80's...and I think that's when they were last cleaned too.

Hope the one you were on was better as I need to fly my other half down as she will not sit still for a drive to Nice again...still the solo drive is a real pleasur.

 

[alfettafan]

Happened to a friend of mine n a ferry with an Accord Type R - dead as a doughnut in the morning !! In the past I have just taken the valuables out of the car and left it unlocked...

 

[Andyk]

Enjoyed reading that ratbag..Thanks for sharing..A bit of an adventure...Must say though if the GT was mine I would have had to drive it down as its the sort of trip it was born to do. Car looks great.

 

[Parisien]

As for the NI reg plate........


P

 

[bigbob]

I really respect your openness so thank you. I have to go on a long ferry crossing this year so useful stuff!