Summer drives to show off your classic: Europe edition

There are summer drives, and then there are the ones that feel like they require proper luggage.

Not a carrier bag in the boot and a vague hope that the weather holds, but a soft leather weekend bag, sunglasses you didn’t buy at a petrol station, and a car that looks entirely at home outside a grand hotel with a gravel driveway and a discreetly terrifying room rate.

Europe was made for grand touring. Or, more accurately, grand touring was made for Europe: mountain passes, lakeside roads, old towns, coastal routes and borders that make every journey feel slightly more significant than a run to the shops.

If you’re lucky enough to own a classic that deserves a proper continental outing, these are the routes that make the whole thing feel like an event.

If there’s one European drive that belongs on a classic owner’s list, it’s the Mille Miglia route. The original race ran from Brescia to Rome and back again, crossing Italy in a great, romantic sweep of noise, dust, speed and mild lunacy.

Obviously, we are not suggesting you attempt it in the spirit of Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson in 1955, mostly because modern traffic, speed limits and self-preservation have all become rather more fashionable since then. But following parts of the route at a civilised pace is still a wonderful way to connect with one of motoring’s great stories.

Brescia gives you the historic starting point, while roads through Tuscany and Umbria provide the sort of scenery that makes even a brief stop feel cinematic. This is Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati and Ferrari territory, though a Jaguar XK or Aston Martin DB would hardly look out of place.

The trick is not to treat it as a race. Treat it as a rolling pilgrimage, preferably with lunch.

The Route Napoléon has a rather more dramatic backstory than most scenic drives. It broadly follows the path taken by Napoleon in 1815 after escaping exile on Elba and heading north to reclaim power, which is quite a lot of historical baggage for a road that also happens to be enormous fun in a classic GT.

Running from the Côte d’Azur towards Grenoble, the route climbs away from the Mediterranean and into more serious country, with sweeping bends, mountain views and enough changes in rhythm to keep both driver and car properly engaged.

It suits the sort of classic that can cover ground elegantly rather than aggressively: a Mercedes Pagoda, Aston Martin DB6, Ferrari 330 GT or Bentley Continental. Something with long legs and good manners, ideally.

There’s a pleasing absurdity to following Napoleon’s route in a grand tourer with leather seats and carefully packed overnight luggage. He had an army. You have a tool roll and a hotel reservation. Much more civilised.

Some drives feel famous before you’ve even arrived. Switzerland’s great Alpine passes – Furka, Grimsel, Gotthard and their neighbours – belong firmly in that category.

The Furka Pass, in particular, carries a certain cinematic charge thanks to Goldfinger, where the Aston Martin DB5 looked so perfectly at home that Switzerland might as well have added it to the national flag. The roads are dramatic without being crude: high stone walls, tight climbs, sudden views, and lakes appearing below as if someone has arranged the landscape purely for your benefit.

This is classic GT heaven, but it does ask for a little respect. Older brakes, cooling systems and clutches may have opinions about repeated climbs and descents, and those opinions may not always be expressed politely.

Still, in the right car and at the right time of day, few places feel more rewarding. A 911, E-Type, DB5, Mercedes SL or Ferrari Daytona all make sense here. So does stopping regularly and pretending it’s for the view rather than mechanical sympathy.

The Stelvio Pass gets most of the headlines, partly because it looks spectacular from above and partly because motoring television has trained us to recognise it like an old celebrity. But for a more rounded summer drive, the Dolomites may be the better choice.

The scenery is less predictable and, arguably, more beautiful. Pale rock towers rise above green valleys, villages appear suddenly around bends, and the roads combine proper driving interest with the feeling that you are in a very tasteful 1960s travel poster.

Routes around Cortina d’Ampezzo, the Sella Pass and the Gardena Pass offer enough drama without always feeling like a queue for the same photograph. They work especially well in smaller, agile classics: a Lancia Fulvia, Alfa Romeo GTV, Porsche 911, Dino or BMW 3.0 CS.

There’s also something nicely appropriate about driving an Italian classic here. The car may be temperamental, the road may be demanding, and the espresso will almost certainly be excellent. That feels like a fair arrangement.

Not every great classic drive needs to be about apexes and altitude. Sometimes the pleasure is in the rhythm of the journey, the heat in the air, and the quiet satisfaction of arriving somewhere that looks better because your car is parked outside it.

A route from the Côte d’Azur into Provence gives you exactly that. Start near Nice, Cannes or Antibes, then head inland towards hilltop villages, vineyards and lavender country. The pace is more relaxed, the scenery softer, and the whole thing suits convertibles and elegant GTs rather beautifully.

This is Mercedes 280 SL Pagoda territory. Alfa Spider territory. Ferrari 250 or 275 daydream territory, if one is feeling brave with both mileage and insurance documentation. A Corniche would also make a strong case for itself, ideally with no sense of urgency whatsoever.

There will be traffic in summer, of course. There always is. But on this sort of route, crawling through a village square in something immaculate is not necessarily a hardship. In fact, one suspects it may be part of the point.

For a change of mood, the Black Forest High Road offers something more disciplined. Less Riviera glamour, more smooth tarmac, dense forest and the sense that everything has been engineered to within an inch of its life.

The Schwarzwaldhochstrasse runs through one of Germany’s most atmospheric regions, with sweeping sections, tidy villages and views that open out just when you’ve settled into the rhythm. It feels especially right for German classics: Porsche 356 or early 911, Mercedes 280 SE, BMW 2002, 3.0 CS or even an Audi Quattro if you want something with a bit more attitude.

There’s a satisfying neatness to driving a well-kept German classic on roads that seem to understand it. Nothing too flashy, nothing too chaotic, just a well-sorted car doing exactly what it was built to do.

Which, when you think about it, is showing off of the highest order. Just with better manners.

The best European summer drives aren’t about proving anything. They’re about putting the right car on the right road and letting the journey do the showing off for you.