10 days in France

[Sloth in a bowl]

So as the thread title suggests I have spent the last week and a half on the continent and took loads of pictures, some of them not even containing a car but before the glory of the full shizzle I will now present a few taster snaps.

 

Tanks for the memory

DSCF4919

by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

Which 3 companies combined to make this?

DSCF4857

by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

It's very French

DSCF4574

by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

Just in honour of the SVM

DSCF4527

by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

As ever this thread is dedicated to Flicker for hosting my very hit and miss attempts at photography and SWMBO for allowing shite cars to clutter up the holiday pictures.

[DSdriver]

I presume the steering wheel is from some rancid Citroen and not the armoured car?

[Sloth in a bowl]

I presume the steering wheel is from some rancid Citroen and not the armoured car?

 

Correct, though there is a lot of rancid French in the armoured car as well

[Sigmund Fraud]

Armoured car is a Peugeot P4 ! The French army wanted a French G-wagen, so Peugeot made them exactly that ! Engine is a Peugeot dizzler, and IIRC they were assembled by Panhard. Uber-shite !

[Sloth in a bowl]

Armoured car is a Peugeot P4 ! The French army wanted a French G-wagen, so Peugeot made them exactly that ! Engine is a Peugeot dizzler, and IIRC they were assembled by Panhard. Uber-shite !

 

 

You are far too good, G wagon chassis, Peugoet mechanical bits including a 90hp diesel from a 505 and the armoured bits are by Panhard.

[dollywobbler]

I detect some Ami 6 WIN in this thread.

[Sloth in a bowl]

Day 2 of the holiday on the Atlantic coast and we have all ready seen a load of 2CVs and Meharis

 

After a slightly disappointing wander around Le-Chateau D'Oleron and a close game of mini-golf (crazy golf in a proper language) we get back to the car park to see...

 

 

 

DSCF4190 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

DSCF4192 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

DSCF4196 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

A French Alpine club on a jolly, leaving their cars nicely lined up for a few pictures.

[mat_the_cat]

So as the thread title suggests I have spent the last week and a half on the continent and took loads of pictures, some of them not even containing a car but before the glory of the full shizzle I will now present a few taster snaps.

 

Tanks for the memory

 

Saumur? One of my favourite areas in France.

[Sloth in a bowl]

Over the next few days, we saw lots of top quality chod but usually when I was driving so no camera in hand.

 

several AMIs were seen in the wild of which this out of focus job is the only picture

DSCF4268 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

 

Does anybody else cringe at the memory of Rapido on TV and wonder where that name went?

DSCF4294 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

 

A fantastic museum in Rochefort had a few bits from old garages

DSCF4343 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

 

Citroen part numbers required (note, may not still be available in stock)

DSCF4356 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

 

And moderately gutted that I diddn't get a better shot of this Mazda 323.

DSCF4412 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

More soon

[Sloth in a bowl]

Saumur? One of my favourite areas in France.

 

Yes and a bit of a surprise for us.

[mat_the_cat]

Surprise...in what way?

 

This was the one that really made me think when I went round the tank museum - very sobering to see. You'd think being inside that much steel plate would be a safe place to be

 

 

 

[Forty-two]

Visited France earlier this year, there is so much chod on the roads it's great!

[DSdriver]

This thread just gets better and betterer.

[Sloth in a bowl]

Surprise...in what way?

 

 

 

We rented a Gite (french holiday cottage) in Pont-l'Abbé-d'Arnoult for a week and based on the cheaper ferry times of our preferred route (overnight Portsmouth to San-Marlo) we had a few nights to kill so booked into a hotel at Angers without really looking too hard at what was about. We thought the tank museum would have a couple of dozen vehicles and not the largest working retired tank collection in the world.

[Sloth in a bowl]

Take a random French town and visit it for a day, say Saint-Jean-d'Angély

Take random pictures and see what you get...

 

Loads of these, but not all have a tiger on the bonnet

DSCF4475 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

An slightly choddy Peugeot

DSCF4476 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

turns out to be Autoshite gold

DSCF4477 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

the sort of line-up in a carpark that you don't see in the UK anymore

DSCF4478 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

 

Even the local museum had an old Citroen of rather fantastic engineering

DSCF4531 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

 

With some techy details

DSCF4537 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

 

And finally another picture of the Volvo

DSCF4528 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

[mat_the_cat]

Stop it! This thread, and browsing through holiday photos to find the tank picture are giving me withdrawal symptoms.

 

I know it's not as idyllic as holiday memories make you think, but we are thinking of the possibility of moving there at some point in life. In the meantime I'll just try and buy more French cars...

[Sloth in a bowl]

The small town in which we stayed was Pont-l'Abbé-d'Arnoult and at dusk one day we went for a walk looking for the local windmills (or their remains), this is what we saw.

 

Fiat Panda 4x4

DSCF4542 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

Peugeot 303?

DSCF4543 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

More detail

DSCF4544 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

DSCF4546 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

 

A local shittist with his hoard

DSCF4550 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

And what is this piece of wonder?

DSCF4558 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

DSCF4560 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

a for those like me that didn't have a clue, here is the answer

DSCF4559 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

Who would have a shitty badge like this on their car?

DSCF4562 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

The owner of this Renault 21, that's who

DSCF4561 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

Just to show that the French have no taste either

DSCF4566 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

 

An finally another BX

DSCF4568 by Sloth in a bowl, on Flickr

[Lord Sterling]

 

I want to go back to France

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

nuts to the bx there a nice ph2 19 next to it!

[oman5]

That yellow van looks like the bastard offspring of a spacevan and a j4. Lovely!

[purplebargeken]

I loved France. I haven't actually ever felt so relaxed as when at the house in France.

 

Living in France is very ok provided you do the following:

 

Learn a bit of the language. They love you for trying, even if you mangle it slightly.

Join the goings on in the village, commune, town. It makes a difference and will improve the first point.

Befriend the local Maire, he or she is important. Very important.

Get used to the fact that everything comes to a grinding halt in August when the country goes on holiday

Nothing happens quickly.

Get used to the French love of bureaucracy - it is frankly mindblowing. 

Realise that everything stops for the 2 hour lunchbreak.

Use the local artisans for work on the house. Getting stuff done on the 'black' is frowned upon.

Surveys are not common, just get a good local builder to look over the place. Make sure all the insect certs are there. 

Get used to a fosse septique.

Befriend the local farmer for fresh milk/firewood if you have a wood burning fire.

 

I would go back in a heart beat, unfortunately Mrs PBK will never do so again.

 

I love and miss the place very much indeed.  

Get used to seeing actually stars in the sky, the peace, mostly friendly people. Good food and drink. 

[Mr Livered]

Why would Mrs PBK not be up for it?

 

In our case too, Mrs Livered would most likely be unwilling to go if it came to it, despite coming from France originally.

[Sigmund Fraud]

This thread keeps getting better and better... That Citroen-Kegresse is brilliant, in the mid-20s they drove them all the way up to Tibet to demonstrate just how good they were ! I somehow can't see them repeating this with a C4 Cack-tus...

[mat_the_cat]

Around 10 years ago there was a great engine museum not far from the tanks, with a selection ranging from those single cylinder jobbies you see put-putting away at every show, to huge industrial engines right though to 90s car stuff. Iceberg V8 anyone?

The first time we visited we found it by chance around 10 minutes before closing, and it was deserted. Expected to be told it was too late to start a visit, we were most surprised to be given an hour+ guided tour by the owners, which included starting up all the engines (including an unsilenced Jag XK ) that could be run. Sadly they spoke no English, but what they lacked in language they more than made up for in enthusiasm!