Happy christmas/New year all!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Hey gang hows it going?

 

I'm back at my computer having had a bloody marvellous xmas break at Mutha_Bo11ox's house in the lovely Loire region of france. Whats shite about that? Well 1) the travel, 1500 miles in a week in Mrs_Bol's X-reg astra is not a lot of fun but you have to hand it to this car. It is TOTALLY reliable, economical, has a great stereo and it tells you what the temperature is outside which is kind. Its now done about 130,000 miles and has only ever had a spanner on it once when the cam belt tensioner let go due to a total lack of servicing, no serious harm done then though fortunately.

 

 

Only thing which I can diss on it is the heater is a bit piss poor.

 

What other shite content? The reading:

 

I bought this book a year ago then forgot to read it. Well I have read it now. Its OK but not amazing frankly. Its the stories of Henry Ford II, Lee iacocca, Soichiro Honda, Ferdinand Piech, Eberhard von Kuenheim (BMW) and Bob Lutz. Its OK but a bit superficial to be honest. I have already red the story of ford in Robert laceys book 'FORD' which I cannot reccomend highly enough, its totally amazing: I defy you not to be amazed by the stuff old henry ford 1 got up to. Brilliant!

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ford-Men-Machine-Robert-Lacey/dp/0316511668/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230723662&sr=1-1

 

By reading this 'six men' book I found Ferdinand Piech has written an autobiography, which must make for an awesome read. Sadly it only seems to be available in German, I cant find a copy in english anywhere. I might get a german copy of it and see where I get to with it.

 

Now what about some spots? Here are some dlieght sfrom the village near to where mutha_Bol is located.

 

This simca 1301 ia parked up in the local Opel dealer

 

As is this Opel Kadett city, would love to scrub all the moss of it.

 

the village contains this awesome abandoned garage which has not been touched in the 8 years I have known it.

 

Inside is any amount of worthless crap and this simca 1100, which looks mint except that its front inner wings have been chopped off at the bulkhead:

 

Now then going into the village, the seasoned shiter cannot fail to spot a pug 204 diesel estate on the right.

This used to be pretty tidy, bit past in now though. The house where it is looks abandoned, but has a big fresh-looking wood pile out the back. You can see some other shite from the road so I went in to have a look. Heres the full SP:

 

Battered 404 pick-up, I would LOVE one of these.

 

Sad Renna 4CV:

 

More 404's, one is a cabriolet! Its totally goosed like.

 

Another 204 wagon.

 

On the site there are a couple of rickety tin sheds, I boshed my camera through the gaps and took a shot:

Can you tell what it is yet?

 

Renner 4 innit.

 

Whats that one?

 

Not sure, is that a model of Simca?

 

Anyway there was one other shed but I didnt investigate it for some reason. I have a load of other spots which I will bosh up soon.

[Torsten2001]

I am buying that book now, ta for the heads up!I love rural France, those spots are amazing, I think I'll take the bike and do a tat spot around the country in the summer if I'm not bankrupt!

[Heep]

Great spots! Sounds like a good time was had over the holidays. Love the Kadett!BTW, what's so bad about those Astras? I've always thought they were a decent looking rig, especially the coupé and cabrio. I suppose living where they are not sold helps me avoid any stigma about them though.

[Guest]

Those MK4 Astras are nice enough cars, I like them in 3-door povvo-spec form in white with steels, great for pretending to be an unmarked police panda car. I prefer them to the current one by far, Vauxhall had a pretty nice range around then.Hope you get some of the rest of your fleet sorted out, particularly looking forward to the lovely Mazda 929 4-door hardtop.

[reallyloud]

I love that garage. I can imagine the cantankerous men in beards, smoking gitannes and the constant shoulder shrugging customer service when someone turns up in a Kia pride. I'd be most happy there with that selection of cars, particularly that Simca 1301. I thought that 30's thing in the lock up might be a Simca 5 but they have a rounded front grill - like a fiat topolino. Either way top effort.

[Mr Lobster]

Lovely stuff, rural France is great. I'd love a big old house with plenty of land to fill with rotting shite. That'd make me very happy indeed Think the last one is a Simca 5 ? They did car and van version if i remember correctly.

[michiel]

Great pics, Super 5 sounds like a Simca to me too. Must own a 4CV some time in the future, love them!

[pogweasel]

Excellent spots!Wonderfully 'French'. "Has it stopped working? Oh, I'll just leave it here then for a bit."Don't really get that sort of thing here now, unless it's remote parts of the country unfettered by barrat houses and silver audis. Amazing that you managed to drive that Astra 1500 miles without it breaking down or you going totally mental In my experience they are truly the automotive PITS. Dynamically about a decade behind the equivalent Focus or Civic. I hated every mile of the 20k or so I did in mine last year and am pleased now that I now longer have to endure it's discomfort (I always got either backache or armache or both), it's dangerous E-Pas steering that seemingly can't tell the difference between a 20mph roundabout and a 60mph country lane bless, it's woeful terrible heater, or it's amazing ability to leave me stranded at the roadside awaiting the RAC. Summary: Cack. I'll agree the external thermometer is handy (though depressing when it reads -3 and you have to get out of the vehicle to work in some windswept field), but that's not very innovative, my 20 yr old BMW has the same feature.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Heyyyyy, have a few more spots. I got a swish new camera off Santa so obv went out testing it.

 

This was in the supermarket car park, GR8 4 BUYIN UR TURKI

 

I used the 'ULTIMATE MEGA ZOOM POWER 500' setting on the camera for capturing this GSA.

 

And this tidy Monza at a local Peugeot dealer:

 

And also this fugly UMM jeep/chicken shed hybrid.

 

A nearby garage had these two not-really-shite items:

 

UK plates, tax disc and steering wheel.

 

Parp parp!

 

Hey whats that over there?

I'll tell you in a bit.

[reallyloud]

c'est une quatre zero trois!

[VWPowered]

gotta love france eh

[bigstraight6]

Top kwality rustic France spottage overload! that derelict garage is just superb, looks to be a spiritual home for all of us

[michiel]

Pretty good composition, that last pic!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

c'est une quatre zero trois!

IL A RAISON:

 

 

 

This was just sat at the edge of a field near a river! There was a sign saying the land it was on was secured with 'traps' but I couldnt see any so I went for a squizz. The insurance vignette said it was last on the road in 1990 but it cant have been here more than a year or two. The tyres were flat and rotten but there were no rust holes, no broken windows and the keys were in the ignition! I was very tempted to go knocking on doors but luckily I resisted.

 

Next, this line-up of shite outside another garage:

 

 

The renner 4 and the civic deserve closer inspection:

 

No prices on these, dunno what the story was with 'em. I would have happliy a-framed em home.

 

Finally, this honey, of which I get a pic every time I go visiting:

 

 

about 5 years ago this was intact with no broken windows, the worst of it was the bash on the front panel. Now its totally fooked as you see. Shame as these things make serious 5-figure coin when in good nick. I'd love to know whats in the little shed behind it.

 

I've got some older photos of it somewhere, i'll try and dig em out.

[retrogeezer]

Nice pics, looks a cool place to hang out at xmas or any other time come to that!Happy New Year to you too Mr B.

[seth]

New camera works well You Ma's local garage looks a great place! Seems they just bought a new petrol pump each time the old one stopped working and stuck it along side.That last one is a Lancia Flaminia or am I completely wrong?

[Mike D]

Some cracking spots there Mr. B, France looks a fine place for shite. Happy New year and all that gubbins too

[reallyloud]

That last one is a Lancia Flaminia or am I completely wrong?

Same designer who did it. Pininfarina Pug 404 coupe - file under the BMC farina, Fiat and Lancia folders. I don't think the UK got the coupes here, but I might be wrong. I guess the volume of dumped shite scattered across France is relative to the size of the place and the sensible price of land. I still find it amazing that that you see cars over 40 years old still left aside to rot out there.