collection mission to SPAIN!!!! COMPLETED IT M8

[dollywobbler]

3 hours ago, Mr_Bo11ox said:

good intel. I did wonder about the ferry and whether maybe a couple of hours of chilling and a plate of expensive fried food might be a good input into the equation.

The one time I did over 700 miles in a day in the 2CV, dinner on the ferry worked very well indeed. Worth looking at any other crossings? Dieppe to Newhaven saves a chunk of misery either side of the channel. 

[wuvvum]

2 hours ago, dean36014 said:

Last year I booked tickets to see a band in Rouen. Now when my late partner was alive I did many drives to  Versailles in my bx. So I confidently booked a room in a hotel in Rouen for 4 nights and headed over in the c15 van. Imagine my surprise to discover that there was now a low emission zone in Rouen and my van wasn't compliant, not did I have a sticker to display in the windscreen. So I had to dump the van a 2km walk away from the hotel and I'm partially disabled. I subsequently discovered that a, if I'd had a sticker I could have used an exemption by displaying my disabled badge, and b, at the time they hadn't yet put the cameras up to enforce it. I recovered the van the next day and dumped it in the underground hotel carpark. Band was great though, got to be an aging rocker again and saw Ghost( the band , not the film).

Do the cameras pick up UK-registered cars, and if so do they bother trying to enforce fines post-Brexit?

[High Jetter]

19 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

The one time I did over 700 miles in a day in the 2CV, dinner on the ferry worked very well indeed. Worth looking at any other crossings? Dieppe to Newhaven saves a chunk of misery either side of the channel. 

Except for Newhaven, obs 🤣

[dean36014]

29 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Do the cameras pick up UK-registered cars, and if so do they bother trying to enforce fines post-Brexit?

Well I did get a speeding fine for going 8km's over whilst I was out there. I can also say that my partner when she came over to the UK in her french registered bx got UK speeding fine through the post. Unfortunately we discovered these when we cleared her apartment when she passed away. She'd just ignored them and nothing happened.

[jim89]

49 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

The one time I did over 700 miles in a day in the 2CV, dinner on the ferry worked very well indeed. Worth looking at any other crossings? Dieppe to Newhaven saves a chunk of misery either side of the channel. 

Did that 700 include a St Malo - Portsmouth ferry per chance? 🙂

[bangernomics]

That’s the best crossing ever.

Also @Mr_Bo11ox I had tools taken off me whilst going through security in France so make sure you’re ok to take them if carry on. Hold would’ve been fine and they posted them back to the FR house for €12 but was a pita all the same.


Gzongenflatch

[lesapandre]

50 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Do the cameras pick up UK-registered cars, and if so do they bother trying to enforce fines post-Brexit?

Getting a vignette is straightforward and yes they do cover foreign vehicles:

https://www.certificat-air.gouv.fr/

Notwithstanding any postal fines there is the possibility of on-the-spot enforcement.

Areas covered are in the interactive map above - it really is a very few traffic hotspots which are easily avoided if driving a non-compliant vehicle.

[Rust Collector]

20 minutes ago, dean36014 said:

Well I did get a speeding fine for going 8km's over whilst I was out there. I can also say that my partner when she came over to the UK in her french registered bx got UK speeding fine through the post. Unfortunately we discovered these when we cleared her apartment when she passed away. She'd just ignored them and nothing happened.

I think in recent years we’ve dumped the reciprocity on speeding fines. I’ve accidentally barrelled through several speed cameras in France over the last few years and I’ve never received a souvenir photo despite seeing the flashes.

[lesapandre]

20 minutes ago, jim89 said:

Did that 700 include a St Malo - Portsmouth ferry per chance? 🙂

I'm assuming those were road miles.

[lesapandre]

19 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

I think in recent years we’ve dumped the reciprocity on speeding fines. I’ve accidentally barrelled through several speed cameras in France over the last few years and I’ve never received a souvenir photo despite seeing the flashes.

The reciprocity does not seem to have been reinstated however if you take the same registration number car back and are stopped again the previous speeding offence may be enforced.

It's easier just to keep to the speed limits - motorways are a sensible 80mph. It's all very well signposted.

The reason for all this is that the death toll per km is very high in France and currently a very hot issue indeed.

[dollywobbler]

43 minutes ago, jim89 said:

Did that 700 include a St Malo - Portsmouth ferry per chance? 🙂

Nope. Dover Calais. We started off in southern France. Filled up in four different countries that day.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

RESTECP

[wuvvum]

31 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

I think in recent years we’ve dumped the reciprocity on speeding fines. I’ve accidentally barrelled through several speed cameras in France over the last few years and I’ve never received a souvenir photo despite seeing the flashes.

There you go.  #BREXITBENEFIT.  Put that in your pipe and smoke it remoaners.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

OH YEAH GREAT NEWS FOR THE ELITE/PEOPLE WITH  DECENT CARS, WHAT ABOUT US REMOANERS WHO DRIVE CARS THAT ARE SHIT SLOW??? UNFAIR etc etc

[Pieman]

2 hours ago, jim89 said:

You sound like the gendarme from allo allo 😅 crabtree?

 

[dean36014]

47 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

I think in recent years we’ve dumped the reciprocity on speeding fines. I’ve accidentally barrelled through several speed cameras in France over the last few years and I’ve never received a souvenir photo despite seeing the flashes.

This was a year ago, so definitely after Brexit. 

[mk2_craig]

[dean36014]

Just now, mk2_craig said:

Oh dear,  I'm sure Mr Bollox doesn't want Brexit crap cluttering up his thread. It's happened, accept it.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

OK I've just booked a refundable chunnel crossing. £190!!!!! It had better be a slick operation or I'll pull the choke out and sit idling in the train till everyone passes out as a protest.

[AnthonyG]

‘Get this train moving RIGHT NOW or I am revving this Simca’

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Do you know what it is, now its getting close I am seriously starting to shit myself about this mission. I have sat for months if not years looking at the gems for sale on Wallapop & Leboncoin, spending hours at my desk daydreaming about flying out and meandering home in some interesting new Euro heap. FINALLY I have decided to actually do it!!!!! Its really happening!!! And yet now its happening I am literally filling my kegs in terror.

Nothings gone wrong so far, costs are more or less under control, theres nothing about the car that's setting my spidey senses off (every time I look at it I think it looks ace) the train strike situation is manageable, no language worries (my Spanish isn't great but the seller is French so I should be able to rattle away to him OK), think I'm more or less legal,  I honestly think I've done or am doing everything correctly, so why am I shitting myself? I should be shitting myself with excitement not terror. I guess thats just 'getting older' and feeling more risk averse. Maybe.

Perhaps when I get behind the wheel of the Simca and can see for myself that the temp gauge is stable and the clutch doesnt slip I'll relax into it, like I used to do when I was doing an A-frame mission and I finally got hooked up and rolling and found it was all absolutely fine (again). I'll be well annoyed if I've put myself to all this effort and I cant even relax enough to enjoy it. We'll see!!! No backing out now!!!!

[Lord Sterling]

You'll be fine. Sounds like you've got everything planned. A route, a couple of hotels and a flying visit to Mother_Bollouxe in quelque part en France.

IIt's probably an age thing, certainly has been with me as I'm more cautious than I used to be. The only issue I ran into was getting in Dunkirk and they'd shut off the main route into the boat terminal, the diversion wasn't very well sign posted but I managed to get to the terminal in plenty of time.

Similarly in the last couple of years of driving into Brussels my usual everyday cars (Peugeot and Jaguar) have either broken down or more recently with the Jag got smashed up. So I've had to make some last minute hurried changes. Honestly, things just seems so much more simpler over the water. I've now registered 3 cars for use in Brussels, it takes literally 5 mins to do (so long as your car is post 2001 petrol and you have a V5 handy)

You'll probably have more issue coming back into the UK.

[cafehag]

Chodspeed!

There's many on here  behind you on this mission.

 

[bigstraight6]

I’m sure it will be fine MrB, it’s a brave thing going solo though, safe journey…

[Frogchod]

Be aware that there are a few public holidays this month. 

Next Wednesday and Thursday France will be more closed than usual. 

19/20th are also holidays. 

We take our holidays seriously here, very few, if any, shops will be open. 

As it should be 😁

Hammers and spanners here in Normandy if needed. A long way off your course though... 

[Mr_Bo11ox]

MINOR SETBACK, Chased up our man selling the Simca doors yesterday, warning that I was heading his way 1 week from now. Heard nowt so i gave him a prod this morning. "Oh sorry my mate has sold all the Simca parts, sorry about that, have a good weekend". Fucking typical. I did arrange with him a while ago what I was doing. I should have tried to pay a deposit I suppose, but his comms skills were pretty dreadful and I thought it might turn into a big palaver so I didn't.

Anyway, HAIRY BOLLOCKS. thats a real pisser as I really want to pick up a usable pair of rear doors (or at the very least a LH rear door) - I don't want to get into repairing my rusty door as it'll take me ages. I just wanna get another door, do any repairs on it that it needs, paint it and slap it on so that the car stays usable throughout.

There are a few other doors on there, e.g.:

https://www.leboncoin.fr/ad/equipement_auto/2025437008

This one's not a massive diversion but its €70 for one door so much more expensive than the last lot (I'd still pay it like), also its got the earlier door handle so I'd have to modify it by grafting in the door handle area from mine, again doable, but more work. Seems like my best fallback option.

 

https://www.leboncoin.fr/ad/equipement_auto/2315154564

Heres a brand spanker for €80, seems a bargain but it would easy add a couple of hours of driving to my Friday collecting this which I can't really afford TBH

https://www.leboncoin.fr/ad/equipement_auto/2135571878

This seems to be some sort of old car breakers yard, its about an hour from Mutha Bo11ox so again doable but I was hoping to have a day off driving on the Saturday, also the door looks a bit damaged although i could probably fettle it after a fashion as long as its not rotten. Might give these lot a ring tomorrow and see what the crack is as theyre advertising 2 simcas for breaking.

[timolloyd]

Maybe go the whole hog and a-frame a complete car home?

[egg]

Simca specialist West of Le Mans?

https://www.garageclement.fr/

catalogue here for Simca 1100

https://www.garageclement.fr/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-02-CATALOGUE-SIMCA-1100-ET-RANCHO.pdf 

[sdkrc]

I don't want to sound like a fanny here but what about repairing the door? @Jikovron isn't too far from you going by another thread.

[garethj]

Anxiety is normal, as you get older you’ve just seen more stuff turn to ratshit and I think we’re all aware of the 10,000 ways this can go wrong.

You can still do it though, and the feeling when you’ve done it will be even bigger