Questi giorni quando.....

.....vieni il belle sole - Couple of things to note here: that is without doubt the best high speed trailer I've ever had - mind you on the way back from Sterling this day, third lane 90 on the M6 earned me some bonus points ! On arriving to pick the Miura up we were met by the sound of a smoke alarm going off in the house - no answer at the door and a peek through the letter box revealed the cause. The car vendor was face down in a puddle of special brew on the door mat and there was a smouldering 6 inch hole in the carpet producing a very un-pleasant cloud of smoke where his fag had fallen from his burnt fingers. Quick soak from the garden hose through the letter box woke him up and put out the fire. I have vague memories of taking him and his girlfriend (who looked remarkably like Mini the Minx) for a curry after loading up, they travelled in the back of the pick-up with a bag full of Special Brew. On days like these - eh.

Burnt Sienna

It all happened VERY quickly after this moment! No3 in the CX archive (Red 22 Saloon). Coming back from collecting a new Tigre engine for the Jungman in Albacette, I found a handful of 12g shells amongst the debris in the foot well, thinking this might cause a scrape at the next border post it was deemed wise to dispose of them. Not wanting to waste the cordite and pass up the oppotunity of a 100mph whoosh ............. The car actually filled with smoke in a split second and the deluxe velour roof lining caught fire like gasoline vapour, taking most of my hair with it. Needless to say the Spanish motorway police were very cool about the whole incident. Fantastic skid marks (not just mine) which the police wouldn't let me photograph - sorry.

Max torque.............

........from zero revs. Just in case you weren't sure - getting your hands on a flat torque curve is a good thing. Being a novice I was sadly denied the opportunity of hauling some rolling stock to fully appreciate the joy of steam power on this occasion - but frankly, load or not, winding this thing up was a hoot. When you get anywhere near a chance to have a go, fight your way over the push-chairs and get to the front of the queue regardless.

La Belle France

A little more revealing for those with a strong enough constitution. Twin cam side-valve, twin plugs, twin ignition. Outboard of the cam drives, and gear driven also, are the twin output shafts, one driving the coolant pump and the other driving the beautiful Scintilla magneto. There is a secondary coil ignition system running a second set of plugs, switchable to either or both. Unit head/barrels cast in pairs are the order of the day here. The strength of the LaFrance engine design is in simple solid engineering, as a result these run for ever. (84 yrs so far). A few guest appearences here: nice pair of Tilley lamps and a cute little British Anzani outboard hiding in the shadows, and of course the Matchless G3 nosing in.

On Safari

A tow hitch has proved useful more than once. Leaving The Dolphin Hotel in Gt Yarmouth early one morning I moved off without waitng for the suspension to rise and took 40 foot of railings with me, having snuggly parked the ball hitch in the fence the night before. The incident depicted here was the result of poor hand-brake adjustment, a domino effect resulted in the Fiesta being written off (see the misaligned door), the Astra van behind that badly hurt and the Balisha beacon behind that taking a lie down - three down and hardly a scratch ! This particular CX (number 4 of 5) was a diesel (filler cap patina), very sluggish but a tough old bruiser and certainly did some damage over the years.

Up In Smoke

I may well have been watching a bit of Cheach & Chong when exploding car noises caused me to stick my head out of the window and see my beloved Ami Super going up. Of the 1/2 dozen Amis in the archive, at least 2 were Supers. Fantastic 1015cc of stealth rocket. I reckon to have posted some of my best A-B times in this great little car. Inboard discs were impossible to keep cool and after a hectic few miles could actually boil the fluid and render themselves all but useless. Brake fire was the suspected cause of this disaster. Ooh - is that a bit of Volvo C202 action going on in the background - great truck - swimmer too.

Pallasade

Steady as she goes. So comfortable was the old CX that minor off road excursions generally went un-noticed. Unfortunately this resulted in a write off (bent chasis,as demonstrated by the cracked windscreen). This is only a part of the CX archive, most of them ended up poorly but carry a good tale.