Boys + $Toys

[ecureilx]

...

Not a Citreon but another French run about ..

Took my uncle's tea estate run about R5, and while shifting gear the gear handle just came out ... just like that ..

I just had to carefully keep driving without changing gear, and made a large u turn in a grassy patch and drove back to the bungalow .. with the Gear handle next to me ..

never ever got into the driving seat of the R5 again ..

Though it was fun and silly to floor the gas pedal in that little thing (800 cc engine ??? )

Was it the R5 that also had a push down and shift for reverse gear ? can't recall ..

I am not making it up ..

[x9200]

I am riding a motorbike with HID light. So far it only mattered for the inspections.

[Max Headroom]

What a beauty it was. The 2CV engine is like one of those manual coffee grinders; it's so basic that very little ever goes wrong in there. Years ago, my trusted 2CV took me from the mainland, via Sheerness, to London and back half a dozen times, no worries.

Well, some maintenance is required of course, but instead, I totally neglected the poor baskit. It was beginning to rust pretty badly here and there and those window clips had long snapped off, so I'd taped both windows shut to stop them rattling.

One day some Barking ass-wipe chav had sliced up my soft-top and of course I had to get pulled over by the cops that day. At one point the 3 of us were standing around the 2CV front with the hood up. There was a shoelace keeping the air hose in place and the bottom end of a 7-Up can was serving as a makeshift seal for the windshield fluid. It was looking pretty knackered in there. I thought I'd had it.

But one of the coppers muttered something to the other and then they both walked back to their car and drove off. I reckon it was too much trouble.

I sold the car to my landlady a week later for 250 quid.

Yeah, softest ride ever. Awesome car.

Edit: Bertie-bertie.

[Max Headroom]

Yup, the one I saw in Bedok was red-burgundy/black. Looked almost new. They obviously do take care of it.

[JR8]

...

Not a Citreon but another French run about ..
Took my uncle's tea estate run about R5, and while shifting gear the gear handle just came out ... just like that ..
I just had to carefully keep driving without changing gear, and made a large u turn in a grassy patch and drove back to the bungalow .. with the Gear handle next to me ..
never ever got into the driving seat of the R5 again ..
Though it was fun and silly to floor the gas pedal in that little thing (800 cc engine ??? )
Was it the R5 that also had a push down and shift for reverse gear ? can't recall ..
I am not making it up ..

You might enjoy this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4omtFdqdxk
'Renault 5 Turbo 2 In Action On Track'

The Renault 5 was also a popular car with younger people. It had more far more cred than the 2CV.

Push down/shift for reverse. Funny you mention that as it's something I haven't considered for years, but my parents had a car that required this too, and you really had to ram it down say 2cm before shifting. I forget what it was, but not an R5. I think it was to stop you changing from say 4th directly into reverse.
IIRC the pattern was...
1 3
. N . .
2 4 R

[rajagainstthemachine]

one had to lift the gear shift to put into reverse, my fiat back at home still does that

[ecureilx]

Push down/shift for reverse. Funny you mention that as it's something I haven't considered for years, but my parents had a car that required this too, and you really had to ram it down say 2cm before shifting. I forget what it was, but not an R5. I think it was to stop you changing from say 4th directly into reverse.
IIRC the pattern was...
1 3
. N . .
2 4 R

The VW Beetle too had a similar shift I remember. As one of our relative had it .. it died a natural death when he bought a newer car and let the beetle rot to death ..

in the VW I maybe wrong, but you had to put in neutral, then push it down and then you move to R

rajagainstthemachine: I am 100% sure it was push down, in R5 and Beetle, not lift up

[JR8]

The VW Beetle too had a similar shift I remember. As one of our relative had it .. it died a natural death when he bought a newer car and let the beetle rot to death ..

in the VW I maybe wrong, but you had to put in neutral, then push it down and then you move to R.

Ah-ha! I think you've nailed it!

My 'best friend' at school bought an ancient (c1957?) Beetle when we were about 12, cost him £50 or something*. Their house was at the end of a small country lane, that then morphed into a dirt farm track, that then went down a large hill with a lazy swoop left past fields. That was our 'burn it up' circuit... up and down we'd go aiming to slide through the bend... usually ended by a bollocking from his mother for pilfering petrol out of her lawnmower ... happy days...


* Never mind the joke from Little Britain about the 'chocolate brown' car. This car was! Not only that but someone had painted it with domestic gloss paint that had turned semi-matt with age, but it still had all the bristle brush marks in it, with the occasional stray bristle stuck on.

Ironic, as that would be quite a rare car now. It was the model with the tiny (40cm?) oval rear-window...

--- That was an 'unadopted road'; so essentially a private road. Hence no need for licenses, road tax, MOT, insurance ... 'have a pint of fuel => will go!!'

Pretty much like this...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/austin7nut/7064615621/

[rajagainstthemachine]

Push down/shift for reverse. Funny you mention that as it's something I haven't considered for years, but my parents had a car that required this too, and you really had to ram it down say 2cm before shifting. I forget what it was, but not an R5. I think it was to stop you changing from say 4th directly into reverse.
IIRC the pattern was...
1 3
. N . .
2 4 R

The VW Beetle too had a similar shift I remember. As one of our relative had it .. it died a natural death when he bought a newer car and let the beetle rot to death ..

in the VW I maybe wrong, but you had to put in neutral, then push it down and then you move to R

rajagainstthemachine: I am 100% sure it was push down, in R5 and Beetle, not lift up

@squirrel I think I mistook JR8's post, i didnt notice he was talking about R5 , i assumed he was talking about gear shifting in general

[ecureilx]

Pretty much like this...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/austin7nut/7064615621/

the one my uncle had was with the straight slab windscreen and twin split rear windows, so tough to see anything in the back

Ah, I wish I had money to have saved the thing..

[sundaymorningstaple]

The Beetle up to 1954...... (split rear window - after 54 used single small window the JR8 refers to)

[ecureilx]

The Beetle up to 1954...... (split rear window - after 54 used single small window the JR8 refers to)

I don't believe you .. pre-54, with sun roof ??

[sundaymorningstaple]

That was so mein fuhrer could stand up and salute his troops when he wasn't using his Mercedes 500K roadster.