FAIL

Bit of corrosion to the floor below the rear-seat tub thingy, close to the sill. Booked in to be fixed tomorrow and retested on Friday morning. First fail in the time I've owned it (12 years). Just shows the power of Shetland's climate.

My sympathies, I have a 5" hole that's booked in for patching on the 15th followed by an MOT.

It started as a little hole - then I started poking it

So last week I used the 2CV for a week's holiday in France. I haven't been over to the continent for almost 3 years, as Shetland has got in the way, and it's not an easy, quick journey from up there. I'm currently wintering in Worcester, as my mother lost my father in September and has found it difficult, so I'm staying close by for now.

I had quite an adventure on the other side of La Manche. Can't say I enjoyed it all, but on balance....

I stayed in a Gite around 5 miles north of Albert, in the Somme region of Picardie. Had some snow at times, but nothing to write home about. Saw four 2CVs and a couple of Dyanes.

Garmin constantly tried to send me down farm tracks and eventually succeeded on the drive back from town on the Friday evening! I hadn't plugged the nav in, and realised I was heading out of town the wrong way, so plugged it in. It got me to turn left after 100m and the road was wide and tarmacked, so I took it. After half a mile or so the road narrowed and a further half mile the tarmac ran out. A few hundred yards along and the big ruts and mud began. If I'd been in the C4 it would have got stuck. The 2CV sailed through all the thick mud and got me out onto the proper road the nav was directing me to. I can't remember ever seeing a car so filthy. I've been giving it a clean today, but it's still a long way from being 'clean'.

The drive back through Kent up the M20 was terrifying at times. There was a full on snow storm, with blizzard conditions. Not fun.

Only issues with the car that I had was a difficulty in starting. It never failed to start, but you can tell it's knackered. The starter motor is the original and the car has now passed 240k miles, so I'm having a brand new one fitted tomorrow, along with a new Toyo tyre.

Fitted a brand new starter motor today, it turns the engine much quicker than the original, even though the motor is half the size. Car starts nicely from cold, but still a pain to start when hot. I connected a known decent coil and it did improve starting a little, but I'm going to get the tappets checked. I'll get them looked at in the coming weeks, and get them adjust if needed - With a new starter motor and a new fuel line, I really think they are the cause of my starting woes.

Easy to check yourself, gap probably too small

Ⓘ ⓓⓞⓝⓣ ⓗⓐⓥⓔ ⓣⓘⓜⓔ ⓣⓞ ⓢⓟⓐⓡⓔ ⓞⓝ ⓣⓗⓔ 2ⒸⓋ. Ⓦⓞⓡⓚ ⓖⓔⓣⓢ ⓘⓝ ⓣⓗⓔ ⓦⓐⓨ.

I was trying to read that without my glasses and thought i was having a stroke...

Soɹɹʎ ɐqonʇ ʇɥɐʇ

The bumpers I have on the 2CV at the moment were bought new from ECAS at the Kelso World Meeting. The front bumper was showing very obvious signs of distress so I decided to scrape the bubbling paint off it this afternoon. I expected much, much worse, so I'm quite pleased by how solid it is underneath. When I bought it I had lots of folk tell me I'd be needing to buy another within a couple of years. It's lasted 10 years now and I think a quick rub down, a lick or two of Finigan's Number One, and a good few layers of top coat should see this last a few more years yet.

Question, do you have something with numbers???

took a look at your pics... "10409008_10206595569593350_1970588318850828441_n.jpg"

and 644416_10206595569913358_5447962145208988213_n.jpg