Southern Clubs Meeting
At a meeting at The Talbot in Ripley we discussed the Fathers' Day event at Ropley on the Mid-Hants Railway. It is now in their brochure so we need 40 cars to come for a display. Make a date in your diary and please come. There will be an entrance fee per car of about £3 but the driver of these first 40 vehicles will get a free ticket to travel on the train for the day. All others will have to pay to ride as normal. There are shops and picnic area at Ropley and at Arlesford is a buffet and even bigger shop.
A birthday camp for The Southern Clubs is arranged for 10-12th September at the Lithuanian Country Club at Headley near Bordon and Oakhanger. If you don't fancy camping come for the day. B-B-Q on Saturday evening, Convoy Saturday Afternoon, Games etc. We are trying to organise a visit to a brewery on Saturday but you know what they say about piss-ups in breweries !!

I have written to 'Le Shuttle' to see if we can have a 'Fill a Shuttle', but have had no reply so far.

Our Friends In Alsace
I have had some press cuttings from Tim Gentle and Club Centre Alsace. I will bring them to the next meeting but here is the gist of them.

On 13th February the club, together with Club 2CV Alsace, stationed themselves outside supermarkets to collect tinned food for the charity 'Restaurants du Coeur'. They distribute food to the needy, homeless, etc. At the end they collected 2,850 tonnes of food ( I have a photo of some of the volunteers).
Another cutting and photo shows an H-Van being presented to the club. It had been used by Emmaiis - a charity which collects furniture & electrical goods for sale to anyone who visits their warehouses. I think these are the nearest things to charity shops in France.

The last cutting is about Tim's band "Moon Shoes". It is doing OK with various gigs coming up.

Gill

Surrey Air-Cooled Day, Brooklands
This was a very 'laid back' affair as far as organisation was concerned. Louise (Northern) alerted me to the event, so Bill phoned up to ask. All the information was on an A4 sheet with the invitation to 'turn up'. It was the first event like this and the idea was to see how it went and to do better next year. 2CVGB had contacted some people in the area, Bill & I then alerted all the Southern Clubs and just hoped we could get a lot of support.

After a lovely sunny Saturday, Sunday was cold and wet. We packed the Ripple (1953 ish) and set out for Weybridge. We got there to see quite a few 2CVs in the queue for entrance, so I was pleased. We put our car in as special display with Meharis, Amis and us. The rest of the 2CVs parked near the famous banking along with 'Beetles', and VW Camper Vans beloved of the 'Hippy Era'. There were 45 or so 2CVs, Dyanes, Vans etc. It was a lovely turnout from a large area, so I'd like to thank everyone who made the effort on a pretty awful day.

There were all sorts there, Messerschmitt bubble cars, Fiat 500s, Porsche 911, a Trabant, N.S.U. and cars called Tatra. I had never heard of the Tatra but they were manufactured from the 1920s to 1992 in Czechoslovakia. They were large and the design like a giant Beetle - even with a rear engine. There was even a huge truck.
A lot of admiring went on but after lunch we were allowed to use the Test Hill. It starts off at 1 in 8 and finishes at 1 in 4. It was quite a test. Several 2CVs sailed up as did the Amis and Meharis. Bill did not try his Ripple, although we think it would have made it eventually.

After this we decided to have a mass photo call on the famous banking. This looked superb. It is not until you try to climb to the top on foot that the steepness really hits you. No wonder cars had to go very fast in order not to roll over.
We also went into all parts of the museum. There were plenty of displays about Brooklands in its heyday as a premier British racetrack and as a research and trial centre for fast cars and land speed records. Those who were interested in aircraft were able to see the restored Wellington bomber from Loch Ness and other famous planes from Avro and Vickers who had their early planes researched and manufactured at Weybridge.

The weather cheered up occasionally so we could say it was OK really. I am so pleased so many 2CVers came. Next year, with more notice and improved communication we could use the event to encourage new members and put the car on display in a big way. A lot of interest was shown so we need to capitalise on it.

Gill

Calais Meeting 3 & 4 April 1999
David Shove & Andrew Jack represented the Madhatters at the first international meeting of the recently-formed Calais 2CV club, Les 62^ches des Calaisis, held in Calais over the Easter weekend. We met at Clacket Lane on Friday afternoon, & after a short stop continued to Dover, arriving there in time for the 17h15 ferry. Despite signs & maps, a minor difficulty with navigation took us about 10 miles out of our way along the road to St. Omer, but we arrived at the campsite in the last hour of daylight, & got the tents erected. The campsite was set up in the grounds of a leisure centre on the dunes behind the hoverport, close to a ruined blockhouse of the coastal defence system. Some of the buildings on the site were used to provide washing facilities, & covered accommodation was available in single storey buildings for the other activities arranged - the only disappointment was not being able to take a shower; having said that, it is the ideal venue for a large event as there are reasonable facilities & space for about 150 tents. Calais as a town is also well placed & within easy reach of a well-connected motorway network, & as it is easy to get to from England, the club are potentially within raiding distance!

Les 62^ches des Calaisis have only been in existence for about a year, so this is the first big event they have arranged; they did it extremely well, & I'm confident that we can expect more quality events from their team of committed organisers. Good weather was forecast, but with the exception of a couple of hours of sunshine on Sunday, the weekend remained dull & wet throughout. Other events & the poor weather undoubtedly dissuaded many from attending & numbers were poor as a result - of the 100 visitors expected, only about 40 turned up, including day visitors.
On Saturday, Andrew & David took advantage of a quiet morning to make a quick visit to a local supermarket & arrived back in time for some lunch before setting off with the rest of the group for a noisy convoy through the streets of Calais. One of the highlights of the event was the superb barbecue & delicious cold buffet, & the noisy disco close by. Apart from the local group & ourselves, the only other visitors were a family from the Crewe Ducks, a couple from TROY, a DS owner from Kent & a Belgian couple who drove down from Namur. Bill & Gill arrived on the Sunday morning just as we were beginning to think they had decided not to join us, then a local television crew visited the campsite at lunchtime to film some of the more unusual cars in the group, & the start of the convoy was delayed a result.

Unfortunately Andrew's fuel pump started to give trouble, which left him without a car for the convoy. After some delay it was decided that nothing could be done immediately, so Andrew joined David in his car, with Bill & Gill in the lead. As we had started some time after everybody else, we saw no other cars, & consequently had to rely on our own navigation, which Gill did very well. The detailed route maps provided were a credit to those who put together such an interesting & scenic route. One way & another, repairs to Andrew's car & a search for spare parts occupied three pairs of hands almost until dusk, by which time the rest of the visitors had packed up & left for home. The result we achieved was the best we could have hoped for, as the next best alternative, amongst a number of possibilities, was to postpone repairs & wait until things returned to normal on Tuesday morning after the holiday. David distinguished himself by offering moral support, & by not getting himself dirty, & was also able to put a spare hour to good use by searching locally for a cheap hotel - as it happened he was unsuccessful, but his dedication took him to 6 six possible places. In the end space was found in the municipal campsite near the seafront, a rather uninspiring place, but in the circumstances, better than nothing.

Véronique & Stephanie, & their team of organisers have worked very hard to welcome us & all their visitors to their town, & to make our stay with them an enjoyable one. We were able to make a number of useful contacts, & hope that some of them will be able to visit us this year. In any case, we expect to meet some of the group again at Le Mans in May. Despite the dull & uninteresting weather, a most enjoyable weekend was had by all - another successful event, & one well worth travelling to!

Andrew

The Tale of Jasmine's Conversion
The story begins at the London to Brighton run in 1998. I spotted a very nice Plums 'n' Custard Cabriolet Conversion. It did look really nice and I thought "Jasmine would look good like that." (Jasmine started life as a plums 'n' Custard.) So as the day went by, I found the owners of the Cabriolet and I asked them all about it. I came away with the phone number of Citroen specialist Ian Hudson in Millom, Cumbria.

On phoning him I discovered that he didn't have any conversion kits in and would have to order some from Mr Hoffmann in Germany. This would take several months, he said, as organising transport etc. would take a while. Not to worry, I said, I wouldn't be thinking about it for at least 10 months. Well, we were going to have some double glazing put in in August, so there would be no money left for conversions to be done, but the silly window people messed us around, no one in, no one coming to see us - then 'oh we can't fit them in that week, everyone's on holiday.'

So I cancelled the order and rang Ian. This was in June/ July: Can you convert Jasmine?? Yes, the kits are on order (he always orders 2) and waiting for delivery - this went on until October - Kits have arrived, when do you want it done?? Well that was the burning question!!! We decided that we would take it up on the last weekend in November, and hopefully be done just before Xmas.

So Sunday morning, sun was shining (!!!), 0615 we left. We crossed over to the M 40 and went for 2 hours stopping at Frakley Services for fuel and food/ coffee. 20 minutes and back on the road.

As we neared Liverpool, the skies clouded over and then Guess what??? RAIN!! It just chucked it down at us. The spray was so thick you could hardly see. Dave was travelling close behind in our Mazda, but I could hardly see him. Well, eventually we rolled into Lancaster services, Jasmine was feeling a bit coughy and spluttery due to the amount of water she took in, needless to say there was a puddle slopping to and fro in the footwell. But we got there, had some coffee/ food/ fuel and phoned Ian to say we were there. We arranged to meet in Millom Village Centre and follow him to his garage. When we arrived it was a mad dash from car to garage and discuss the matters arising over tea. After a short stay and much admiring of an immaculate H - van and a hardly used Charleston, we bade Ian farewell, cleared out Jasmine and bade her farewell and went up to the local pub for lunch.

We left the pub at about 3 p.m. and hit the Motorway heading for home. But, as Sundays normally are, we met a bank of brake lights near Birmingham, so we shot off the Motorway and made our way around the back roads. We emerged at Burton - on - Trent and the top of the M 40. We arrived home, completely shattered at 10.30 p.m. It certainly was a day to remember, Bum & Back ache being the worst problems on the return journey.

Well as December flew by, I was getting increasingly excited about 2 things, 1) Jasmine's return and 2) holiday in California. So I rang Ian: How's Jasmine?? Ah! well! I had a man leave the week after you dropped her off, She's half done. Oh! Well! She ended up staying until we got back from the States.

As for the colour scheme... No-one was very keen on my idea of pink and purple. We ruminated for weeks on how it should be put on. Should it be 2 colours or mainly purple with just a pink edge around the wings & running boards? I was all for pink wings melting into the purple with no clear edge. It was finally decided that the bloke in the paint shop would have the final say. I found a picture of a hot rod car in the exact purple I wanted, so I cut that out, but could I find the pink? Well I had to leave that to them, needless to say the colour on her is not really what I wanted, but it's OK.
When we arrived back from the States on 23rd Jan, I was (obviously!) straight on the phone. Is she done??? Umm! She's still in the paint shops. She'll be brought back on Monday - then I've got to put the hood on and all the trim bits - Ring again on Thursday and hopefully pick her up on Saturday. Goody Goody! By the way, he said, that colour mixture you chose was an excellent choice, she really looks good. Wow! Then I really couldn't wait!

As luck would have it, Dave had the weekend off so this time we said 'not in one day'. We drove up on Saturday - leaving home at 9 am. - lovely easy ride up. I took with me a pair of chrome headlamps salvaged from a Charleston I broke for spares, and Ian fitted those when we got there. Well, when we arrived, the two men made me shut my eyes. turn around - quick buff up, now turn around - well, she looked GORGEOUS! I could not believe it..... what a difference! She looked brand new. gleaming away, and the colours - WOW!

After finding out how the hood works and paying the dues, we left (in the rain!!) and headed off down the motorway for a couple of hours. We came off near Derby and found food straight away. (By now 6 p.m.). Then headed off and found a lovely little hotel and booked a room.

Next morning we woke up and found the sun shining and a sharp frost on the cars. But that suited us fine. After breakfast we got into the cars and headed for home. Being earlier we had a good run. But the real fun was the people on the motorway - they were staring at Jasmine - they couldn't believe their eyes!! The best bit is the little boy racers staring - they would never stare at an ordinary 2CV, but Jasmine now, that's a different matter!

When we got home, the clouds were milling about in the sky, so we shot into Halfords and came out clutching a new car cover (no garage) for Jasmine and brought her home and tucked her up.

Every time I get her out and drive around, people stare - it's such a good feeling! I am so proud of her now and really pleased with the job that Ian and the paint people did. And when the hood is down, as it has been for 3 days, the feeling of freedom with the wind rushing around you is fabulous. And she really DOES look good.

BUT DISASTER. Someone scratched the back wing in Safeways car park and I'm LIVID.

I have touched it over with some paint that was left over, but of course it doesn't look the same.

Robyn

Chassis Change
After much talking about it, I finally got down to changing my chassis. This was going to be a straight forward swap, out with the old and in with the new but it didn't turn out quite that way. On visiting a scrap yard in Lewisham I bought a Bamboo 2CV in very good condition for £100, with only 55,000 miles on the clock. Everything on the vehicle was original even the rusty chassis. It had failed the M.O.T. and the owner had dumped it at the scrap yard.

I now had two 2CVs and one new galvanised chassis from Wheels. Time to start work. As the Bamboo was in much better condition than my Dolly, this would be the car to rebuild. After all, everyone has a Red and White Dolly don't they ! My brother and I started at 7 am and by the evening the Dolly was in bits. A lot of bits. The chassis was worse than it looked underneath but only at the rear end. A good Fred Flintstone car if you know what I mean !!

With all the bits out of the way it was time to start on the Bamboo. This time we didn't have to go quite as far with the demolition as we hoped to have a car at the end of it all. Once again the chassis had rotted at the back but was rust free at the front end. These were later cut up ready for disposal.

Next was deciding which components from the two cars we would be using for the rebuild. Engine and gearbox from the Bamboo, axles from the Dolly. In fact, a lot of smaller parts would come from the Dolly including the number plates. Mr. DVLA said it was OK.

After everything was washed in petrol, rebuilding could start. Thankfully Louise didn't use all the underseal on the planet for her car, so I managed to get some for my Bamboo. This was put all over the chassis and underneath the body shell, it's worth removing the rear wings at this stage of play. Wayne the Welder visited for a day, did what welders do and went home again. After fitting the suspension, engine, gear box and various other parts it was time to lower the body shell onto the chassis. This is not as easy as it sounds. For a start you have at least 20 bolt holes to line up, then there's the foam strip to worry about, not forgetting the steering column. And don't catch your finger between the two, it really hurts !!

After all that it's plain sailing down to the M.O.T. centre. Well not quite, you always have lots of silly things left to do, replacing wires and getting those stupid heater tubes to fit properly to name a few. Would I do it again ? Yes I think I would. You can learn a lot about your own 2CV simply by "Having a go" with a set of spanners and some confidence. They really are very easy to work on.

Dave Farmar

Dates for Your Diary
Apr 11 Les Fils - Kite Flying at West Wycombe - Ian Young - 01276 479455
Apr 13 8.00 pm Club Meeting - back to The Anchor for the AGM.
May 2 Ducks - Sunday meeting & convoy for cream tea.
May 11 8.00 pm Club Meeting - venue yet to be confirmed.
May 13-16 Le Mans - 7th Rencontre des Amis de la 2CV.
May 14-16 Henley-on-Thames camping - Richard Cooper's 30th birthday bash.
May 30 Escargots - London to Brighton run.
Jun 4-6 Puddleducks - camp at Lithuanian Country Club, Headley.
Jun 20 Southern Clubs - Fathers' Day on the Mid-Hants Railway - Ropley.
Jul 24-25 Ducks - New Forest Camp and Duck Race.
July 27-31 Greece - 13th International Meeting of 2CV Friends.
July 27-31 Normandy - Not the World Meeting Meeting.
Aug 27-30 Devon - 2CVGB International.
Sep 10-12 Southern Clubs Birthday camp - Headley, Lithuanian Country Club.


Who Does What ?
CHAIRWOMAN & SOCIAL EVENTS MAN
Gill & Bill,
Tel 01784 453919
TREASURER
David Farmar,
Tel 0181 650 8213
EDITOR
Ham,
Tel 01483 235927
TECHNICAL ADVISOR
Barry Annells,