Just got back from a short holiday to France

"BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires" (biturbo228) 10/31/2013 at 20:36 • Filed to: ClassicCarGarages

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Pardon the blindingly obvious, but it's like visiting an entirely different country. 9/10 cars are French, and most are slightly beaten-up cheap diesels from the late 80s/early 90s. It's great to see cars that are very rare anywhere else, like the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (I even saw an !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in the wild) but the vast majority of cars seem to be tediously dull*. That is apart from this little classic car garage in the village next to our home.

It's called 'Auto Passion' and is full of really oddball classics. There's the DS in the lead image, replete with the best interior of any car I've seen (and windows so reflective as to ruin any attempts I made to picture it).

There's an Alpine A610 Turbo, the fastest Alpine to date, placed purposefully next to a 911.

There was a gorgeous brown Peugeot 504 Coupe, with probably one of the best badges I've seen on a car...

There was a late 50s Panhard, which looked like a spaceship...

Next up was a very pretty Pininfarina-designed Peugeot 204 which was very tempting...

In front of the DS was a rather nice Traction Avant...

We couldn't tell whether this was a starter or a supercharger:

And next to that was a colossal Cadillac DeVille. Not often the French will acknowledge the existence of other car manufacturers...

...but why would you when you've got kickass little things like this Simca 1000?

For the statesman in you (and the statesman that needs to move lots of stuff) there's this Peugeot 403 and 403 estate.

Also bringing up the rear-engined brigade was this Renault Dauphine:

It was only after seeing this badge that it occurred to me that 'Dauphine' means 'Prince' in French.

Also holding up the international front there was a Fiat 850 Spider and two 914s (one of which has had the indication ridges smoothed off).

...and lastly, there was this kickass little Citroen Acadiene, one of the replacements for the 2CV.

There's more pics in a flickr set !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! if you're interested.

*that may be something to do with where we're situated, it being very rural and not particularly affluent, but even the 6 hour drive down was fairly devoid of interesting metal

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 10/31/2013 at 20:51

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So much greatness. This should be on the FP. Oh and.. Uhm.. Dauphine would be the female form me thinks, so it'd be princess, not prince (But more like as in "the princess of Wales")? I may be wrong.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh 10/31/2013 at 21:08

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I tell a lie, apparently 'Dauphine' means 'runner' in French. Could swear it meant something to do with royalty.

According to Wikipedia , it's name is in the context of 'heiress' or 'successor to the throne', referencing its popular predecessor the 4CV (which is gorgeous too btw).

Slave2anMG > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 10/31/2013 at 21:10

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Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 10/31/2013 at 21:20

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I know it means runner, but it IS used to describe someone married to a Dauphin(Dolphin) and as far as I know that is pretty much the same as a prince. But seems like your French (or google-fu) is better than mine. And yeah, the 4 tax horsepower is quite the looker :)

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 10/31/2013 at 21:36

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What, no mention of this fine example of a Fiat Coupé? It shares the Tipo's underpinnings, you know... :p

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/01/2013 at 00:47

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914!

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/01/2013 at 00:47

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I could recognize that little fender anywhere.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 11/01/2013 at 03:38

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I did spot that. It was a 16v turbo version, bucket seats and highly tinted windows.

Didn't spot the price though.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh 11/01/2013 at 03:40

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You were right about it being the feminine form though :)

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 11/01/2013 at 05:23

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Sweet :) There was two there, an orange one and a red one. They're not nearly as common over here as they are in the States.

If you're a fan of the 914, you might like the pics of our 914/6. Should be in here .

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/01/2013 at 11:42

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Pretty much the only thing I know about the french language is that if a noun has an e at the end, it's the feminine form of said noun ;)

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/01/2013 at 13:37

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That's awesome. Same engine as mine, except for the Turbo. Not sure I'd install a turbo on mine, though, after reading Guy Croft's tuning manual, I think a naturally aspirated setup will be much better with the type of fuel we get here.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 11/01/2013 at 14:51

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It's the venerable Fiat Twincam isn't it? I think we've got a copy of Guy Croft's book around somewhere too.

I really must get a car to use it on :)

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 11/01/2013 at 15:27

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I'm thinking this:

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/01/2013 at 19:34

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Sweet 914-6!

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 11/01/2013 at 19:48

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I was looking at the sliver of red showing behind the orange one! Too sharp to be a 911.

Whats type is the orange one? Rims and fender really threw me off. I thought the orange one was a X19. The lip around the wheel well looks right but the top of the fender is shaved down. Upon closer inspection I see the classic sail, seats and center light.

Tip if your center light cracks, its a generic VW lens for $8 instead of the 30+ Porsche stores try sell it for.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/01/2013 at 20:42

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Yep, it is! Awesome little engine too; just the other day, I waged a beer with two of the guys that ride home with me that I could go up the entire Garibaldi street hill in fifth gear without full throttle.

I won two beers that day.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 11/02/2013 at 03:15

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Thanks :) it's a kickass little car

Cé hé sin > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/08/2013 at 17:20

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I'm sure someone can explain why so many of these old cars have the new style number plates rather than the old ones with the number of the département on the end.

redynvre > Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh 11/08/2013 at 18:31

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The Dauphin in the French aristocracy refers to the chosen next king. So it is one step up of Prince. The term is also sometime used now days to designate a successor to a CEO chosen by the latter.

Built BMW Tough > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/08/2013 at 18:53

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Actually, that's the gearbox.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Cé hé sin 11/08/2013 at 20:06

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I really don't know actually. Not sure how the system works in France.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Built BMW Tough 11/08/2013 at 20:15

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Sweet :) that would make a lot of sense considering it's a longitudinal engine.

mathiassssss > Cé hé sin 11/09/2013 at 05:20

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Because whenever you change owner, no matter how old the car is, you have to switch to the new license plates.

lagonda > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/09/2013 at 08:22

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Actually this Alpine isn't an A610. It's a V6 GT turbo, the predecessor of the 610. Ok exhausts and rims are really ugly and far from stock. Cool car but far less valuble than a 610 which was a much better car.

rodrigocruz > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/09/2013 at 08:45

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The new registration plate system has been gradually introduced since 2009. The department code (a 2 digit number) used in the previous system is not used anymore. Nowadays, even if a car is sold and registered in another department the plate number remains always the same. It was quite polemic to just eliminate the 2 digit department code because there's a strong regional pride. They found a compromise in between which is to include still on the right side of the plate a small blue rectangle with the old department code and a small logo of the department...and the department can change at all times and in fact is not even compulsory to have...it doesn't belong to the plate number anymore. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_r…

Also in Spain they eliminated the "department codes". I guess over there the "regional pride" is actually so strong that a car with plate number started by M (Madrid) parked in Barcelona was likely to suffer some kind of damage...this perhaps involves the widely known Barca - Real rivalry and even much more complex than that...but also in Spain it hasn't been easy to eliminate the regional codes as people are very proud about their origin and they actually are Catalan, Basque, etc much before being "spanish" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_r…

Cé hé sin > mathiassssss 11/09/2013 at 08:59

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Vraiment, un pays étrange.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > lagonda 11/09/2013 at 20:49

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I knew there was a difference, but I wasn't sure what that difference was. Thanks :)

GBond > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/12/2013 at 01:04

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I want this car.