Voitures Anciennes

[RobertArthur]

This Mercedes Ponton 180 D had been in the actor's ( a certain Jan Fedder) possession since 2000. The vintage diesel car (116,000 kilometres driven, 43 hp) is now changing hands for 70,050 euros.

[Bayleaf]

Robert Arthur's photo is an old Volvo? What a lovely looking car!

I think it’s a P1800 but I’m no expert on Volvos. Our local lifeboat mechanic had one when I was a teenager.

That's the one! It was "Simon Templar"s car:

Simon Templar.jpeg

[Bayleaf]

One of the cars in the photos is the same model as the worst car I ever owned.

You can't leave us hanging like that - or do we have to guess?!! There is one there I used to drive - belonged to an exboyfriend - massive clue, it was cool in the summer but ruddy awful in the winter!

[DominicBest]

One of the cars in the photos is the same model as the worst car I ever owned.

You can't leave us hanging like that - or do we have to guess?!! There is one there I used to drive - belonged to an exboyfriend - massive clue, it was cool in the summer but ruddy awful in the winter!

Following the recent reminder about being nice to people my lips are sealed. My comments about my experiences with a truly awful car might be seen as a bit too personal by people who love them. Like beauty opinions about cars can be in the eye of the beholder. My second worst car was a brand new 2003 Audi A4 2.5 V6 Turbo Diesel, a car that most people I knew presumed would be a delight to own. The car I replaced it with a year after buying it was everything the Audi wasn’t and I liked that one so much I still own it 20 years on.
I also owned a car that regularly came at the bottom of customer satisfaction surveys, a Vauxhall/Opel Frontera. More people said they wouldn’t buy another or recommend it to a friend than almost any car ever built. I loved mine. I bought it secondhand for €500 and it gave me six years of trouble free and fun motoring. With its metallic turquoise blue paintwork it looked like a toy but it was very practical, surprisingly economical and coped with snow and towing as well as anything else I’ve ever driven. I gave it away when I moved to France because it looked as though it might be a pain to register here.

[Bayleaf]

Audi doesn't do anything for me either. I used to drive (again owned by the exboyfriend) an Audi Quattro Coupé in the early 90's - not the really old shape that was in the rallys, a newer shape. The acceleration was incredible, and I asked someone at work how fast it would safely corner, as he previously worked in an Audi factory, and seemed to know all about them. He said it would corner faster than my nerves would let me - I did try, and he was right! It certainly turned a few heads back then, in our local town, to see a young blond lady at the wheel!

I used to do the banking when I worked at a paper mill, and usually used the boring pool car. If that wasn't available, I could call on any of the Marketing Salesmen, or Directors, who had company cars, and use theirs. A mix of Audis and Mercedes, I'd give them all a good thrashing for the journey to the bank and back! Such fun!

[RobertArthur]

@ Bayleaf, a 1967 Volvo 1800S.

[Bayleaf]

Beautiful! When cars had real character!!

Anyone know what the little "jagged?" (can't think of the right word!) metal grill on top of the dashboard would have been for in this golden oldie?

IMG_20240428_103617.jpg

[Bayleaf]

And finally, a close up of the Renault Gordini. It sounds like a French/Italian mix! (Not a bad view of our Place de la Nation either! )

Renault Gordini.jpg

[Polarengineer]

That dashboard spring may have been the support for a padded bar to catch heads in case of a crash (precursor to airbags) and got stripped off when the windscreen was replaced. Nah guessing really.

[curtis]

Just to put things like gloves/maps, cigarettes/ make up.