La Poste is back!

[La Poste]

Bonjour!

Those of you who were on the forum back in the early days will remember me (if your memories go back that far). Clementine was in this part of France about six months ago and threatened to torch my F4 if I didn't get back on the forum soon, so here I am. Okay, so six months might not be considered soon by some people, but here in rural Normandy that's almost immediately... Anyway, I'm going to make an effort to drag myself away from the house renovation so that I can share a few words of wisdom from time to time, or if I can't manage words of wisdom then I'll at least try to share a few ordinary ones and pretend they're wise...

La Poste (still mixing concrete)

 

[Bluebell]

Welcome back La Poste. Can we see a picture of the new garage where you were busy mixing concrete six months ago?

 

[malcolm]

Welcome back - we've missed you. Bluebell and KangarooKris were with me when I visited (that's how they know so much about the concrete just in case you are worried we've been studying a spy cam).

Should fill you in on what's been happening here. My "ideal Renault 4" project is underway. Chassis just about finished with the help of my new old TIG welder. It'll end up being a '67 car that looks like a '68-72 car and has a Gordini engine. So it'll be bench seat car that goes quick. Haven't decided on the colour yet, but I'm planning to brighten the world up a little.

Forum has slowed down a little possibly due to the small number of Renault 4s left these days - we've almost run out in the UK. Slovakian members now have their own forum in their preferred language so they don't come here very often, but everyone else is still around. We chug along still.

Oh - if you happen to see any frogs around with blowtorches you might want to mention you're back. Frederick isn't answering his phone :eek:

 

[La Poste]

It's good to be back (at long last), and bonjour in particular to Bluebell and KangarooKris (I always forget names until I've been reminded a few dozen times...). The final inspiration to get back onto the forum came today when for the first time in months I saw an immaculate F4 on the road (and not just once, but twice on the same day!) - R4s seem even rarer than 2cvs over here these days (and they are rare), even though they used to much more common than the 2cv. France just isn't what it used to be.

In any case, the Gordini sounds like exactly the sort of thing I wanted to build myself about 15 years ago, but never had the time, space, facilities, etc. to do it. The idea of a fast R4 is just so amusing, it's one of those things which just has to be done, isn't it. Just make sure no-one in the Slow Car Club discovers the secret though - you might get struck off!!!! And don't even think of trying to register it in France if you ever do decide to move over here - I've become quite an expert on the subject since you were over here (my Citroen LNA is now on French plates) and can confirm that as far as modified cars go, it's pretty close to impossible... I always knew that there had to be at least one good reason for living in the UK, and now I know what it is.

As far as the DIY goes, the garage I was working on in the autumn is more or less finished (thanks to the sloping ground, lack of foundations, etc. something like 15 tonnes of concrete went into it - all shifted by hand), and is now home to two cars, several spare engines and gearboxes, and lots of firewood. Having a proper, level, damp-proof floor is absolute luxury, although the firewood rather gets in the way. The current project is the other separate garage (opposite the house), which is hopefully going to be a five star luxury workshop before too long. We're about halfway through putting in a proper damp-proof concrete floor (no more working on cold damp earth!), which is going to be tiled when it's finished, the room next door is going to get the same treatment, plus a serious workbench, shelving, power, lights, etc. The theory is that once I've done that I'll actually want to work on the cars (there's nothing more depressing than working in miserable conditions), and four of them will be able to live under cover out of the weather. I'll still need more undercover parking (you can't have too much space...), but it's a start at least. Oh yes, over the winter I've been to the dump a lot too, so there's far less junk sitting around the place getting in the way now. I wouldn't go as far as to say you wouldn't recognise the place or that you'd be jealous of the garages, but progress is just about being made (see the attached photo - taken just after your last visit - for proof).

 

[La Poste]

I almost forgot... One of the cats (we're down to just seven now) did bring a bright green frog back the other day, but I didn't notice any welding gear nearby so it was probably his cousin Francois Le Frog. I'll keep an eye out for him though, although most of the amphibians around here seem to be of toad persuasion....

 

[Mike from Spain]

Hi guys, just to let you know that I'm still here too but for the same reasons as LaPoste I haven't been looking in as often as I'd like to! The Big Banana is running perfectly and is still my everyday transport whilst the Purple Peril is still having a long rest! I've not started her for about 6 months now! It's been unsettled here for a month but is due to settle down in the next week so no damp problems as in Normandy!

 

[La Poste]

I'm starting to get on top of the damp problem Mike, but do envy you - you're in exactly the right climate for an R4! I used to have a Spanish girlfriend from Estepona (just the other side of Malaga) and quite fancied the idea of settling down there and buying up dozens of rust-free R4s and 2cvs, but she left me before I had chance to even start the collection... ;-)