The French Connection 1

The French Connection 1 Volume 26, Number 11 2014 www.clubautofrancais.com Club Automobile Francais CLUB MEETINGS LAST Thursday of the P.O. Box 330 Month (except DECEMBER) Austin 7 Club- Campbelltown 5074 South Australia rooms, 262 Tapleys Hill Rd. Seaton 2 The French Connection Cover picture OK, did you guess this one? Yep, it’s a 1953 Panhard Junior cabriolet. I’ve never seen or heard of one before, It’s based on a Panhard Dyna with the same 850cc aircooled flat twin engine. This example has been totally restored and is on sale in the UK for just 32,500 pounds. The French Connection 3 Club Night PRESIDENT’S PRATTLINGS Thursday November 27 I cannot believe another year has almost GENERAL MEETING gone, with Christmas rapidly approaching – Presentation about the R12 fitted where does the time go? The club has had with bath and toilet another successful year with , again , an ac- tive social program arranged by our Social NOTE Meeting starts 7 30 sharp Committee , with most events well attended. We look forward to our Club Christmas Lunch at the Lakeside Hotel – bookings for COMING EVENTS this lunch are limited to 50 and bookings will close after our next meeting as firm num- November 27 General Meeting bers need to given to the hotel. If you have- n’t booked , you need to do so very soon as December 7 Christmas lunch at late bookings unfortunately will not be ac- West Lakes details p 2 cepted. January 29 General Meeting We have had many highlights during 2014 , particularly our very successful Swap Meet, and I thank all members who have helped to make 2014 so successful. Kathy and I thank all members and families for your support and friendship during 2014 and we look forward to another great year in 2015 Kathy and I wish all our members and families a happy , Holy and save festive season and may 2015 bring you all everything you may wish. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY AND REWARDING NEW YEAR TO ALL. Happy Motoring, Trevor Donaldson 4 The French Connection THE EDITORIAL Valerie and I got to 2 Club outings this month. Firstly the Semaphore Twilight Walk with Fish & Chips and then the Clayton Bay Picnic. We took the trophy winning 16TS to Clayton and it went very well. The only problem was that at speed the engine noise drowned out the radio/CD unless the volume was way up, which then made the sound quality poor. Decent speakers may be the answer. I don’t seem to have had time to spend on the DS21 as I needed to check the extensive gar- den watering system to find out why a lot of our native plants died over last summer. The answer was that most of the drippers were totally clogged. Below you will find an article from the local press in September about the Bendix brake pads Euro+ range. It sounds promising. I had a lot of trouble with this issue (don’t I always?) with the auto wrap feature in the Publisher software. This normally al- lows you to add photos into a text file and ‘magically’ the text wraps itself around a photo. But it wasn’t happening, no matter what I did. So I went to bed feeling very annoyed. The ‘gods’ took pity on me and in the morning it was back to normal. I came across an interesting car book at our local Browse In & Save shop recently and had to buy it. It is titled ‘1001 Dream Cars’ and originally cost $40+ so at $10 for 320pages was a good buy. Quite a few of our favourite French cars appear (of course, I hear you say) but I was surprised by the number of makes which I had never heard of: they were very low volume models. This is the last French Connection for this year, so I wish you all a happy, safe Christmas & start to the New Year. I should see many of you at the Christmas Lunch. The Editorial Editorial The The French Connection 5 6 The French Connection This engine is currently available here in the new base model Peugeot 308. The only down- side is that it requires, like most of the hi-tech Euro engines, premium fuel. It is a pity that the local Peugeot dealer apparently has no interest in this Club. The French Connection 7 The Clayton Bay Picnic The weather was kind, sunny and getting hot in the sun. The limited shade under trees was gone before we arrived, after meeting in Strathalbyn. A stronger breeze would have been nice. This contrasted with the storms and rain of the day before. Craig put up his sun shelter, as did the R8 group nearby. A deficiency in chairs in our group was solved by Craig backing up his Bedford ute and using the tailgate as seating. Club Citroen found some shade in a far corner of the paddock/reserve. I thought that there were less cars than at previous events, perhaps because the publicity was later than usual. For some reason the cars were displayed further from the toilets, BBQs and the shop than in previous years. Apart from CAF member & friends Renaults and the Citroens (3x 2CVs, an SM and a Trac- tion) there was a Delage and a Le Zebre from the 20s. Other cars which appealed to me were a red Porsche, a Triumph TR5, a 30s Alvis tourer and a Jaguar XK120 coupe. The Caravelles of Sally Thompson and Colin Pauley were much admired. We decided to travel home via Milang to get a closeup of the lake and the cute little shacks by the shore. It was good to see that the lake is still full. Don S See photos page 9 8 The French Connection The Twilight Walk & Fish and Chips Supper This turned out to be more an afternoon walk, (for some) and a fish & chips dinner. But that did not matter. Thirteen members eventually turned up; Valerie and I arrived later and Geoff & Chris Chennels later still, having already attended the Club Citroen Pizza Lunch in the hills. The weather was pleasant and we setup ad- jacent the Semaphore jetty entrance and the children’s playground. It was good to see Henk, with his electric sports tourer (I should have taken a photo) and Joy. Peter Hebart had his 403 nearby, Craig and Ann came in the 204 and the Chennels used their lovely 2CV. The rest came in our ‘moderns’. There was a kiosk close by, where some bought their fish and chips, whilst others of us ventured up Semaphore road to the well- regarded Sotos fish shop. I took the oppor- tunity to take a walk up the road. As I re- called from my last visit there are some interesting shops, mostly closed on the Sun- day! Some of us had far more chips than we re- quired. Geoff decided that the seagulls needed feeding and they were very keen on that idea – see the photo (sorry about the quality) of the ‘birdman’. As twilight approached we left for home. It had been a relaxing, enjoyable event. Don S The French Connection 9 A beautifully restored & very rare Australian made 1920s Chic CAF member cars were entirely Renaults — plus one Bedford ute. 10 The French Connection CAF member profile – Don (John) Stacy I was born in Adelaide in 1938, so I’m a prewar product. I moved to Perth in 1968, married Vera-Ann there in 1970 and then moved to Darwin in 1971. Both sons, Callum and Adrian, were born there. We liked living there, even in the wet season, but Cyclone Tracy resulted in a move back to Adelaide in late 1975. I enjoyed sailing and racing a Black Witch catamaran in Darwin before Tracy trashed it- ditto our house. I have lived in Hawthorndene with Valerie for nearly 10 years. We love living here except when it’s the bushfire season! My first job was with the SA Housing Trust as a trainee draftsman and I commenced studying Ar- chitecture part-time. I eventually realised that I had little or no creative ability and was sick of study. I got a job with the Dept. of Civil Aviation as a draftsman and then moved to the buildings section. Through a number of departmental name changes I stayed there until I became part of the Federal Airports Corporation in 1988. I was responsible for building works on the Airport. My favourite movie is probably War and Peace or Dr. Zhivago but I particularly enjoy French movies. My favorite music genre is Classical – particularly French, Russian or Spanish but also Jazz, Folk and World, especially Indian (love the sitar) Oh, I nearly forgot my nostalgia for pop from the 50s and 60s. I was never a sportsman but enjoyed sailing and dragonboat racing and tried to play tennis! I enjoy watching motorsport, tennis and sailing. My major hobby is playing around with, restoring (sort of) and driving older French cars. An uncle gave me a 1928 baby Peugeot, which was not running and, at 15, I could not get it to go. After a cou- ple of English cars and a Fiat 1100, I got a Peugeot 403 and ‘the die was cast’. After 2 more pommy cars, TR3 and MiniCooper, I owned French cars almost exclusively from then on, starting with a Cit- roen ID19, followed by a 404 and then an Alfa Romeo Guilia Sprint Coupe. But they were mostly Peugeot 403s and 404s, which I ran on a shoestring as a second car.

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