Italian sports car

Several of you have picked up from Stratobikers blog

that I fetched him back

from hospital last weekend

in an “Italian open top sportscar” ;

WHAT IS IT

you all ask….

A Ferrari,a Maserati?

ACTUALLY

its a FIAT BARCHETTA.

Very cute and stylish.

Powered by the ubiquitous 1.8 Twincam Punto motor

(same as Alfa Romeo and Lancia use)

it shares most of the Punto running gear

and is therefore ecomical to service.

Mine is the “limited edition “model of 2000.

Electric pack,airbags,aircon,leather seats etc.

A fancy stereo and Abarth alloys

were added by the previous owner,

a charming lady from Kent.

I saw the car advertised on Autotrader.co.uk in December 2006.

We agreed a price of £3000

to include a new mohair hood.

I took the train from Limoges to Paris

and the Eurostar to Ashford,Kent

-where I met her and collected the car.

I drove it back down to the Limousin

and changed the headlights

to dip to the right(about £150)

A controle technique(French MOT which is valid for 2 years)

was passed.

Certificates of conformity and tax office TVA declaration obtained……..

VOILA

A left hand drive,km speedo French registered Barchetta!

Because Barchettas were all left hookers

their value in the UK was limited to the specialist market.

Here in France theyre fine

-everyone drives on the right(well most of the time anyway!)

Consequently the French number plate

doubles their resale value,over here.

Its no surprise that there are 3 other Barchettas

within a 20 mile radius,

that I know of -and theyre all silver metallic!

Its a very nice car to drive

-very civilised,with plenty of power but not “raw”

There is no scuttle shake or rattles

and the hood is a beauty.

Definitely nicer and more classy than an MX5 or an MG

many rivers to cross

It allways rains when I go trailriding-how about you?
The saving grace of the Limousin weather is that it changes very quickly-”4 seasons in a day” is an expression often used by the locals to describe the climate here.
One period covering 2 days in February 2004 we saw a shift of 30degrees centigrade between consecutive days-minus 10C one day,plus 20C the following day.
Apparantly Napolean Bonaparte preferred to employ Limousine soldiers,figuring that if they could survive the vagaries of their region,s climate,foreign manouevres would present few problems,be it Cairo or Moscow(although like Hitler a century later, he rather misjudged the severity of the Russian winter ,didn,t he?)
When it rains here- IT RAINS.
Virtually every trail includes a stream crossing,and some can be pretty deep,especially in winter.
Summers are nearly allways very dry,often 3 or 4 light downfalls in 6 months,but during the winter months it can be torrential.
Crossing rivers needs a smooth style and commitment-no turning back!

I,ve posted some pictures for you, to illustrate the point.

Firstly the right way

The cautious approach

the wrong way

the foolhardy way

and lastly

The Stratobiker sensible option 

A BIENTOT