THE CAR THAT DID NOT WANT TO GO...............

THE CAR REALLY DID NOT WANT TO GO……………..

........be sold that is!

We have bought a new car, well new to us that is; it is a 1997 Peugeot 806 people carrier, except for us it is to carry dogs!

Two reasons for the change are that we would prefer a left hand drive, living in France permanently and secondly we have been looking for something with a gear change that suits Ruth and her short legs!

The short legs mean she has to push the driver’s seat right forward which leaves the gear “stick” virtually behind her in our aged “Passat”. This has caused her long term problems with her shoulder over a period of years.

So we thought to look for a buyer for the Passat. It is 20 years old now and we have had it for 14 of those years, so we know the car pretty well. It has only had just two owners!

It goes well, just been to UK and back, but it has a few noises and idiosyncrasies that we have just got used to!

We found a buyer by way of a site on the internet here in France... although I had not yet placed an advert. I explained that there were some things that would need doing if he wanted to test it again after its test runs out in March next and the chap duly arrived on the train the other day.

We have decided on a price of 200€ cash, which I think is very fair especially as I had put 50€ of diesel in just the other day.

 I collected him from the station and drove out of the town before handing over to the prospective buyer!

 Firstly he let the clutch out with a double jerk giving the engine and transmission a violent thump and activating a worn engine mounting with a clunk.

“The clutch is going”, he said positively.

I grinded my teeth and thought “oh no, another wally, who knows all about mechanics but has never had dirty hands”!

I told him that there was nothing at all wrong with the clutch, but yes there was a worn engine mount but it gave no trouble provided you drove “kindly” and did not ram the clutch in and out like a ...... I left the final words unsaid!

We continued towards my home where he was destined to leave me and proceed on his journey back north to wildest Brittany. He continued to pick spots off the car just as if he was buying something for 5000€ or even £.

200€ or even £ represents I think today something like 20€ or £ in the 1970’s when we were never paying more than £40 for our cars until the red Jaguar came along. Perhaps it is even less!

Just after passing thorough our village, I took him on the longer route to show him the road he would be taking home. We climbed a railway bridge and down the other side and quite suddenly the fuel gauge took a dive! This really gave my driver/buyer a grievance and he wasted no time in bringing my attention to this fact.

I was staggered, this had really never happened before and I could think of no reason for it.

“It must have been when we climbed that bridge that did it,” I said mystified.

I had already told the chap that he was in luck as I had put 50€ worth of fuel in the car only last week, to last me over Christmas!

His only comment was, “I might run out on the way home,” He had shut his ears to what I had told him previously, that he had enough fuel for about 400 miles.

We stopped at my home and he said he didn’t want the car, there was too much to do on it; but at the same time he had been talking on the way home about needing it to just drive around his vast fishing lake and collect rubbish. Why he would have to repair engine mounts and hypothetical clutches just to drive off road baffled me.

So he looked under the bonnet and I showed him the excellent spare wheel and all the tools complete etc.  “No”, he said it is too unreliable I might not get home!”

Ok I said you don’t have to buy it, I will take you straight back to the station; but first I must explain to my wife that we are going because she had fixed some food for you.

We duly parted and I zoomed him back to Saumur station and left him there. Whether he expected me to drop the price or something I just do not know, but I did manage to get in the fact that I now would be able to use all my own fuel.

 I also mentioned that I was retired and only received the minimum UK Old age pension of £100 per week so I was damned if I would let a perfectly reliable if elderly car with 10 gallons of fuel in, go for nothing!

He had been previously moaning at me on the phone for two days that he had difficulty getting to the station because he lived in a remote spot on his own,” so tough”, I thought as I dumped him at the station, he will just have to thumb a lift home after the train.

Oh, one more thing; there had been various English folk involved in the initial enquiry about the car. The first wanted one for nothing and another said it was for a friend etc.

 This “chap” who did come said he had a perfectly good Ford Focus back at home; hum, I thought afterwards, I think he was after buying it cheap and reselling it! Tough then, he was dropped off foodless and car less and train ticketless and all his own fault.

 I did not get round to telling him that I had been a second hand car salesman and HGV mechanic in my dim past! But I did tell him I knew the car backwards and would quite easily take it to the UK and back tomorrow if necessary, without any problems.

I think it was the old car who played up really, after being told it was not even fit to trail round a fishing lake in the mud for the rest of it life!

 POSTSCIPT........

The Passat has gone..... after the incident with the fishing lake man I put two good second-hand tyres on the front to keep it legal and advertised the car through the internet on a local information site for 300€ or near offer.

Had lots of enquiries but finally a client came last week, younger chap, quite pleasant whose father, sensible chap has been living here in France for over 20 years.

This client had a mate who is a Volkswagen mechanic and he quite happily paid us 280€ and drove the car back home a couple of hours away.

I reckon the mechanic friend had told him that this particular model of Passat was the best one that Volkswagen had ever made.

As I mentioned before, it had lots of noises that we had just got used to over the years but the build quality was superb...in over 20 years it never had the engine touched except for very regular oil and filter changes (5000 miles without fail). No components had needed changing, just drive belts and timing belts, it was even on the same clutch after almost 191,000 miles! So off it has gone to start a new life and I hope the new owner pops a cork of suitable sparkling wine, when it eventually hits 200,000miles! Oh, the car behaved impeccably on the test drive with its prospective new owner... it approved!

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