I’ve been into cars since I was about a year and a half old when a family member bought me a toy car. That toy car was the first of what today has become a large collection of model cars ranging from 1/12 scale to 1/87 scale. At the age of 15 my collection started to include 1/1 cars, the first one being a 1984 Saab 900 S with a bad automatic transmission. Today I’ve enough cars to create my own traffic jam. Some run, some don’t, some are for parts, most of them are pictured below.
1984 Mercedes-Benz 300D. My third w123 300D, purchased in 2008. It’s been extremely reliable and has a little over 208,000 miles on an odometer that rarely works.
1981 Mercedes-Benz 230E. My fourth w123, saved from imminent impound in Marseille in February of 2012. It runs fine and it mostly needs cosmetic work. It has 220,000 kilometers (173,000 miles) on the clock.
1966 Alfa Romeo GTV. I purchased it in 2006 as a bare shell and I have been putting it back together as money and time allows. It has a 2000cc from a 1978 Spider instead of the original 1600cc that, try as I may, I was not able to find locally.
1988 Alfa Romeo Milano Verde. I purchased in 2004, I drove it daily until 2006 when the ABS system went out. I converted the car to non-ABS and now keep the car as an occasional driver. Unlike other US-market Milanos which had a 2.5 V6 the Verdes had a 3.0 V6 which makes this car quick as hell; the transaxle gives it a near 50/50 weight distribution and it handles wonderfully.
1985 Renault 4. This car was given to me in 2009 by my neighbor who had it sitting on the side of his house and couldn’t take it with him when he moved. This car originally belonged to the French Gendarmerie (military police) and has a plugged up hole in the roof where the siren once was to prove it.
1969 Renault 4. I purchased it in 2008, it’s a very original car and only has 73,000 documented kilometers (roughly 45,000 miles) on the clock. Currently not running.
1997 Fiat Brava. It was purchased new by my grandfather and inherited by me in 2005 with about 48,000 kilometers (29,000 miles); it now has a little bit over 100,000 kilometers (62,000 miles). It has taken me all around Europe in a relatively reliable fashion, but it hasn’t been used for almost a year.
1980 Renault 14 TL. This car has been through the desert in Morocco and through the snow in the Alps, it’s been driven every day since new and it hasn’t seen the inside of a garage in over twenty years.
1980 Renault 14 TL. Parts car, ’nuff said.
1978 Citroën 2CV 4. Purchased in 2008 from a man who had it sitting on his farm. It runs well and is used as an occasional driver.
1983 Citroën GSA. I purchased it from the original owner’s grandson in 2008 with 76,000 kilometers (47,000 miles) on the clock, it’s up to 86,000 (53,000 miles) at the time of writing and is my current daily driver.
1983 Citroën GSA wagon. Very rusty car with near-intergalactic mileage that has been parked for over twelve years.
1981 Renault 4 F4. A work van that has become a daily driver. It is in decent shape though it has a couple of holes in the floors, and the odometer reads 117,000 kilometers (72,000 miles). I am the third owner and the car is on its second engine.
1983 Citroën Visa. 44,000 miles, acquired to replace the GSA as a daily driver. It needs lots of minor miscellaneous work in order to pass inspections.
Cars I have previously owned include (in no particular order) a 1984 Saab 900 S, 1987 Alfa Romeo Milano Gold, 1978 Lancia Beta, 1978 Alfa Romeo Spider, 1973 Alfa Romeo GTV, 1971 Fiat 850 Spider, 1971 Fiat 850 Bertone Racer, 1979 Mercedes-Benz 300D, 1983 Mercedes-Benz 300D, 1992 Mercedes-Benz 300E, 1962 Volkswagen Type 1, 1974 Renault 4, 2005 Fiat Ducato Maxi Cargo, 1969 Alfa Romeo Giulia 1300TI, 1973 Volkswagen Type 2, 1993 Opel Corsa, 2000 Lancia Y, 1989 Saab 900 Turbo, and a lone Japanese car, a 1990 Toyota Corolla wagon.
Salut Ronan,
Je viens de visionner ton site et de découvrir ta culture nostalgique de l’automobile, que je partage en tous points, comme Dan te l’a sûrement dit. On a déjà parlé des 4L lors du Tour de France. Mais j’ai aussi été l’heureux propriétaire d’une Saab 900, l’un des derniers exemplaires les plus aboutis, puisqu’il s’agissait d’une Turbo 16S S-Line de 185 ch, millésime 1992. Elle tenait tellement la route que j’en ai fait halluciner plus d’un sur l’autoroute du sud à cette époque de déchéance automobile désormais révolue. Au chapitre Citroën, j’ai eu une C5 V6 essence avec suspension active, elle aussi imperturbable sur parcours sinueux ! Quel plaisir ! Après six Porsche, dont des flat-six et des 944 S2, une GOLF GTI 5, propulsée par le fabuleux TFSI à injection directe de 200 ch, trois Mercedes CLK, dont l’inavouable CLK 55 AMG poussé à 400 ch, je suis aujourd’hui, par manque de moyens parce que mon fils aîné poursuit ses études à Aix (Sciences Po), propriétaire d’une OPEL CALIBRA turbo 4X4 de 1995, qui n’a vraiment pas froid aux yeux ! 245 ch et 4 roues motrices sans monogramme sur la malle arrière…, tout ce qu’il faut pour s’amuser sur les routes de l’arrière-pays. Quand nous nous verrons la prochaine fois pour la cause professionnelle, je t’exposerai les nombreuses autres aventures automobiles que j’ai connues, comme la R8 Gordini, la R5 GT turbo, ou encore les Range-Rover V8 bidouillés qui ont occupé mon temps ! Bravo pour ton site et ne laisse pas les aspirations politiques de notre temps saborder notre passion.
amitiés
seb
Aha! Now I see what you mean about the Peugeot platform… the farmer’s one here is on the extended A-Series chassis… not the later LNA / Visa chassis. We have a Merc E300 TD [that's Turgid Diesel... not Turbo] which is currently the cheapest to run… it does the same distance per litre as the 425 Deuche… currently 1.42€ against 1.64€ per litre [of 98] here in Indre-et-Loire. But it was the 2CV that was used in the snow… you can’t beat it.
I believe all Visas were based on the 104 platform, same with LNAs.
Those old Mercs are bulletproof, I’ve had five of them and the only major problem I encountered was with the 4Matic system on a w124. I ended up disconnecting it altogether and went on my way.
No, all the first series of Visas were on a version of the A-Series chassis… this has been used to good effect with some of the stretched 2CVs with Visa engines for pulling power. The ‘garagiste’, in Yorkshire, who put a new chassis on our ’89 2CV had a Acadiane/Visa-powered van using this arrangement… it meant slightly lengthening the front end [10cms let into the bonnet and wings]… he had done it very nicely… you had to look twice… and it only really stood out when parked against another Acadiane.
The air-cooled Visas and the HY are honorary 2CVs in the UK!
I don’t think so, about the Visa. All Visas were unibody, none had the body-on-frame construction of a 2CV.
Looks like you’ve got a thing for your Classic French cars. That ’69 R4 looks cracking. Hope it’s back up and running, only 300 left on UK roads.
It’s not running yet, I have 2-3 other small projects to finish before I start working on it again.
Merci pour ce site, que je consulte toujours avec grand plaisir. J’ai 3 automobiles, toutes immatriculées (en Suisse): DAF 66 SL 1973 / SAAB 900 i16 1990 / SAAB 9000 CSE auto 1991. Bonne semaine. Henri
Vous avez une belle collection! Quelle est votre preferee?
I loved the Renault 4 1985, the year I was born! The 2CV is “marrant”. I like old cars, however having and driving a VW Bus is the must funky experience you can ever have! ,¡Felicidades desde México!
What a great collection of vehicles Ronan, so different from the scrunched-up and compressed look of today’s cars. Your cars truly have some architecture involved, and I can see why you hang onto them. My cars have included a Volvo 144 and 164., Peugeot 505, never got that elusive 604, a Saab 900s,a Bmw 528e, and currently a Volvo 1989 780 Bertone, with the PRV V-6 engine. Thanks for taking care of your website and keeping these shots alive.