Brilliant French Design
Ah! This takes me back. Now I am a self confessed mini freak, yet I have only ever owned 2 in my life. My pet love is resoring them to a lovely condition and showing them off at shows and all that crap. The problem is, when they are in the garage I have no means of transportation. hmm Dilema!

So why not go to the local Irish (gypsy) auction and pick up a piece of crap and use that to get me from my house to the garage where my pride and joys reside, what could possibly go wrong?

The car of choice? A citeron AX 1.4 diesel. 0-60? depends on how steep and long the hill is. This thing was quite possibly the slowest car in existance. It's fuel consumption though, was fantastic for a a greesy student struggling to make ends meet.

A warm summers day I decide to get the mini out the garage and do some work in the sunshine, so I hop in said citeron to get to the garage. The garage however is out in the sticks and is about a 20 minuate run to get there. No problem.

Now this diesel used to use a large ammount of water in the radiator, but I didn't care, the piece of crap was going on a scrap heap once the mini was running. That's when it decided to rebel. Foot to the floor and driving off (slowly) in a puff of black smoke, I headed to my pride and joy. Just outside town I noticed a rather worrying smell coming from the engine. Best pull over and stop I thought to myself. I got out the car and lifted the bonnet.

*Fwoosh* Fucking flames went everywhere and I was taken back aghast. Having no tools to tackle this inferno I decided to do the sensible thing. Hide in the bush and call the fire brigade. "no worries we will be there in a flash" Well nothing to do but wait for the guys in red to come rescue me. "Well the car won't be able to run so best call a tow truck I guess" Another quick tinker to the "very nice men" and explain my woes. "patrols are on their way Mr Hoodles" Lovely. 20 minuates pass and no fireman sam or a very nice man in yellow. FUCK! By this time the front of the cab is starting to take. When suddenly, flashing lights.

"Saved" I thought. But as they came round the corner I noticed it was the AA guy. "Oh I see what you mean you needed a tow truck. Don't worry I can deal with this." He goes to the back of his tardis like van an with a quick squirt puts out the flames and my citeron is now a smoldering wreck. We waited another 30 minuates, 40 minuates, 50 minuates when finally the fire engine turns up. During which time me and the AA guy had built up a nice rapour, he even gave me some of his sandwich. A rather disgruntled fireman Sam got out his oversized toy and proceeded to shout at me.

"If you could have extinguised the fire safely by yourself you should have not dialed 999" I was shocked, as was the AA guy. How can I tackle a fire if you idiots turn up and hour late! If it hadnt had been for the guy in yellow I wouldn't have been able to retrieve my fluffy dice out the boot.

End of story. But it is worth noting that I later got a letter in the mail explaining tha if I wasted emergency services time again I would be prosecuted. Neededless to say a quick email to "Nigel" the AA guy, vouched for my situation and I got a nice letter back saying sorry and an invitation to visit the fire station to see how you put our engine fires. They even used my crappy citeron as a prop. So I guess in the end, everyone was very nice men.

EDIT Mini then


Mini Now

( hoodles is in your Afrikas Being Shotz at in CongOs, Mon 26 Apr 2010, 14:14, 2 replies)

You get a click
For being a Mini fan, if nothing else.
Glad it wasn't the Mini going up - that would have been too sad.
(Kliper Filllets Getting noticed by twats on the internet since, Mon 26 Apr 2010, 14:42, closed)

did you take them up on their offer?
and did they offer to cure your acid heartburn?
( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Mon 26 Apr 2010, 15:23, closed)