After the Beast ...

Hi everyone,

I bought a green Citroen Club as a replacement car for the Beast while in Durban ... reason being that I could not find another Beast and the ride quality of this 1980 Citroen was simply out of this world – even when measured against the best models of today.

The Green French Monster (GFM) gave me hassles from the very beginning but every time that ride quality made owning it worthwhile. Some of the hassles:

The week after I bought it, I undertook a trip from Durban to the Western Cape when the hydraulic system sprung a leak. The car felt pretty low as I went up Van Reenen’s Pass and I wondered what was wrong but nothing else seemed to give undue warnings, so I carried on. This was until I reached a red traffic light in Bethlehem in the middle of the night. The brakes failed and I went straight through. I then realised that the brakes were also hydraulic and, sensibly stopped and overnighted at a nearby service station or ‘garage’ (as we locals refer to them). The next morning, I went to the service manager and had the GFM inspected. I was informed that the hydraulic system had sprung a leak and that the special oil in it was almost depleted – for the first time I learnt about LHM fluid, it was a special oil used by that Citroen’s hydraulic system and very scarce. Since only blessing followed my incidents in the Free State, that very service station had an adequate supply of LHM fluid.

The repairs were made, LHM fluid replaced, and tested and by 11:00 the next morning I was on my merry way to Cape Town again, with half a canister of LHM fluid in the boot.

Let it be said that the rest of the journey was bliss.

The GFM surprised me again when during that same holiday, I transported four rather sizable adults (all family) in it from Wellington to Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, a distance of about 40 km. I sprung a puncture in Stellenbosch and, having had my spare wheel ‘borrowed’ without my consent by a backdoor mechanic, I was in a quandary.

The solution, since it was still weekend and the service stations were shut, was to put the hydraulic setting on ‘high’ (it had 3 settings) and drive back to Wellington with a full load basically on three functioning wheels. When we got to Wellington, a check of offending wheel revealed no problems. Tyre was still on, not shredded and a replacement tube the next day did the trick! Amazing GFM!!

I confessed to never having loved the GFM as much as I loved the Beast and even its silky suspension was only adequate compensation.

That was my second car!

It expired in a mechanics backyard, when the suspension packed up. Clearly a more dignified end than the

violent one suffered by the Beast!

Keep travelling safely until next time!