My frog was fast once!

[Mike Goldthorpe]

Hello.  Got recommended to drop by here by the blokey that sold me silicon brake fluid at the Harley shop on Khyber Pass road. 
My fast frog is really French - bought new in Clichy, Paris in December 1952 for FF650,000 (that's old francs), give or take.  She's black and can top 100 kph, though hills slow the old girl a touch.
She is a Citroen 11BL - Light 15 in English parlance.  Tidy but suitably scruffy in certain areas.  Some of you in Auckland might have seen her as I use her for commuting when it doesn't rain (she leaks...).   
I'll put some pictures up of her when I figure out how to do it :-)
Anyway, hi again from me.

[Griffe]

Welcome along Mike!

Sounds like my brother Terry at AMPS that told you about our great little site!

Would love to see some pics of your car sometime, feel free to join in on any post that you feel you could contribute to in some way and ask away with any questions you may have.

[Mike Goldthorpe]

Put a couple of pictures in the photobucket account.  Under Mikes 11BL

And trying this


Fingers crossed, there should be a picture here

Hurrah!  But damn small!  No worries, I'll post bigger ones this weekend....

[CaM]

YES!

so cool man. where you at the masterton citroen meet in january?

[Mike Goldthorpe]

No - still shaking the car down.  Mind you, my father drove her from the UK to Austria no problems, so she should reach any part of NZ no bother.
Starter needs attention as she's a bit of a grumpy old sod when hot - got brushes coming in and a modern starter drive (for a Model A Ford) to replace the bendix.  Dynamo sorted and I can drive with the lights on now :-)

Aucklanders can see her every morning (as long as the rain isn't teeming down) and evening as I commute.

Picture was taken at a show in the Viaduct Harbour.  Historic racer magazine, I think it's called, had a launch party.  Not seen a copy of the magazine yet...  Good show - some rather tasty frogs there in the form of Bugattis :-)  Real ones too.

Here's a taste of old car ownership...

It started fairly innocuously enough. Friends had gone to Christchurch
for a conference/holiday and asked me if I'd put their bins out the day
before the dustmen came. So I took the old Traction out for a wee spin
- she needs the exercise  I got there and though my brain was
deciding to keep the engine running, my hands had other ideas and turn
the ignition off. This annoyed me but I though it would be fine - after
all, she always starts even if it takes a wee while when she's hot.

Took bins out, placed them on the kerb, job well done, time to go home.
Hop in the car, retard ignition, key in, throttle flat on the floor and
pull starter.



Wo Wo Wnnnnng!



Wo Wo Wnnnnng!



Wo Wo Wnnnnng!



Repeat ad nauseam for a few minutes.



Poo - she's sulking. Wait a while - walk up and down the road, admire
houses, look at sky. Still light, so I'll be OK - won't have to drive
in the dark.

I get back to the car and try again - still no luck, so I repeat the
walking and admiration routine. And come back and try again and all
with the same result.

I carry this malarkey on for another hour and a half, the car turning
and not starting. I check the fuel is flowing - yes. I check the plugs
are sparking - yes, though with one wee little observation that in the
space of a "Wo Wo Wnnnng!" I only get one spark and sometimes I don't.
Sometimes I have to spin the engine twice to get a spark. This, I
think, is not entirely conducive to reliable starting!



I keep waiting and trying. Things start to get ridiculous when the
engine is now cold to the touch and I have abandoned the hot start
routine and am now doing a cold start routine. People drive by and wave
(so helpful) and tell me what a gorgeous car it is. Hmmm. Finally,
some young lads break their stereotype and stop to help. One is a
mechanic but he's a bit flummoxed by a 1952 French 6 volter  He
points out all the gubbins to his mate but can't really help. We have a
wee think and try putting 12 volts across the starter. It doesn't do
much apart from making the "Wo Wo Wnnnnng!" go twice as fast (maybe I
should remove the spaces from that starter phrase for full effect).



"Your starter's fu...shagged mate. Being 6 volts ain't helping. What
you want is a rotary in that " Visions of a Traction Avant hopping
down the high street going whup whup whup somehow don't appeal to
me....but I start to see certain advantages.



They offer to tow me home for beer but when I tell them where I live,
the smiley faces, though retaining their smiles, show signs panic.
Greenhithe is miles from where we were. So I resort to telephonic
technologies and borrow one of their phones to call my wife via my phone
which I had left at home. Did I forget to mention I had left my phone
at home? I did - I left it on top of my wallet....and yes, I don't, off
the top of my head, remember my wife's mobile number and the young lad's
phone could not call my home number. Good job my wife knows me and
answered my phone, eh?  They young lads wish me luck and get back to
their poker game.



She arrives a bit annoyed - it is 21:45, daughter number 1 should be in
bed and daughter number two is due for a feed soonish. She has to cram
them all in the car and come and see how I am. We decide I have to bite
the bullet and call the AA. $160 for a year - $160!!! I'd have to be
using them everyday in order to recoup costs! Still no worries, call
and tell them that I need help and I need to join. Do I have cash or a
credit card? No....it's in my wallet which was under my
phone....D'OH!!!



Wife then goes back and puts girls to bed and then calls me (lucky I
hadn't left my phone in the Nissan, eh?) and gives me my credit card
number. I relay this information to the AA and they promise to send
someone within the hour. Great - 22:00, it's dark and I'm getting eaten
by the mosquitoes. I thought I'd get the inspection lamp put, take the
plugs out and spin the engine over to clear the cylinders and try one
more time. Doesn't the plot sound like a smooth turbine without
compression? And doesn't the starter just go on and on and on? Lovely.
Put plugs back in, tighten, make sure plug leads are one nice and in the
right order and try the starter one more time.



"Wo wo wo wo wo wo wo wo" It sounded like a proper starter! Not that
half second, might get 2 out of 4 sparkplugs to heat the incoming
air/fuel mixture but a proper, keeps going type sound. Joy! And more
joy to come - the engine coughs!



I try again!



"Wo wo wo wo wo wo wo wo wo brummmm!"



Absolute joy! Ignition advanced, foot gently on throttle and let the
engine run awhile, call AA to cancel job and turn lights on.



I have to say a pair of 6 volt beams, originating from yellow bulbs, are
as illuminative as holding a match in front of me. Yet the juice they
take from the dynamo is seemingly inversely proportional to the light
they emit.



I have to say before the lights went on (that heating up idling time)
the charge needle was in full scale deflection. I assumed the battery
was getting some of those lost volts back and maybe gently boiling in
the process. But at least I could drive home with some lights....



I finally get home at 23:00. Car in the garage, I turn the lights off
and yet there appears to be little charging going on. Grrr! Sod it,
turn off the ignition, stick an accumate on the battery (a Lincon one -
8 years old and still going well. I thoroughly recommend them!) and get
washed and go to bed.

[Goat]

^Thats what old cars are all about

Love the L15. Such pretty cars

And welcome, there are a few slow frogs on here too! hah

[Griffe]

Well done!

Not just for the pain of having an older car and the patience that goes along with it but also the amusing read!

Thanks!

[Zealot]

Beautiful car!

[AXGT]

Hi
I saw your car at the viaduct basin where the photo was taken, nice car. I own the white D Special seen in the background (complete with fastfrogs sticker on the back window).
These cars may seem like slowfrogs by todays standards but they certainly wern't in their day. With their low centre of gravity and front wheel drive I don't know of any other four door family type car that could out corner them at the time.
Followed one fitted with an ID engine along the south end of the forgotten hiway in taranaki (50th anniversary tour for the citroen D 2005). It was in the lead followed by a line of Ds, we caught up with a new made in Japan ?? don't remember, but will not forget the sight of a brand new car with an old Citroen nipping at its heels and worrying the hell out of it for several fast paced ks. These cars still have the ability to make much later vehicles look very ordinary.

Welcome to fastfrogs

[Mike Goldthorpe]

Yep, that'd be me on the bridge.  Anywhere between Greenhithe and Grafton during rush hour will be me.

It's been and got the starter fixed (with a Model A Ford upgrade - a modern starter drive) and new brushes, so starting issues are a memory.  Just waiting to get brakes sorted - still works but as the shoes are down to rivets, best let the old girl rest with a trickle charger on the battery.

Funny, after Dave at Autofrance worked on her, she's quicker by 10kph.  100 is easy now and there's stress-free 105kph on the motorway.  Try that in an equivalent Morris or Austin :-)  Oh, wait, Morris had the Minor by then...OK - scratch that!  Still beat a Ford Pop, mind ;-)

[Apex]

Nice car.

My doctor had one for what must have been 20 years, he drove it as his daily too. Dr Peter Colman in Papakura/Drury.

[CaM]

are the shoes the same as early id/ds?

15s are so cool. LOVED driving one at last citroen national rally.