General pics of my old/new and new/old barchettas

[barchingmad]

so heres the story of a newish B owner...

with no strange CaPiTaLiSaTiOn. Promise!

had a Y reg B about 4 years ago, whilst my wife had a huge hulking company citreon C5. She duly changed jobs, and lost the company car - replaced the C5 with a Punto... So could we have 2 small cars in the family? fraid not... so I had to get rid of B1 (Jag Blue), and replace with Stilo Abarth.

Stuck with Stilo for 4 years as it slowly fell apart. fairly exhilarating 4 years though. would be great to squeeze that 170bhp into the B...

Anyroads, I kept on looking and lusting after Bs. Drove my wife mad. She snapped and bought a bigger car - another Citroen. This time a C4 - at this one looks OK.

So I managed to get just shy of £4k for old Stilo, and pick up my Black B (N reg from DTR). So much older than my last one - but a true original (barring the DTR exhaust). No 3rd rear brake light, original steel wheels - PERFECT!!!

Suffice to say I am loving it - and great to see a thriving scene still exists. i did attend a B UK Owners meet once in the old car, but that site seems totally dead.

Hope to meet some of you, and your Bs, soon.

 

[Mad Matt]

Welcome

Moral of the story.... keep going on at her and she'll give in in the end!

 

[barchingmad]

i did wear her out! it was along the lines of:

"if you bloo~y want one f%cking do it, and stop tw£tting about".

Love is a wonderful thing, but Bs are better!

Mad Matt - How is Brussels today? - i love that city (genuinely!) - so many great bars and beers...

 

[LittleRedB]

bmad - the black b looks very clean!! - also nice to see an original one! How many miles on the clock?

My wife also relented after much nagging - long story but I smashed my Jeep up, rather than replacing my car we bought my wife a new car (Citroen Picasso thing) and I took up residence in her old Rover 400 - I think I managed about 3 weeks before I convinced her I lost the will to live everytime I got behind the wheel......after much nagging (and a little emotional blackmail) I was given to go ahead for a 2 seater (despite us also having 2 kids!!)...............

I was in Brussels on and off during 2005 - have some great memories of being plastered in The Grand'Place - spectacular atmosphere there at Christmas - have to say that I was a little underwhelmed with the rest of Brussells though!

 

[barchingmad]

54000 on the clock - full fiat/ DTR history.

Would love to get round to updating the seats sometime, but £700 is a bit much for me at the moment...

Re. Brussels - it does look somewhat 'dreary' in places, but search out from the grand place there are some great little squares and alley ways hiding a host of excellent 'local' bars. this is turning into some sort of travelogue! but whilst on the subject... i would love to drive the b to the ardennes, some great roads and scenery down that area. when i was there some years ago i saw the uk MG owners club (BOOOOO! ) there. even they seemed to be having a good time!!!

 

[RnRollie]

nah, Brussels is one thing, but ideally you should try to get to Leuven (louvain), a bit to the eastsoutheast - a student town with LOTS of pubs/bars and terasses (not beergardens :yuck: )

(if you ever find a parking spot in Leuven) it is a good start and finish for a route into the Ardennes : for example :
Leuven - Hoegaarden - Hannut - Huy - Modave - Durbuy - Manhay - Stavelot - Spa - Francorchamps - Vervier - Liege ->
Or
Leuven - Hoegaarden - Hannut - Huy - Modave - Marche (en famenne) - Rochefort - Wellin - Givet - Dinant - Ciney - Namur ->
Or go all the way into Luxembourg (Diekirch) or France (Bouillon)

Be prepared to meet bikers on those routes thou

 

[Robot]

Be prepared to meet bikers on those routes thou

And Panthers and Tigers and SdKfzs etc

 

[superspotter]

My partner and I scratched our names into the tiles at the top of the tower in Tournai
Back in the day
When we were in love

 

[Mad Matt]

I prefer Brussels to Leuven, more character, but I actually live in Limal near Wavre which is 26K south.

I tend to go to the Ardennes via Dinant, but this year we did a bit of touring around northern Luxembourg which is very pretty

I didn't know we had a member in Luxembourg though! I'm going there tomorrow for work.

I was in Brussels today and enjoyed a Duvel at lunch time. Bit of a cold snap at the moment with overnight frost and only 8 degrees today brrrr.

 

[Le Mans 72]

As a former resident, I would recommend Leuven. A full night at the Oude Markt should convince you (and it's the fastest way to learn Flemish).

Mad Matt, I have never seen your B. on the Belgian roads. Indeed, I was checking the road surface constantly

 

[superspotter]

I would have thought that after three pints of Duvel, anybody would be able to speak Flemish
As for the Belgian potholes
Dont talk to me about Belgian potholes
Ruined my VW Transporter one of those buggers did

 

[RnRollie]

go south young man, go south !

its mostly the flemish potholes, the further south you go, the better the roads are. and once you cross the Lux border it is like...erm.. a different country