well I picked up "Maddy" yesterday morning. Pete had given her a good clean up to his usual exceptional show standards. The vinyl roof gleams due to weekly applications of Kiwi and polishing.
I headed off from Wakefield yesterday at about 4.00pm and drove the 180 miles to Hertfordshire down the M1 and into the teeth of a very nasty winter storm.
First impressions are very good indeed - the car pulls well and likes to cruise at about 60-65. Will happily go up to 85/90 but I respect the old lady and my fuel bills! Starting she can be a bit rough and needs a dollop of choke till properly warmed up. This is no issue and is exactly what I would expec of a carb car of this age. Idling can be a wee bit on the lumpy side and I might tune the engine to make the mixture a wee bit richer. The brakes are very very good and much more sensitive than on my 940 - Maddy's brakes were done last year including new calipers and pipe overhaul so no suprise there.
On the open road it took me a while to get used to the dated handling of the 200 series but soon it all came back to me and I no longer notice. The car did the 180 miles in filthy weather in 3 and a half hours - not bad at all considering the lousy traffic and the two big tailbacks.
This morning I decided to take my Daf 55 rally car replica the 12 miles to work in St Albans. The 55 is an ideal car for snow and ice as it has variomatic cvt transmission ensuring correct power goes to each wheel at the right time. It also has narow tyres and is pretty light so it powers through snow and ice like a snowmobile. However, it has sat in the snow for the last 2 weeks without being moved and suprise suprise it wouldn't start. No choice but to take Maddy so I sparked her up and took her down to the office - no problems at all. I did wait until the engine was warm before heading off.
This is a lovely car which will be used several times a week but which I will also be keeping is the best possible condition I can
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