27-05-2021, 05:39 PM
In the 1970s my daily driver was a Citroën DS21 Pallas, a RHD two pedal one with the hydraulic gearchange. I took the car to an MOT garage across the road from where I worked for its test and told the guy I would call later in the day after I'd finished work. He asked me to put the car on the ramp for him because he wasn't happy about the semi-auto, which should have set alarm bells ringing. Anyway, off to work I went. Knowing the complexity of the car and its foibles I knew there was nothing wrong with it so it should have passed. When I got back later the bloke told me it had failed. On what says I? On a brake pipe says he. Show me please, so he puts the car up on the ramp and proudly points his finger at a steel tube running along the underneath of the car. It did have a little bit of surface patination but nothing serious. That's not a brake pipe, says I, informing him that the brake and suspension pipes were inside the nearside sill and couldn't be seen without dismantling the shields and asked him how many Citroën DS he'd actually tested (none actually). Well what is it then if it's not a brake pipe? Says he. Well, it's a metal tube that carries a cable from the rear anti-roll bar to the outer pair of headlamps, as part of the beams self levelling. He wasn't convinced until I actually had to start the car and bounce on the rear end so he could see the self levelling actuator move under the bonnet.
Needless to say I drove off with a clean sheet. I wish I'd kept that car. I swapped it for a CX2000 which was a right dog.
Needless to say I drove off with a clean sheet. I wish I'd kept that car. I swapped it for a CX2000 which was a right dog.