Archive for September, 2009

Ralf gets ready to hit the water again

I don’t normally use my blog as a diary, but I’ve had such a bloody good day today, I wanted to blog about it.

Today I spend the day with Sarah and Ralf in West Dorset, on the Jurassic Coast, at Durdle Door and Man O’War beach and what a wonderful day we had.

Possibly the best weather we’ve had all summer, it was fantastic. Warm and sunny, Ralf immediately made for the water for a swim, and not wanting to miss out, I decided I’d join him. The water was as clear as glass, and it certainly was fresh, it blew the cobwebs out, I can tell you. A really beautiful part of the world, Durdle Door is a world heritage site and a superb location for photography-in fact, it’s something of a togger’s cliche, but oh well! I was pretty pleased with the shots I took (there’s some more on my Flickr page, link to the left there) We then went for a bit of lunch at The Castle Inn, in West Lulworth which was great, before we made our way home along some great winding B-roads and duel carriageways-perfect roads for the MG!

A really wonderful, relaxing day and without a doubt, a perfect Sunday.

Man O'War Beach, Durdle Door, Dorset

Last night I finished up an article I’ve been working on for an upcoming issue of What Diesel?  and found myself in a field, just the other side of Crediton, surrounded by cars.

Half a dozen Triumph 2000s being broken for spares, a Commer van ready for restoration, a rubber bumper MGB, rotting slowly away into the field in which it was sat. And do you know what? I couldn’t have been happier. Here I was, sipping tea and discussing cars with a couple of passionate and enthusiastic car lovers, just like me. And the best bit? I get to photograph it, write about it, and see it all in print. I honestly think I’d go to the ends of the Earth for a car story.

You can’t beat the buzz of the job.

Or at least it seems to be at Vospers Fiat in Exeter, because they were totally disinterested in selling a car.

I popped into their dealership on Saturday with a good friend who is looking to take advantage of the scrappage scheme and rid herself of her decidedly manky 1996 Pea soup Green Peugeot 106. Being a thoroughly girly girl, she’s set her sights on Fiats new baby, the rather cute 500.

A good selection of 500′s on the forecourt meant we probably had a good chance of seeing the model and spec she wanted. Walking into the showroom we had to ask for some help (most salesmen will at least say ‘Hello’ when you walk into a dealers) and with my friend being a little nervous, I started asking the questions. I was told that, no, there were no other offers on the car. Still, not to worry, I then asked if perhaps the salesman might open one up, so that we could sit in it, see how big the boot is, normal car buying stuff. His reply? ‘No. Not today.’ Slightly taken aback, I asked ‘You can’t show us a car? None of them?’ He stared at me and slowly replied ‘Nope’.

Shopping for new wheels...

Needless to say we took our leave, fearful that his apathy might rub off on us. If I’m (or I’m helping some with a decision spending £10k on a shiny new car, I like to feel a bit welcome, and that the dealer is interested in me being there. Fiat clearly aren’t struggling to sell cars like the rest of the industry, based on this guy’s behaviour. So, I advised my friend to think about other cars and other dealers. There’s plenty of Fiat dealers in and around Devon.

The small car segment is now bigger than ever, with lots of choice for people to think about. There’s the Alfa MiTo, (we visited Alfa Romeo that afternoon and found the Alfa dealer much more friendly and interested.) which looks set to take sales from BMWs MINI. Also there’s Ford’s new Ka, based on the 500 and with similarly funky styling. Overall, the best value was with Vauxhall, who offered a Corsa 1400 SXi, with scrappage discount coming in at £10,000 with a years free insurance.

A cracking deal, no doubt, just a shame to Corsa doesn’t match the funky Fiat’s looks.