News and Views from ROAR - November 2004

President's Report

In the hands of John Nicholas, last month's AGM went off smoothly, with a familiar team of office-holders being re-elected - see opposite page. I would like to thank all of the team for doing an excellent job over the past 12 months, and hope that the next 12 months will be equally successful for the club. I particularly thank Graham Thompson and Mike Garrett who served as joint social secretaries over several years, but who have had to stand down owing to pressure from work and other commitments. 

After the AGM I took the liberty of showing some photos from the Sydney Motor Show, and describing some of the cars. Peugeot had a full range of models on display, including the 407 Touring which I particularly liked. The Citroen display was also a highlight, featuring the new C3 Pluriel - a rag-top convertible somewhat reminiscent of the 2CV. Watching a Citroen guy struggle to get the rag top to open and shut properly, only served to reinforce my feeling that the seemingly endless range of new cars, with all their new gimmicks (regardless of make) is likely to suffer reliability problems in the long term. I filled in a request form at the motor show for further information on the 407 Touring, and a brochure duly arrived by post a couple of weeks later. I also received an email which directed me to a 407 page on the Peugeot web-site (http://www.peugeot.com.au) . While visiting the site I took the opportunity to download a few of the Pug video clips, including the 407 ad with the toy cars and the memorable "Sculpteur" ad for the 206 which featured the young Indian guy remodelling his Indian-made Ambassador car (with the aid of an elephant) to look like a pug. All good fun. 

To finish the saga of the 405, begun in last month's column, I can now report a happy (though fairly expensive) ending. After bench testing the spray patterns of the injectors, it was discovered that two of the four Weber injectors were so badly blocked they couldn't be cleared. After a bit of searching, a suitable non-Peugeot replacement was found in the form of ACA injectors for a Holden Camira, and for about 30% of the cost. Michael Blumenfeld, who did the work, blames poor fuel quality from Gull and Woolworths petrol as major contributing factors. So, from now on, I will resist the temptation to save a few cents per litre, and only buy from the major fuel companies. This month's club meeting, and the final one for the year, will be held at the Italo-Australian Club on Tuesday November 23. We will finish the year with the traditional club BBQ at Lennox Gardens in early December.

Keep on pugging,

Brad Pillans

brad.pillans@anu.edu.au

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