My DS may only have been over in a barn an hours drive away, but it had been a long, long journey, (and with a few delays and wrong turns up dead ends), to get to this point. After years of plotting and planning, finally, FINALLY, my car was coming back home.......
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| As It Was: Big Barn - May 2004 |
Initially I'd thought of hiring a flatbed and driver to recover the car, but that was likely to prove expensive. Car money was tight and I wanted to save as much of it as I could to spend directly on the car. Doug, the race car builder from the barn, had a long, four wheeled trailer and generously agreed to lend it to me. I assured Doug I'd towed before. That much was true, but I'd found it a hair-raising experience. I had hired one to collect my DS from Doctor Chevron back in 2001. I used a Citroen BX to tow on that occasion and, in hindsight suspect the BX was woefully inadequate for the job. At one point on the journey home the trailer developed a swerve which grew in intensity. Only by speeding up before gradually slowing right down, was I able to calm the beast. I was lucky I didn't lose everything. With that in mind, and since it was his trailer I would be borrowing, I asked Doug for any advice he might want to give. "Just don't fuck it up".
Now, 2017, the family car was a 1.9 diesel Vauxhall Zafira. Far more suited for the job in hand. Especially as the DS was without an engine - so considerably lighter than when I was towing the DS with the BX. The big snag was that I had zero experience of manoeuvring a trailer, so reversing it onto the drive at our new house was going to be a problem for me. As I did back in 2001, I contacted Richard (always my 'go-to' co-conspirator for all things-DS) and a plan was hatched. He was in: Richard would help me load the car at the barn end. I would drive the Zafira and Richard would follow along in his car. At the Bedford end, Richard would take over and get the trailer on to the driveway, from where we could push it into the garage. Richard would hook the trailer up to his car and return it to the barn before going home. now that's what I call a plan!
Doug uses the trailer to get cars to race meetings and so I had to wait for a convenient weekend to get access to the trailer. On a trip to the barn one workday lunchtime I gave the trailer the once-over: seeing what it's maximum load was. I noticed it had it's own breaks. When the towing vehicle slows down, the continuing momentum of the trailer pushes car and trailer together. Through a lever, this action operates a cable which pulls the trailers bakes. I was reassured when I noticed this. I also investigated towing regulations and techniques. I also had to estimate the weight of a DS without engine and associated peripherals. Cars have a 'recommended' maximum towing weight limit, with the absolute max being a little above this. Remembering my experiences with the BX, I wanted to be safer this time. I can't now remember the figures, but I estimated that the DS was just at - or only slightly over - the 'recommended' towing ability of our diesel Zafira, and almost certainly below the 'maximum' limit. That was good enough. I checked my insurance cover - all was fine. I made up a number plate for the back of the trailer. I couldn't check the hook up for the brakes and indicators. i just had to hope they were going to be okay.
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| It's Really Happening! 15 October 2016 |
Supervised by Doug we got the car on the trailer. In terms of technique, the way to load a car is engine end first. If you do it the other way round, all the weight is at the back of the train and you are at far greater risk of developing a snaking, uncontrollable whiplash. As the DS had no engine, the weight distribution of the vehicle was more even, but overall weight was still up at the towing maximum and I would need to take care.
As it turned out, the DS needed to be loaded nose-first anyway to get the wheels suitably placed over the trailer axles to create the right level of pressure on the towing hook. The rack on the trailer for storing race tyres got in the way of the DS nose. Any hard braking and the DS bonnet might be ruined. Rather than remove the rack, we opened the DS bonnet over the rack. It looked odd, but did the job.
As it turned out, the DS needed to be loaded nose-first anyway to get the wheels suitably placed over the trailer axles to create the right level of pressure on the towing hook. The rack on the trailer for storing race tyres got in the way of the DS nose. Any hard braking and the DS bonnet might be ruined. Rather than remove the rack, we opened the DS bonnet over the rack. It looked odd, but did the job.
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| Gently Does It - 15 October 2016 |
The journey back to Bedford was uneventful. I felt like a triumphant returning king. With storage costs for the car having been a frequent source of friction, as we pulled up at the house Gayle came out to see me to find out just what all the fuss over the past 15 years had been about. Secretly I was worried about the state of the car and what Gayle would think - especially given that I'd spent the past two years telling her that everything needed to be fixed. "It's not nearly as bad as it looks" I offered. "Oh. It's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be" was the reply. Thanks Babe. Love you. XX
