Caption contest.

Just for fun, how would you caption this photo from a 1960s Panhard PL17 brochure? Drop us a comment below.

Avignon Motor Festival 2010.

In no particuliar order here are some shots from the Motor Festival that took place last week in Avignon:

Trio of Fiat 500s:

CG 1200S:
Matra 530:

Fiat 128:

Citroen DS and Volkswagen Type 2:

Alfa Romeo Alfetta Sports Sedan:

Mercedes-Benz 280CE:

Alfa Romeo 8C Spider:

Panhard Dyna Z:

Marcos GT3:

Fiat Dino:

Early Citroen 2CV:

Renault 5 Turbo:

Simca 1200S:

What in my opinion was the most interesting car of the show, an Autobianchi Primula Coupe S:

Morgan Aero 8:

Fiat 850:

Citroen GS and Citroen GSA:

Citroen SM:

Renault-Alpine A310:

Peugeot Dangel 504 4x4:

BMW 700:

Air-cooled Citroens from left to right: Ami 6, GS, Ami Super. The Ami Super was an interesting car: the body of an Ami 8 with a 1015cc flat-four borrowed from the GS's parts bin instead of the standard 602cc flat-two.

Renault 17 Gordini:

Citroen GS break in the foreground and GS Birotor (with a Wankel engine) in the background:

Specially-bodied Peugeot 404 with a 1948cc four cylinder diesel that drove for 72 straight hours on the Montlhery Autodrome at an average speed of 161km/h (100mph), covering a grand total of 11,627 kilometers (7,224 miles). It broke 19 world records and set 3 new records:

Lancia Delta Integrale:

If you want the high resolution version of a photo above or more photos from the show please email us at ranwhenparked -at- hotmail -dot- com.

Peugeot 204.

As two people correctly guessed the mystery car was a Peugeot 204 sedan:

They were built from 1965 to 1976 in sedan, convertible, coupe and station wagon form. While maybe a bit bland on the outside they were interesting cars inside: all variants had a transversally mounted four cylinder engine (gas or diesel) varying in size and were front wheel drive. Peugeot achieved that by placing the manual transmission under the engine block and the two share the same oil.

Below are some photos from a junkyard in the Vaucluse department of France. Due to the rain I wasn't able to take as many as I wanted but I did manage to find an exhaust I need so I'll go back on a sunny day to fetch the exhaust and take some more pictures.

A Panhard PL 17b:

The Panhard PL17 was produced from 1959 to 1965. Under the huge hood lies an air-cooled flat-two displacing either 848cc or 851cc depending on the model. An engine this small may seem inadequate for a car that is rather big but it's not as slow as one may think due to the aerodynamic shape of it. An interesting feature of that engine is the exhausts, which on either side also serve as motor mounts. If you like Panhards stay tuned, they will be the subject of an article in the near future.

The junkyard (which is actually half a junkyard, half a guy's collection) also had other cars that we've already covered in these pages, including a Fiat 500:

Fiat 850 Coupe:

Various Renault 4s:

Last but not least, a rusted-out Alfa Giulia 1300TI spotted in a garage on the way home. The owners want 500€ out of it.

Avignon, take three.

Just a few more from the show.

An NSU 1200:


BMW 2002 Touring:

Renault 17:

A Renault 8 that looks like it was pulled out of a barn that morning. Worth nothing it's on the back of a Saviem truck:


Mercedes-Benz 230.4:

Panhard PL24 B:

Old time rivals.. Citroen Ami8 and Renault 6:


MG 1300, an attempt to counter the Beetle:

Panhard PL17.

There's a Renault Juvaquatre in a field not too far from here with a sign on it that reads "OLD CARS AVAILABLE" with a phone number. I called the number and the guy told me some of he cars he had available. One of them was a Citroen Dyane. Could be interesting for 500 Euros so I went to look at it.

One look at the Acadiane and I wasn't interested. First of all, it's not a Dyane but an Acadiane, the "truckette" version of the Dyane. The body is full of poorly covered rust and a lot of parts are missing.

What caught my eye was a Panhard PL17 behind the Dyane. For those who don't know, Panhard was a French car company that made cars until the late 1960s. They were taken over by Citroen and died shortly after. They're the guys who invented the Panhard rod in your car (if it has one). Panhards are far from common, even in France.

PL17s have an air cooled 2-cylinder (very similar mechanically to the Citroen 2CV) so it's a bit of an interesting engine to work on. This particular one apparently ran recently but is out of gas right now. The owner claims it runs fine, I want to find out for myself. It's well worn but 98% complete. The floodboards are rusty and would eventually need to be replaced but that's the worst rust on it.


Stay tuned, if I can get it started I'll likely buy it.