Life in Ontario for Bleu Pierre started with the realization that it was not nearly as hot for a car built in France as his previous domaine in the Imperial Valley. There was also an absence of sand storms, which made the heart of his little 36-horsepower engine purr with delight.
It was shortly after the family arrived in Ontario that Pierre made a new friend. Al the Dutchman was the husband of the bookkeeper at pere's new place of business, The DailyReport. In addition, Al ran a service station and specialized in keeping all the cars driven by his wife's co-workers running.
Pierre liked the way Al treated him, particularly since his new friend was the first person who seemed to know what made him tick and why he had so much trouble with his engines.
"Turns out the reason you've been wearing out so many engines so quickly can be blamed on that accident you had when you first got this little fellow,'' Al told pere, taking time out for a puff on his ever-present pipe."Knocked him out of whack, putting an angle in the drive line...Kinda like pulling it to one side all the time. No wonder he had so much trouble. He was running down the road like a dog.''
Pere was pleased; perhaps he could drive Pierre for more than 15,000 miles before changing another engine.
"One more thing,'' Al said after another puff from the pipe. "That's a 1959 model, last of the line. Renault kinda cheaped out on it. pointing to a cap atop Pierre's engine. "That has a few holes around the edges and is the only place the engine can vent from its crankcase...Earlier models had a second vent, a pipe, on the side kinda like a Chevy or Ford.
"That added to your problem. All that pressure the poor little guy had to suffer through.''
After a few hours of work, Pierre was almost a new car; he drove down the road straight as he had when he rolled off the French assembly line and his bad case of auto asthma had cleared up, too.
Everything went well for several months, but then his latest engine which had suffered damage earlier from his two now-cured maladies died.
Al suggested that instead of replacing the latest blown engine with a new one from the Renault factory, he look around and see what he could find. What he came up with was a step up from the original, a Dauphine engine rated at 53 horsepower.
It took a little tinkering to fit the bigger engine into the rear compartment, but when it was done, Pierre was transformed from a mild-mannered little family car that putt-putted around town to a snarling tiger capable of sailing along with the best of the sports cars.
About this time, Pere was asked to be editor of the company's newspaper in Victorville. After the family had moved to nearby Hesperia, Bleu Pierre became a regular sight on the back road between home and the office.
His favorite trip, however, involved the back road from Hesperia to the bottom of the Cajon Pass. Pere would push the little blue car and its beefed up engine to new speeds around the tight curves of the two-lane road. For a time Pierre was convinced his driver was training for a grand prix.
During this period, Pierre made frequent trips down the Cajon Pass and across the vineyards back to Ontario when his owner needed to return to the headquarters. His most important trip down the hill, and perhaps his fastest, was on a Tuesday morning in 1962 when he carried the family down the hill to a hospital in Upland in record time -- 70 miles in 70 minutes.
He was racing the stork and almost did not make it. The youngest member of the family, a jeune fille, arrived while pere was parking the car after dropping maman off at the emergency room.
After that, Pierre found himself a work-a-day commuter, carrying pere to the office and home. But most weekends and evenings, he was left in the garage while the family drove about in a much larger, and in Pierre's opinion much more common, American built stationwagon.
Sadly, the family had outgrown him.
It wasn't long before Pierre's travels with the family dwindled in number. Finally, when Pere decided to return to the Ontario paper and move the family back down the hill, Pierre found himself relegated to a rented trailer for the trip. The insult was added to as some friends of pere's managed to drop him as he was being loaded. It was his first ding.
A few months later, depressed and seldom driven, Pierre was somewhat encouraged when pere decided he should be sold to another, smaller family.
His Gallic reasoning kicked in: Perhaps he would run into someone like Jamie who would run along side him in the early morning mists in a city.
A much more civilized existence, n'est-ce pas?
It was shortly after the family arrived in Ontario that Pierre made a new friend. Al the Dutchman was the husband of the bookkeeper at pere's new place of business, The DailyReport. In addition, Al ran a service station and specialized in keeping all the cars driven by his wife's co-workers running.
Pierre liked the way Al treated him, particularly since his new friend was the first person who seemed to know what made him tick and why he had so much trouble with his engines.
"Turns out the reason you've been wearing out so many engines so quickly can be blamed on that accident you had when you first got this little fellow,'' Al told pere, taking time out for a puff on his ever-present pipe."Knocked him out of whack, putting an angle in the drive line...Kinda like pulling it to one side all the time. No wonder he had so much trouble. He was running down the road like a dog.''
Pere was pleased; perhaps he could drive Pierre for more than 15,000 miles before changing another engine.
"One more thing,'' Al said after another puff from the pipe. "That's a 1959 model, last of the line. Renault kinda cheaped out on it. pointing to a cap atop Pierre's engine. "That has a few holes around the edges and is the only place the engine can vent from its crankcase...Earlier models had a second vent, a pipe, on the side kinda like a Chevy or Ford.
"That added to your problem. All that pressure the poor little guy had to suffer through.''
After a few hours of work, Pierre was almost a new car; he drove down the road straight as he had when he rolled off the French assembly line and his bad case of auto asthma had cleared up, too.
Everything went well for several months, but then his latest engine which had suffered damage earlier from his two now-cured maladies died.
Al suggested that instead of replacing the latest blown engine with a new one from the Renault factory, he look around and see what he could find. What he came up with was a step up from the original, a Dauphine engine rated at 53 horsepower.
It took a little tinkering to fit the bigger engine into the rear compartment, but when it was done, Pierre was transformed from a mild-mannered little family car that putt-putted around town to a snarling tiger capable of sailing along with the best of the sports cars.
About this time, Pere was asked to be editor of the company's newspaper in Victorville. After the family had moved to nearby Hesperia, Bleu Pierre became a regular sight on the back road between home and the office.
His favorite trip, however, involved the back road from Hesperia to the bottom of the Cajon Pass. Pere would push the little blue car and its beefed up engine to new speeds around the tight curves of the two-lane road. For a time Pierre was convinced his driver was training for a grand prix.
During this period, Pierre made frequent trips down the Cajon Pass and across the vineyards back to Ontario when his owner needed to return to the headquarters. His most important trip down the hill, and perhaps his fastest, was on a Tuesday morning in 1962 when he carried the family down the hill to a hospital in Upland in record time -- 70 miles in 70 minutes.
He was racing the stork and almost did not make it. The youngest member of the family, a jeune fille, arrived while pere was parking the car after dropping maman off at the emergency room.
After that, Pierre found himself a work-a-day commuter, carrying pere to the office and home. But most weekends and evenings, he was left in the garage while the family drove about in a much larger, and in Pierre's opinion much more common, American built stationwagon.
Sadly, the family had outgrown him.
It wasn't long before Pierre's travels with the family dwindled in number. Finally, when Pere decided to return to the Ontario paper and move the family back down the hill, Pierre found himself relegated to a rented trailer for the trip. The insult was added to as some friends of pere's managed to drop him as he was being loaded. It was his first ding.
A few months later, depressed and seldom driven, Pierre was somewhat encouraged when pere decided he should be sold to another, smaller family.
His Gallic reasoning kicked in: Perhaps he would run into someone like Jamie who would run along side him in the early morning mists in a city.
A much more civilized existence, n'est-ce pas?
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