Death of an automobile, reduced, reused and finally recycled

And so the moment came that the surf car finally died. For three years I have been part owner of a Renault Laguna estate with a group of friends. We bought it because we were fed up paying extortionate hire costs for a car to go surfing in. We also wanted to go abroad with a car and this costs even more.

So after some research we found a suitable car for sale at the end of my friends road and bought the car for £700.  We took the car down the West Coast of France. The battery ran out at one point but it ran pretty well.

After this trip we were already in credit against hiring a car so anything else was a bonus.

We took the car to Spain and Portugal. and then back to France where some Frenchman in a van tried to take it off the road by reversing into the door and a speed bump tried to remove the exhaust but still the car went on. We even bought a new door in the right colour from a scrap yard. And Nick proved it was big enough to sleep in.

This year we managed a trip to France and Spain again with no trouble. Then I discovered the car had air conditioning and got it recharged. I think this may have been the downfall of the car. Not long after I went to France with my girlfriend and the car stopped in the tremendous heat (40 degrees). The car made it back but never seemed the same> then last week just outside Broadwoodwidger she went bang on the A30. We opened the bonnet and there were flames coming from the engine, luckily we had an extinguisher in the boot and the flames were easily quenched. We called the fire brigade to make sure and then got towed to our camp site unloaded our boards and tent and waved goodbye for the last time.