Dawn drive up the Putty road with the Citroen Club

Despite my overheating problems last year, I had enjoyed the Citroen Club drive up the Putty road last year, and was keen to have another go in the DS with a new water pump and flushed radiator.     This year was the same format, drive up for breakfast at the cafe halfway along the Putty road, Lunch at one of the wineries and then drive back through Wollombi.

Given the problems I had with overheating last year, I was rather dismayed that at 5:15 this morning, my temperature gauge was not working.   Turns out the flying lead had become wrapped around the steering column and turning corners had ripped the ends of the wires.   I was able to do a quick and dirty temporary fix to ensure peace of mind on the drive.

Turnout this year was not as good as last year, but we had two DS, A Traction Avant, an XM and two modern Citroens.

The traction was a rare Slough Big 6 with the small boot.   However, unfortunately the owner found the steering heavy and had replaced the Big Six motor with an ID19 motor and gearbox, and the  front suspension with that from a 6H.   Seems a shame to do this conversion in such a rare car.

Tellingly, not a single car on the run had historic registration (despite four of them being eligible), again showing how poor this system is in NSW.

The run was a lot of fun, and the DS was even overtaking slow moving hatchbacks.   Of course, many motorbikes (and their shadow, Police cars) were on the road, but not enough to make the drive unpleasant, and Putty is far enough away that you don’t get stuck behind push bikes.    I wasn’t able to stay for lunch, but all in all a good day.