Read the full article which includes where to buy the parts and tools required Click here

After lunch, I asked everyone to stand by their car so I could take their picture before we moved on, but this meant we were delayed so had to play ‘catch that convoy’. As we were descending downhill just after another tight hairpin bend, we came across a broken-down Figgy. It was Alan & Sue Sykes. They already had Toni & Paul with them, but we thought we would pull up and see if we could help, safety in numbers as they say. Alan knows his way around the Figaro and soon enough, multimeter in hand it appeared the alternator was not working as the battery voltage appeared to be just 7 volts! This also meant the car would not start, so I offered to try and jump-start it, which got it going but when we removed the leads the voltage was dying again so the car would just end up stopping. It’s times like this that it can become very scary that you’re miles away from home and in the hands of your insurance company.

Alan had the overseas number of Classicline and soon enough things started to happen. However, on each call to him, he had to repeat on more than one occasion his policy number, reg, location etc. After an hour or so we decided that he was going to be rescued so we left them both and made our way back to the hotel.

Later that evening they did get collected but it took around 4/5 hours from the first call. When the issue was diagnosed as a faulty Alternator, Alan made a call to Maz from The Figaro Shop who came to the rescue with an overnight delivery to the garage saving him time and money.

The item was installed and we’re delighted to report that Alan & Sue got home safely, but it was two days later.

The last evening was Dress to Impress, awards and toy car racing (more about this later). Meeting on the terrace for drinks, before the fun starts, Ken Graham had organised a video call with Veronica Young. Veronica (known as Vron) was calling from the hospital where she had been for several months following a decline in her health.

Vron had undergone a number of chemotherapy treatments but unfortunately, they had not been successful, the result of which her cancer was terminal.

Words cannot explain how brave this lady was as she wished she was with us and told us to have a great evening. Unfortunately, Vron passed away just a few weeks later as our news article above covered.

Bang on queue we were confronted with the music and four characters from The Wizard of Oz as Dorothy (Anne Wrigley), Tin Man (Stuart Wrigley) Scarecrow (Dennis Case) and Lion (Angelique Case) entered the terrace, singing and dancing their way in.

Over time, the underside hood cover wear strips start to deteriorate, if you want the car to be at its best, they will need replacing. Also, because the paint is very thin with no lacquer, sections of the paint can become damaged, especially alongside the “L” shaped stickers.

Kevin from the Owners Club wanted to look at resolving this issue. You can read the full article which includes 7 stages to achieve the results shown below on the right.

The picture above shows the condition pads the before the work started. You can see the mess I got into when trying to remove the bottom of the 'L Shaped' pads set!

I had to have the inside of the boot professionally spayed as my efforts ended up removing the existing paint!

The above picture shows new pads stuck into place. It now looks as good as it did the day it rolled off the production line 32 years ago! If you are looking for these then read the article.

This event was a result of a lady named Karen Night from Triumph contacting us out of the blue and asking if we'd be interested in visiting their factory based in Hinckley, Coventry. Being a keen biker I was excited but not sure just how popular the event would be. To add some figgy driving fun, we decided to make it a two-part event and in the afternoon drive in convoy to a very pretty place called Coombe Abbey Park which is situated just outside Coventry.

We posted it and within a couple of weeks already had 10 cars signed up! Even after a few Cancellations, we still managed to achieve 16 cars on the day. The weather forecast kept changing but in the end, it was wall-to-wall sunshine on the day with a rumbling of thunder but thankfully no rain. If anything, it was too hot, reaching a crazy 30 degrees in the day.

Sue and I travelled down on the Saturday, to break the journey up and make a weekend of it. We stayed at a Premier Inn, which was just a stone's throw from the venue. Arriving at 9:30 the two brand ambassadors Danny and Pete were there and had already taped off our private parking area. We popped our orange flag up and within minutes Figgies started to arrive. The factory included a free-to-enter museum on the history of the Triumph bikes and a coffee shop. We had two tours lined up with a start time of 10:30 and 11:30. These had already been paid for with our group discount and lasted one and a half hours each.

Pete was our tour guide and told us that there were two rules, rule one is you must stay within the yellow line and rule two is you cannot take any pictures. The tour was fascinating as it included all areas of the factory from goods in, manufacture, assembly line and testing. One amazing area which I found very interesting is the fact that they can print a bike out of plastic using a 3D printer and it looks just like a real motorbike! In fact, you have to go up and tap the engine to believe it. This allows the design teams to create designs very quickly and cheaply.

Myself, my son Alex, Lee & Craig Smith, Heather and Reid Martin and Bob & Liz Hughes were all quickly engaged with enthusiastic members of the public keen to either know more or find out what on earth these cars were!

I was happily able to advise that this wasn't a new Figaro dealership being established, but the lovely Gwyn and Marc our newest Scottish Chapter members who have now relocated North of the Border. Once they're settled I'm sure they'll be heading to events like the rest of us!

Ever thought of going on a long road trip with your Figaro but have put it off, worried that it might not be up to the challenge? That was us! But having just come back from a 39-day round trip from the Midlands UK to the Spanish and French Pyrenees, we can say “Go for it!” We had no problems except a refit of a mudguard!

Our car “Lucy” performed better than we ever expected, with some tricky climbs over 1,000 metres and in temperatures often near 30º. Even heavily laden with both boots full and the back seat rammed, we had no problems cruising at 55mph and climbing to over 1400m on the N260.

We decided April/May would be a good month to go, hoping that the snow would have cleared at altitude and it would not be too hot. So we booked the ferry to Bilbao and worked out suitable stopping places along our route.

First heading East across to the Mediterranean, over the border into France, working our way back through the French Pyrenees, then back into Spain and Bilbao for the ferry home.

Sorting out documentation and accessories was next. RAC/AA plus the Gov.UK Foreign Office were good, up-to-date sources of what you need to have and take with you, including insurance details and sorting European breakdown cover for over 30 days abroad. UK citizens will need an ETIAS to enter the EU from Jan 2024.

Travel insurance and GHIC cards were also essential.

As we are not mechanically minded people, we had a full service with our local mechanic, plus a new set of windscreen wipers and two bottles of E5 fuel additive just in case, and we were off!

One of our favourite routes was the D117 in France from Perpignan to St Girons. A smooth, beautiful road with an 80 km speed limit, moving from the rugged wine regions of the Pyrenees Oriantales to the lush hillsides of the Ariege…. passing through towns and pretty villages and the Gorges de Pierre-Lys.

Finally, it was back to Bilbao and the boat home. Unlike in Kensington where apparently 3 Figaros were spotted in 1 mile, we saw none in over 2000 miles.

Everywhere we stopped we felt like celebrities.

They are certainly a rare breed of car in the Pyrenees!

Out of 1000 cars a little over a hundred got picked for their site by a photographer and YES or figs got picked and was said overall thought of the day was the Figaro section was very tasty and very tasty Cars.

It was our first outing for my Figaro since its major overhaul. Our stand was busy all day with lots of visitors wanting to know all about the cars.