DON’T CRY FOR ME FIRENZE. Today, if there is one thing that I hate then it is a Firenza 2,5lt automatic.and of course a Land Rover. The Firenze, in order to get started was a miracle while to get the Land Rover running was a communal agreement and effort to give it a push around the block. I had decided to get married and the bridal gift was a Firenza, as described above. The bride was delighted and we held a small get-to-geather . We decided to have a short vacation in a place called Marydale located somewhere in the Northern Cape. This was the time when the speed limit was 80KM/h and illegal to carry extra fuel as petrol was in short supply and had sanctions placed upon it. And so we made our way from Walvis Bay to Marydale, travelling slowly to abide by the law and fast when the law was not visible. We drove through the night and close too Keetmanshoop the car seized up and left long tyre drag marks on the road. The engine just refused to turn over when attempting to restart it, even when the automatic gear lever was in neutral. The time was about 0400 in the morning. Eventually it was discovered that one of the valve attachments had come unstuckAnd was not returning to its correct position and it was jamming the piston. We decided to wait for daylight before checking the engine again. Later I heard the sound of a low-flying aircraft. the sound went and came for sometime slowly increasing in volume. The Firenze was parked on the side of the road and on a steep hill. Then I saw the plane come low over the hill and speeding like a bat-out-of-hell. the engine was wailing at full bore. When I saw this lot coming at us I scrambled to get into the Firenze. When it passed the Firenze actually shook from the shock wave. No, it was not a plane but a huge Ford Fairlane 500. The smell of the overheated engine remained in the air for some time. Back to work for me: I decided to remove the spark plug on the errant cylinder and test the engine. It started up beautifully. Then another car, a Mini stopped and the driver, a detective, asked us if a Fairlane 500 had passed. We reminded the guy that the Fairlane had passed at a high speed. He cursed some and shoved the Mini into gear and joined the race. The mini driver mentioned that the driver of the Fairlane was a diamond smuggler. We near wet ourselves. We drove the Firenze to Keetmanshoop and fortunately a garage was open. The Firenze was repaired for the princely sum of R25-00. The valve gear had not been screwed down properly. As we drove on, later, we noticed most cars seemed to have problems because we were overtaking most. That was until we noticed we were way above the limit of 80km/h Reached Marydale and my parents-in-law were in the seventh heaven because their daughter had married an Engels man. Later I was introduced to the granny. She, the poor soul, was still living in the ABW and screamed at me to get out of her sight:DONNERSE ENGELSMAN VOETSEK EK SE VIR JOU.
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