Citroen wagon on fire?

[gibgib]

Came on the radio 2UE & 2WS at about 7:15PM that Epping Rd (in Sydney) was down to one lane due to a Citroen wagon being on fire

Anyone know the details, ie. if the Driver &/or car are OK?

 

[Alan S]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by gibgib:
Came on the radio 2UE & 2WS at about 7:15PM that Epping Rd (in Sydney) was down to one lane due to a Citroen wagon being on fire

Anyone know the details, ie. if the Driver &/or car are OK?

This message was posted on the Australian Citroen Bulletin Board.
Thought I'd post a copy here as many would know or have heard of the guy & car involved.

Alan S

Some sad news to report to you all.
I had a phone call tonight from Gerry Freed, who many of you may know or have heard about. Gerry is back in Aus VERY briefly and thought it a good chance to drive HEA917, his '73 DS 23 Safari Hydralique.

Gerry picked the car up from his son, Julian in Sydney and was driving along the M2 near Epping (so I understand) when he noticed the engine missing severely. Next thing he noticed was the smoke from under the bonnet. By the time he could stop the car there were flames coming out of the front wheel arches.

Gerry tells me that the car is ruined from the steering wheel forward. The Fire Brigade investigated after the flames were gone, and believe that the battery bracket had worked loose and caused a short between the pos and neg terminals.

HEA917 was a wonderful car. Gerry had spent many dollars and hours restoring what was a very rare car in Australia - and probably now of course world wide.

Gerry is OK, but probably quite sad now. Fortunately Yo was not with him at the time, and she is also OK.

If anyone in the Sydney area has an interest in the remaining shell etc, please post a message here.

Thanks

Craig Keller
CCC of NSW

 

[David Cavanagh]

So did they actually say Citroen on fire over the radio, I remember once down here (Melbourne) there was a broken down Peugeot blocking traffic somewhere and the traffic report every 15 minutes kept talking about the traffic banked up behind the broken down Peugeot, Every day there's a traffic jam somewhere due to a broken down car, but this was the only time I've ever heard them call out the make, it was like they were trying to say don't buy a Peugeot because they brake down, it really annoyed the hell out of me.


David.

 

[gibgib]

David they definitley said a Citroen wagon on the radio, otherwise I would have thought nothing of it.
I have only heard specifics about breakdowns when a bus or taxi is the cause, you never hear "a ford laser is broken down in the southbound lane....."
I know what you mean but I'd reckon they'd have a go at a few makes, obvious one would be Volvo, as they aren't well liked by non Volvo drivers

(I like P1800 tho!:cool

 

[David Cavanagh]

gibgib I supose any publicity is good publicity and Citroen is probably the only make of car there smart enough to recognise but it still annoys the hell out of me. I hope French cars are not looked at in the same light as Volvos.

David.

 

[ckeller]

Well you may be very pleased to know, that Jason Hantos, who bought Gerry's burnt out Safari, will have the car back on the road in about 2 weeks!

I commented at the meeting last Monday (to Andy - Jason's father) that Jason must get a life someday!

Congrats Jason on an outstanding effort!



------------------
Craig Keller
Vice President
CCC of NSW
'74 D Special
'87 BX TRI

 

[Paul Smith]

I saw the freshly repainted engine/transmission ready to go in to the car yesterday - it looks very good! Jason has replaced all the heatshields with ceramic coated ones, as well as having the manifolds coated.