[DeTomaso] Loire Valley tour report

MikeLDrew at aol.com MikeLDrew at aol.com
Tue Jul 8 02:58:24 EDT 2008


Hi guys,

I'm sitting in Amboise, France, participating in the very relaxed, 
gentlemanly tour of the Loire river valley organized by Charlie McCall.   We've got 15 
people in the group, Pantera owners from Spain, England, Ireland, Norway and 
the USA, and we've been ambling along back roads from one stunning chateau to 
another fine restaurant, having a grand time, on the way to Le Mans for the Le 
Mans Classic vintage race.

Here's a shot just after a rainshower from Chateau d'Usee, which was the 
castle that served as the inspiration for the story of Sleeping Beauty.

http://members.aol.com/mikeldrew/ChateauUsee.jpg

>From left to right, the Panteras are owned by Steve Burke (Ireland), Charlie 
McCall (Spain), Roger Coates (England), Geoff Peters (England) and Roger 
Brotton (England).   All the cars except Charlie's are right-hand drive.

The car on the end is a pretty stout Marcos powered by a pumped-up 4-liter 
aluminum Rover V-8.

The weather has been what the English call 'changeable', meaning that 
sunshine and scattered clouds gives way to light showers, then the sun comes out 
again, and then suddenly it's bloody chucking down with rain, and then it's sunny 
again....

Today we're on foot, wandering around this town to view the huge chateau that 
dominates it, as well as a museum where Da Vinci lived and worked for several 
years.   This is to be punctuated by fine meals, and long sits in sidewalk 
cafes enjoying powerful coffees and/or beers (and/or sodas in my case!) and 
gently watching the world walk by...:>)

Mike


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