Musée Matra

After another false start yesterday, we finally visited the Musée Matra in Romorantin, 20 minutes from the gîte where we are staying. False start because Emma wasn't too good again and I went off on one because of it.

I'm realising that as I get older, I'm not very good at having to improvise - meaning that if we are leaving at a agreed time, any delay really gets to me. Then I get annoyed.

Anyway, we made it and I'd say that if cars are your thing, it is well worth a visit. Matra was an innovative car company, which was not only involved in Formula 1 and the Le Mans 24 hours races, but also in modern ideas for road cars. 
They tended to work with Renault and came up with the Renault Espace and Renault Avantime (OK the latter was a bit of a flop). They also created the Simca/Talbot Matra Rancho (as they had originally worked with Simca, before Peugeot bought them out and renamed that arm Talbot). This was what we'd call an SUV - or people carrier, like the Espace. It was based on the Simca 1100 pick up, with a lengthened chassis.

The pic features a prototype Espace and then the first version of it to the right. Unfortunately my Nikon DSLR was misbehaving, as certain photos have a bit of blurriness to them. I've corrected it in GIMP.

In the shop I spent a silly amount of money (for what it is) on a Renault 5 model, probably expensive because I bought it from the museum. Also got a fridge magnet. 

Afterwards we headed to Action, as Emma wanted to stock up on cosmetics. She also found some model rooms to build, in a similar style to the bus kit I had for Christmas. I bought myself a small portable solar charger, it might be useful for the powerbank in my van. It claims to put out up to 20 watts. When I charge it from the van's battery, it can be anything from a 20 to 30 watt input. Either way, it'll be free electricity... at least in the Summer months.