One day in early April of 2006 I was looking through E-bay for Zephyr parts when I saw a -63 mk.III Zodiac up for auction in France. There was only one bid of one (!) Euro, so of course it attracted my attention as the car looked quite okey. The french climate is generally mild so rust is rarely an issue wich of course added to my curiosity.

Of course I wasnīt REALLY gonna buy the car, it was more of a nice thought, but then I mentioned the car for my friend Peter who got all fired up! He called the seller as Peter speaks french and found out the reserve price was a moderate 450 Euro. The car had been with the owner for ten years and had very few owners but had been partly dismantled for restoration. The brakes was looked over and the running gear and fuel tank had been cleaned and some parts renewed. All of the brightwork was there too. The paint was said to be the original as well, but as we later found out it was the original colour, not the actual original paintwork. The exhaust was said to leak, the car had no clutch master cylinder and a bad brake master cylinder. The gearbox and engine was said to run well but it wouldnīt idle.

Peter and I discussed and decided treat the whole matter as a vacation and an adventure, and bid the reserve price.

When the auction closed Peter called me at work saying; "We have a Zodiac, thereīs a plane leaving for Paris at five oīclock!" After some quick phonecalls arranging for my son to stay with friends I was on my way filling up a bag with tools, spares, toothbrush and some clothes.

After staying one night in Paris and taking a pic of the Eiffel tower (amazing!) we borrowed a car from Peters friend Djamel, who runs a Jaguar workshop, and proceeded to the small village of Variscourt outside the town Reims some 120 km. northeast of Paris. Inspecting the car gave us some surprises.... I donīt think Cedric, the owner, believed Peter when he said on the phone we actually was going to drive the car home. It probably didnīt sink in until the day we took it for a testdrive to fill up gas!

During the next three days we put back the rear screen, the rear vent windows, cleaned the carb and cooling system, aligned the doors, fastened the bumpers, changed two tires, aligned the front wheels, (sort of...), got the clutch working, and bleeded the brakes. Two things turned out to be tricky; The "leaky exhaust" consisted of the front pipes. No more. Not good when risking beeing stopped by the german police. In Sweden you go into any automotive store and buy universal mufflers, bends and pipe by the meter. Not in France. Finally we got a Citroen BX muffler that had the right pipe diameter, and both inlet and outlet pipes on the same side. Then we cut up a hole in the opposite end, and Voila! Itīs a bit loud, but not WWII Lancaster bomber like it was with only two straight pipes...

The other tricky bit was that Cedric had removed the pinion seal in the rear axle as it was leaking. I was thinking about the new seal lying at home.... However, Cedrics friend Denis worked at a mechanical workshop, and we explained the problem for him. The next evening he returned with two metal rings, one to go into the axle housing, the other he pressed on to the yoke leaving room between them for a modern seal.

Filling up the gastank in the next village presented us with a new problem. The fuel tank sender locking ring had dissapeared flooding the boot with fuel. We found that an old brake reservoir cap cut around the egde worked as a replacement, and with a thick O-ring under the sender that problem was solved.

When friday arrived we needed to get going and decided to fix the remaining problems, (no charging, no brake lights, no indicators) at Djamels garage.

Iīm glad Peter was driving the Zody as we arrived to Paris in the mid day rush and Madame Zodiac only ran on four cylinders... In the dark driveway in Djamels garage we could see the sparks jumping around in all directions except down to the plugs! Some secondhand wires and some isolating tape fixed that. The charging problem turned out to be a mystery, so Djamel gave us a used alternator from a Jaguar XJ40. With a longer fanbelt and a distance pipe it looked factory installed. Then Peter discovered it was negative earth! We were both too stressed to think clearly, but Djamel just looked patiently at us and said; "Turn the battery around then." With an alternator thatīs all you have to do since it - unlike a generator - does not have a certain polarity. An alternator swap has been described on this site by Karl. All electrical motors without a permanent polarity will work on negative earth since you reverse both fields.

The brake light switch was incurable, so we decided to go without that luxury. After all we didnīt intend to stop until we got home!

We left Paris early in the evening. Only stopping for gas, a Pain Riche with lots of french cheese and a cup of coffee, we roared through Belgium in the dark and then in to Germany. By then it was getting colder and as the heater didnīt work we decided to have another go at it. It was five degrees above zero.... The heater matrix was full with cold water, so the water didnīt circulate. Remembering how the water valve works we took the air line at a gas station, gaffer taped it to make it seal in the pipe and blew five kilos of air pressure in the intake pipe of the matrix.

Psssssss.....ffooomp! The seal had probably been shut for at least ten years, and had stuck against itīs seat, but after blowing it loose our grins widened as the temperature rose!

At eight oīclock in the morning we called Peters wife to have her check the ferries for Sweden. There was one leaving Travemunde at ten, and 9:36 we checked in and parked Madame Zodiac in the waiting line.

The crossing was slow but gave us plenty of time for a giant breakfast, a sauna, and a long hot shower.

Rolling off the ferry in Trelleborg and driving the last 25 km to our garage in Malmo almost felt like an anticlimax!

Now we will tidy up the car, and look over things. A good and thorough clean will also be needed, but we intend to keep the car as original as possible. She has some scars from the past and the unique french features she is equipped with will stay on the car. The yellow lamps in the headlights for instance, and the "town & country" horns.

She also originally got a brake fluid level warning light, wich in the future will be restored.

A nice adventure, a cool car and last but not least; The hospitality of my newfound friends in France is what I got out of this. BIG thanks to; Cedric & Carole and their children, Denis & Christine and children, Djamel and Jean-Yvon!

Iīm going back! I never got the time to go up in the Eiffel tower....

                                    Above: Low Brake fluid warning light.

                                       Above: Warning sensor for brake fluid level.

                      Above: Switch to switch between different types of horns for use in

                    Above: Well made lower mount for shocks (Ulf plans to redo this and the

                                             top mount shown in the below photo).