Just reporting in from a 2000 mile trip from London down to the south of France and back in my 1967 Amazon. A bit of color first (if you will permit) and then some technical questions at the end.

Driving in France is a pure pleasure and reminds me of the England that my father used to talk about 40 years ago; almost empty freeways (though some tolled), hardly any cars on the minor roads, loads of service-stations (but petrol expensive ). But watch out for when all the French go on holiday on the Friday afternoons at the end of June/beginning of July).

The Amazon rolled along at 75/80 mph quite happily for 100s of miles at a time and attracted various looks ranging from puzzled to smiling recognition; there are very few 120 series cars in France and a car of this vintage is almost unique on the freeway. What amazed me is that 90% of French cars driven on the freeway are almost new. I hardly saw any cars more than 10 years old and it seems that these are purely reserved for toddling around the little roads on Sundays. This made me thankful of the quality and speed of my 36 year-old Volvo which steamed along with the best of them and was no slouch when overtaking lorries. Though it admitedly got overtaken all the time since the French drive on average at about 90 mph.

OK, now for the tecchie bit:

Firstly a niggle with my D-type overdrive. I think this problem may relate to the heat, but I'd appreciate other less-hopeful bits of advice).
I was driving for about 4 hours non-stop on the freeway and the air temp outside was at least 35 degrees. After about 2 and a half hours the road started to climb a bit and my cruising speed dropped to about 60. I went in and out of overdrive a few times and the drop in the revs was slower each time (normally it's about a second, here it was about 2-3 seconds). Eventually, in overdrive, when I pushed the gas, eg to overtake a lorry, it slipped out of overdrive until I eased my foot off the gas, at which point it dropped back in. I switched off the overdrive at this point and all further flicks of the switch produced nothing, although the light went on and a test at rest produced the right clicks at the engine and the solenoid. HOWEVER, after a night's rest the overdrive worked fine. The strange thing is that an exact similar journey on the way back, when the temp was about 25 degrees produced no problems.

The oil in the overdrive was 20W50, not sure if this is the best oil to use in the excessive heat.

The only other problem I had is a strange one and I would appreciate feedback. Fully laden (3-up and lots of baggage) I was going down a freeway, slight incline downwards, and heard metallic noises from underneath which eased slightly when I slowed down, and then finally I got the tell-tale noise of a holed exhaust which suddenly got really loud. After inspection the exhaust pipe had completely cracked in two, at the point where it does a little loop upwards, just before it reaches the muffler-box. I had it welded to get me home and the mechanic said it looked like a manufacturing fault since it just sheered.

Has anyone hear had experience of a pipe just breaking like that? I'm wondering if I should get the pipe sent back.

Cheers

Tom