When I was 5 years old my father bought his first car, an Ami 6. We used the car where it was made for: Just drive around and just stop where there was a nice pick nick place. Take the bench out of the back so you could have a comfortable pick nick.

There were two things my mother didn't like about the car. It tilted to much and the engine noise. A Citroen from that type always tilted heavily so that was normal, but she had a point about the noise. When we would go 60 Mph we would have to shout to each other. With 70, the top speed, the noise was a hell for your ears.

So we drove about a year in the noisy Ami 6. Ami means friend in French. Listening to the screaming of the cars engine it must have felt that differently.

According to my mother my father did something wrong but he told her that noise just came with the car...he couldn't do anything about that. One day my uncle was also in the car. Going at 60 he shouted to my father: Why don't you shift into the 4th gear?.... 4th? ....there isn't one. Yes there is....Where? There!!

After shifting into the 4th gear there was a heavenly silence, a pleasure for the hearing.

Unfortunately one year of torture was to much for the Ami. The car died, obvious that a worn out gear box caused it.

Why did this happen? My father had his driving lessons in a car with 3 gears. He knew about the cars with 4 gears but never had that experience before he drove the Ami. The shift stick in the Ami was in the dash board and where usually the 1st gear is it was reverse in the Ami. 3rd  was in the usual place for 4th and there was where it ended according to my father. It was a used car and the 4 on the shift knob wasn't readable..........