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Elusive Elaine proved totally reliable, the only mechanical problem being one of human making - mine, I humbly admit, though I blame Pete the photographer. I never use the handbrake when driving off-road (especially in the winter when the friction material can freeze in place) but Pete insisted that I should (don't be mad at me, Pete, you know I'm only joking...) Anyway, Elusive Elaine seemed to be making heavy going of one particular second-gear climb. It didn't look particularly steep, but I guessed it had to be steeper than it looked. I'd just grabbed first and got her flying again when Pete, who'd been travelling in the car ahead, suddenly leapt out and shouted at me to stop. I assumed he wanted to take a picture of the car - the backdrop of the mountains behind us was superb - so I grinned at him and posed. Then I realised he was shouting "get out of the car! Get out of the car!" and what he had in his hand wasn't a camera, but a fire extinguisher. He was under the Jeep before I could even move a leg, spraying CO2 over the undersides. Turns out I'd left the handbrake on (it works on the propshaft) and the friction material had caught fire - right beside the fuel tank, which is under the driver's seat. Thanks, Pete, for saving Elusive Elaine (not to mention me) from a fiery end, but no more advice about using the handbrake off-road, please... There was a moment of excitement on one other long, steady climb. Keeping Elusive Elaine moving against the drag of the snow usually meant getting some speed up in second and keeping the speed up, allowing momentum to carry her through sticker or steeper sections. The trouble was was newer, more powerful cars with taller and grippier tyres were able to take the climb a little easier, so the little Jeep kept catching up with them, forcing me to stop every time we came to a clearer patch. Having waited for traffic to move on ahead I launched Elusive Elaine upwards again, only to find cars ahead taking their time easing carefully through a natural narrow chicane of massive rocks. There was nowhere to stop this time, so I charged on, hoping against hope that the traffic ahead would clear before we got there. It did - allowing me to throw the little Jeep through the chicane without backing off. Being narrower than everything else it didn't touch sides, but I'm glad Nick wasn't there to watch, he'd have had a heart attack.
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It's the middle of winter and we're high in the high Alps enjoying what many agree is the premier recreational off-road event in Europe, the Croisiere Blanche, which is a three-day funfest where off-road enthusiasts have a unique opportunity to slither over icy tracks and plough through knee-deep snow. At any rate, the snow was easily knee-deep when I had the chance to drive Nick's Willys on the event. The little Jeep quickly showed its prowess against bigger, more modern cars, even though these, with their bigger tyres, had churned deep ruts through the virgin snow - thanks to its slightly narrower track the little Jeep was able to get a grip on the central hump and stay out of the ruts. The four-cylinder Continental engine isn't particularly powerful but it's got a lot of gutsy torque so it didn't have a problem pulling itself along against the drag of softer snow. There was only one long, steep and winding climb that the little campaigner couldn't handle - the snow had been so badly churned up by the modern Toyotas, Wranglers and Land Rovers blasting through ahead that the Jeep - named Elusive Elaine because of a natty graphic on the windscreen bulkhead - just couldn't get a grip. First gear proved too low and second a little too high; perhaps if she'd had taller tyres, giving her an inch or so more clearance and lifting the gear ratio a little, she might have made it.
