I got a cold. Can't really blame Ford or their StreetKa, though I suppose spinning around the higher reaches of Provence in an open car in mid-March is probably asking for trouble.

But they did give me a cap. So due diligence was satisfied.

So was the fun element of the day. The sun was shining, even if the breeze was slightly less than balmy. The spring growth hadn't yet begun, but there was enough green in the foliage to cheer up things. And there was the promise of a nice bottle of wine at the end of the day.

I don't think they come much sexier than this little opentop take on Ford's Ka. And why they needed Kylie Minogue to promote it last Paris Motor Show I simply don't understand. She pales a little against the car. But I suppose the money was worth it to play second fiddle to a style in metal, plastic and rubber.

I always liked the Ka. In Ireland, that makes me rather a minority, though I suppose the fact that the smallest engine is a 1.3-litre in the smallest car segment has militated against it in our high-tax environment.

But it was cute before most of today's cute cars were thought of. And it didn't come quickly, with the first concept in 1994 taking a couple of years to make it onto the road. Same thing with the StreetKa roadster, debuting in 2000 and taking until now to roll off the production line.

It's a bit special, of course, and it requires a fair bit of special building, a degree of it by hand. And it shows, because there's quite a character in the result. StreetKa is not just a toy, no model, but a real piece of motoring sculpture as well as a real car.

You can see the basic Ka family resemblance in the nose, but it has become much more sophisticated. The svelte of the sisterhood of three Kas, you might say. At the same time the strong unitary form of the fenders over the front wheels shifts smoothly into the bumper formation. The lights design has an edginess that adds purpose to the look. I suspect that the low airdam with its integrated foglights might be vulnerable to high footpaths in a nose-in parking situation, but the 100 Irish owners this year will be careful.

At the other end of the car, the striking tail-light design is like no other on the road today. The interesting thing is that, if you lift the boot, you actually have more luggage room than in a standard Ka. So, where does the roof go?

Ah, this car makes no bones about the fact that it is a two-seater. Derived from a 4-seater, and the cover lives where those two back seats were. It lives there in a very smart way, under a metal cover that keeps the sexy smoothness of the style when an opentop.

We've got used to power-operated tops, and power metal tops, and in some popular roadsters a sometimes finger-snagging method of getting the roof in place. There is power here, but only to pop the metal cover.

And though the press material says it takes around 30 seconds to do the job, I figure that with practice you could do it easily in half that time. And there is - Hallelujah! - no scraping of digits in the process.

Anybody familiar with the standard Ka will feel very much at home in the cockpit of this version. There are bits of chrome, bits of leather (more leather in the luxury version), but the loops and whorls of the basic Ka dashboard are still there.

There's also an aluminium gearshift knob as in the late Puma, which is absolutely painful to use on a frosty morning. I would change that.

But the comfort is good, the driving position fine, and though the thick A-pillar can be at first a little disconcerting, the fact that it is the support for a roll protection system makes it very easy to get used to. That protection is backed up (literally) by a pair of steel hoops set into the car's structure behind the headrests. They look smart, too.

And that said, I reckon it would be hard to put them to use, because the shape, size, and very much wheels-at-the-corners design of the Ka means that the car is solid to the road, even in the tightest twists.

There's a 1.6-litre 95hp engine under the hood. It isn't a 16v power unit, but an 8v motor built in South Africa. The nice thing about 8v engines is that they tend to have peak power much lower down the rev range, and a broader band of decent pulling power.

It means that in the kind of roads where these cars are most fun, good hilly twisting terrain, there's a decent spread of torque which means you don't have to be stirring the cogs as much as with a more peaky engine.

Now, it's not massive acceleration - the engine in the StreetKa application is a relatively leisurely 12 seconds-plus in the 0-100 km/h sprint. But the flexibility makes the fun, and with an open car you don't need great speed or acceleration to feel fun.

The convertible is also a fair chunk heavier than the hatchback, because of the needs to strengthen the chassis to compensate for the roof. That the SportKa with the same engine gets down close to the 9-second sprint clearly shows the difference. But that doesn't take anything away from the fun of the experience of the open-top.

The designers have tightened up the chassis and suspension to make the StreetKa behave as it looks it should. My experience for this exercise was short, but enjoyable.

Downsides? Well, that gearknob has to go. And perhaps the shift itself isn't the best in the world ... but it isn't too far behind. Also, there's a breeze from behind that will do for any complex hairdo. But that's what opentop motoring is about.

The StreetKa is not a mainstream car for Ford. They probably won't even make a profit on any number they make.

But it will do wonders for the image. For the company and for anybody who buys one.

And if you feel your image is good, you will BE good.

And, you know, we can still feel good because of the cars we can drive.

We should cherish that. Because it is an endangered species.

Even if you happen to get a cold ...