Discussion
I was absolutely determined that my next classic would be a Mercedes - preferably not a saloon - over forty years old, petrol and emphatically not a doer-upper
Today, I bought this 34 year-old Citroen CX diesel saloon doer-upper.
Collecting on Monday evening. It's had a load of money spent on it mechanically with everything pretty much on the button, it is structurally solid but the bodywork and interior are tired and the roof is going to need a fair amount of surgery where the sunroof drains have blocked and caused corrosion to the roof panel. This is reflected in the price.
At 8.00am this morning, I had no idea I was going to be looking at a car today (though I have been swapping messages with a guy who has a LHD 450SLC that he may or may not be selling). By 10.00am I had arranged a viewing and by 1.00pm I'd viewed it. Someone else had viewed 1st but was haggling on money so I got a call at about 3.00pm saying it was mine. It helped that it was only 3 miles down the road in Dulwich.
It's a 2.5 DTR2 Turbo diesel model with the leather seats and aircon options. The seats need repair and the aircon isn't working.
1st step will be to find a reputable Citroen specialist, ideally in south London, to give it a thorough service and make a list of jobs. Getting the aircon working will be key as the plan is to keep it at our house in the Dordogne. It comes with a set of imperial sized wheels so, I'll get tyres on those and sell the TRX sized Turbo wheels to re-coup a little money. Will also sell the God-awful cheesy vanity plate.
Will keep you all posted.
Today, I bought this 34 year-old Citroen CX diesel saloon doer-upper.
Collecting on Monday evening. It's had a load of money spent on it mechanically with everything pretty much on the button, it is structurally solid but the bodywork and interior are tired and the roof is going to need a fair amount of surgery where the sunroof drains have blocked and caused corrosion to the roof panel. This is reflected in the price.
At 8.00am this morning, I had no idea I was going to be looking at a car today (though I have been swapping messages with a guy who has a LHD 450SLC that he may or may not be selling). By 10.00am I had arranged a viewing and by 1.00pm I'd viewed it. Someone else had viewed 1st but was haggling on money so I got a call at about 3.00pm saying it was mine. It helped that it was only 3 miles down the road in Dulwich.
It's a 2.5 DTR2 Turbo diesel model with the leather seats and aircon options. The seats need repair and the aircon isn't working.
1st step will be to find a reputable Citroen specialist, ideally in south London, to give it a thorough service and make a list of jobs. Getting the aircon working will be key as the plan is to keep it at our house in the Dordogne. It comes with a set of imperial sized wheels so, I'll get tyres on those and sell the TRX sized Turbo wheels to re-coup a little money. Will also sell the God-awful cheesy vanity plate.
Will keep you all posted.
Join the Citroen Car Club if you haven't already. You'll need the wisdom (and parts) of Stan Platts. He runs a free helpline for members so when you are thinking 'how the hell do I....' he'll know.
I ran a couple of these back in the 80's and 90's as dailies when they were just old cars. Absolutely sublime when working correctly, a ride nothing short of a Jaguar XJ Series 1 could match.
However, as a daily, they were hard work. They usually win a gold medal in the Rusting Olympics, heating/demisting were poor, the electrics were interesting in a bad way and the plastics and build quality weren't the best. When parking I'd always look back at the car, not to admire it but to see if there was a puddle of LHM underneath. The high pressure side is pretty much bullet-proof, other than rusty pipes, but the rubber pipes on the low pressure return had a limited lifespan. Luckily they tend not to fail dramatically so don't leave you stranded, just start dripping. Modern rubber is crap so keep an eye on even quite new pipes and gaiters. The supply of some parts now is an issue but Stan can usually help out or some of the specialists like Chevronics are remanufacturing some hard to find parts like the octopus.
As a classic, the downsides as a daily won't matter much. They are huge fun to drive, make epic long distance cars being so stable and smooth at speed and so much more interesting from an engineering point of view than just about anything else. Good luck with it and please keep us updated on progress (with pics!).
I ran a couple of these back in the 80's and 90's as dailies when they were just old cars. Absolutely sublime when working correctly, a ride nothing short of a Jaguar XJ Series 1 could match.
However, as a daily, they were hard work. They usually win a gold medal in the Rusting Olympics, heating/demisting were poor, the electrics were interesting in a bad way and the plastics and build quality weren't the best. When parking I'd always look back at the car, not to admire it but to see if there was a puddle of LHM underneath. The high pressure side is pretty much bullet-proof, other than rusty pipes, but the rubber pipes on the low pressure return had a limited lifespan. Luckily they tend not to fail dramatically so don't leave you stranded, just start dripping. Modern rubber is crap so keep an eye on even quite new pipes and gaiters. The supply of some parts now is an issue but Stan can usually help out or some of the specialists like Chevronics are remanufacturing some hard to find parts like the octopus.
As a classic, the downsides as a daily won't matter much. They are huge fun to drive, make epic long distance cars being so stable and smooth at speed and so much more interesting from an engineering point of view than just about anything else. Good luck with it and please keep us updated on progress (with pics!).
Edited by rovermorris999 on Sunday 23 April 07:50
LordFlathead said:
That's lovely.. not a description I thought I would ever use but here we are.. 30 years on since I used to detest them! I'd actually love a phase 2 Turbo but they are ultra rare and mega £££
Interesting how people’s opinions change. Back in the day, I was never a fan of the CX or for that matter any Citroens of the 70’s and 80’s. However now I absolutely love the CX and think it’s a fantastic car. I do see the odd one being used as a daily driver in France. 
ClaphamGT3 said:
I was absolutely determined that my next classic would be a Mercedes - preferably not a saloon - over forty years old, petrol and emphatically not a doer-upper
Today, I bought this 34 year-old Citroen CX diesel saloon doer-upper.
Collecting on Monday evening. It's had a load of money spent on it mechanically with everything pretty much on the button, it is structurally solid but the bodywork and interior are tired and the roof is going to need a fair amount of surgery where the sunroof drains have blocked and caused corrosion to the roof panel. This is reflected in the price.
At 8.00am this morning, I had no idea I was going to be looking at a car today (though I have been swapping messages with a guy who has a LHD 450SLC that he may or may not be selling). By 10.00am I had arranged a viewing and by 1.00pm I'd viewed it. Someone else had viewed 1st but was haggling on money so I got a call at about 3.00pm saying it was mine. It helped that it was only 3 miles down the road in Dulwich.
It's a 2.5 DTR2 Turbo diesel model with the leather seats and aircon options. The seats need repair and the aircon isn't working.
1st step will be to find a reputable Citroen specialist, ideally in south London, to give it a thorough service and make a list of jobs. Getting the aircon working will be key as the plan is to keep it at our house in the Dordogne. It comes with a set of imperial sized wheels so, I'll get tyres on those and sell the TRX sized Turbo wheels to re-coup a little money. Will also sell the God-awful cheesy vanity plate.
Will keep you all posted.
That will be such a great car to cruise round the Dordogne in. Below are some pictures I took of a CX on Ile De Re’ in 2018. Today, I bought this 34 year-old Citroen CX diesel saloon doer-upper.
Collecting on Monday evening. It's had a load of money spent on it mechanically with everything pretty much on the button, it is structurally solid but the bodywork and interior are tired and the roof is going to need a fair amount of surgery where the sunroof drains have blocked and caused corrosion to the roof panel. This is reflected in the price.
At 8.00am this morning, I had no idea I was going to be looking at a car today (though I have been swapping messages with a guy who has a LHD 450SLC that he may or may not be selling). By 10.00am I had arranged a viewing and by 1.00pm I'd viewed it. Someone else had viewed 1st but was haggling on money so I got a call at about 3.00pm saying it was mine. It helped that it was only 3 miles down the road in Dulwich.
It's a 2.5 DTR2 Turbo diesel model with the leather seats and aircon options. The seats need repair and the aircon isn't working.
1st step will be to find a reputable Citroen specialist, ideally in south London, to give it a thorough service and make a list of jobs. Getting the aircon working will be key as the plan is to keep it at our house in the Dordogne. It comes with a set of imperial sized wheels so, I'll get tyres on those and sell the TRX sized Turbo wheels to re-coup a little money. Will also sell the God-awful cheesy vanity plate.
Will keep you all posted.
|https://thumThanks all for your kind comments and practical advice.
Will definitely keep the thread updated.
First step is to find a specialist (ideally fairly local to South London) to go through it, fully service it, swap the wheels and tyres over for imperial sized ones, get the heater controls sorted and the aircon working again. Then it's a damned good clean as it's pretty feral inside.
Once that's done, I'll get it down to the Dordogne to waft about in over the summer, take a view on whether to tackle the roof/sunroof repair there or here and look into registering it locally. The decision will be based on whether that process is more or less hassle than bringing it back to the UK for an MOT once a year for the next six years.
As well as faffing around with the usual insurance/tax/parking permit etc, I'm also planning the route from Cherbourg to St Emilion without using toll roads or dual carriageways
Will definitely keep the thread updated.
First step is to find a specialist (ideally fairly local to South London) to go through it, fully service it, swap the wheels and tyres over for imperial sized ones, get the heater controls sorted and the aircon working again. Then it's a damned good clean as it's pretty feral inside.
Once that's done, I'll get it down to the Dordogne to waft about in over the summer, take a view on whether to tackle the roof/sunroof repair there or here and look into registering it locally. The decision will be based on whether that process is more or less hassle than bringing it back to the UK for an MOT once a year for the next six years.
As well as faffing around with the usual insurance/tax/parking permit etc, I'm also planning the route from Cherbourg to St Emilion without using toll roads or dual carriageways
Rob 131 Sport said:
That will be such a great car to cruise round the Dordogne in. Below are some pictures I took of a CX on Ile De Re’ in 2018.
|https://thumbsnap.com/JvsQps8F[/url][url]
|https://thum
I know that car!!|https://thumbsnap.com/JvsQps8F[/url][url]|https://thumWe will definitely be using the CX for our annual long week-end to Ile de Re (although the XC90 may also attend as back-up vehicle)
ClaphamGT3 said:
I was absolutely determined that my next classic would be a Mercedes - preferably not a saloon - over forty years old, petrol and emphatically not a doer-upper
Today, I bought this 34 year-old Citroen CX diesel saloon doer-upper.
Collecting on Monday evening. It's had a load of money spent on it mechanically with everything pretty much on the button, it is structurally solid but the bodywork and interior are tired and the roof is going to need a fair amount of surgery where the sunroof drains have blocked and caused corrosion to the roof panel. This is reflected in the price.
At 8.00am this morning, I had no idea I was going to be looking at a car today (though I have been swapping messages with a guy who has a LHD 450SLC that he may or may not be selling). By 10.00am I had arranged a viewing and by 1.00pm I'd viewed it. Someone else had viewed 1st but was haggling on money so I got a call at about 3.00pm saying it was mine. It helped that it was only 3 miles down the road in Dulwich.
It's a 2.5 DTR2 Turbo diesel model with the leather seats and aircon options. The seats need repair and the aircon isn't working.
1st step will be to find a reputable Citroen specialist, ideally in south London, to give it a thorough service and make a list of jobs. Getting the aircon working will be key as the plan is to keep it at our house in the Dordogne. It comes with a set of imperial sized wheels so, I'll get tyres on those and sell the TRX sized Turbo wheels to re-coup a little money. Will also sell the God-awful cheesy vanity plate.
Will keep you all posted.
Bravo! Today, I bought this 34 year-old Citroen CX diesel saloon doer-upper.
Collecting on Monday evening. It's had a load of money spent on it mechanically with everything pretty much on the button, it is structurally solid but the bodywork and interior are tired and the roof is going to need a fair amount of surgery where the sunroof drains have blocked and caused corrosion to the roof panel. This is reflected in the price.
At 8.00am this morning, I had no idea I was going to be looking at a car today (though I have been swapping messages with a guy who has a LHD 450SLC that he may or may not be selling). By 10.00am I had arranged a viewing and by 1.00pm I'd viewed it. Someone else had viewed 1st but was haggling on money so I got a call at about 3.00pm saying it was mine. It helped that it was only 3 miles down the road in Dulwich.
It's a 2.5 DTR2 Turbo diesel model with the leather seats and aircon options. The seats need repair and the aircon isn't working.
1st step will be to find a reputable Citroen specialist, ideally in south London, to give it a thorough service and make a list of jobs. Getting the aircon working will be key as the plan is to keep it at our house in the Dordogne. It comes with a set of imperial sized wheels so, I'll get tyres on those and sell the TRX sized Turbo wheels to re-coup a little money. Will also sell the God-awful cheesy vanity plate.
Will keep you all posted.
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