PH has made a mental note to pay a visit to Project Leven next time we’re near Exeter. Not because the specialist has the sort of stocklist that appeals to any warm-blooded PHer (though it does) but because it seems to have nailed the supply of Citroen BX GTIs. We pointed at a nice-looking one back in the summer that was for sale at the specialist. But this one, courtesy of the steering wheel being on the appropriate side of the cabin, is better.
Admittedly, the BX is an acquired taste. It is as French as a frog holding a baguette. This is likely one of the reasons that it sunk without much of a trace when Citroen entered it into the late ‘80s affordable performance car market - a market already defined by the likes of the Mk1 Golf GTI and Peugeot 205 GTI. It didn’t stand much of a chance, and owners of the latter must shoulder some of the blame for the BX’s scarcity, on the basis that more than one car was bought in subsequent years as an engine donor.
The reasons for this are entirely understandable. The more senior Phase 2 model got the naturally aspirated 1.9-litre 16-valve unit that also featured in the (much better looking) 405 Mi16 - meaning that with some light shoehorning, it slotted into the 205 engine’s bay using the original mounts. The result, thanks to the elevated 160hp and its hard-charging character, was an enlivening upgrade, but it made for more than one hollowed-out BX GTI.
This is a shame because, as its idiosyncratic looks suggest, the squared-off Citroen made for a uniquely quirky drive. Much as we can now appreciate the genius of Marcello Gandini’s original design, now, in an age of tied-down electric SUVs, we’re probably better equipped to appreciate the pillowy lope of its hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension. This was stiffened for use in the GTI, but it still made for a very different experience to its contemporaries, majoring on corner-to-corner flow rate rather than maximum attack.
One imagines it a very pleasant, carefree companion when driven today, with Matsui-grade interior plastics there to remind you that by 2024 standards, the BX weighs the equivalent of a gnat’s wing. You’ll want to make sure it’s all in good working order given its natural brittleness (spares will not be easy to come by) and, as with most cars of its era, you’ll also want to check that tin worm hasn’t turned the undersides into a six-course meal.
A cursory glance at Project Leven’s latest example suggests that none of this should be a problem (or at least, hopefully not an insurmountable one). Any secondhand French car not kept in a climate-controlled plastic bubble is going to need a certain amount of upkeep, but with just 60k on the clock, this one, in quintessential white, looks the business. Prices have inevitably risen since the days when you could buy a part-wreck for a few hundred quid; rarity alone means this one is valued at a fiver short of £12k. Still, what a way to spend it.
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