RE: SOTW: Citroen BX GTI 8v

[GBB]

OK. We need a Pistonheads collectors pot into which we all chip in a £ per week to buy such sheds and store them for posterity.

Only 26 left is a crying shame of what is/was a great car.

Such oddities are a dying breed.

[thelost]

I've always loved Citroen and their general silliness, but also love a bit of silliness in the engine/performance department. I know it wouldn't be popular with the purists but I've often wondered if engine swaps are viable in any of the old Frenchies (GS, CX, DS, even SM if you could source appropriate Maserati V8... dress up the old V6 and put it in the front room!). Do all the design peculiarities like hydraulic steering, brakes (inboards!) or suspension make it too ridiculous a project to consider? What about conversion to RWD?

I'd just love a quirkmobile with some mental motivation. Curse the tax laws for restricting Citroen to asthmatic engines (ignoring their rotary experiments). Shame they never teamed up with Facel Vega.

So PHers, can it be done?

[dave stew]

Eighteeteewhy said:

Used to ave a 16v, wish I'd never sold it.

How many other cars can you do this?...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HK2nTRvm_s&fea...

I wonder if you fitted an LSD whether you could take one of the front wheels off?

[Mintyhit]

V8 FOU said:

Truely great shed!
Fact was, the handbrake was u/s and he had parked it on the hill in gear.

haha the handbrake was utterly awful, it operated on the front wheels as well making handbrake turns impossible.

[JamesHayward]

My mum had a BX turbo diesel when I was a nipper. She loved it until it met it's demise at the front end of a tractor.

My dad keeps raving about her first car though, a Citroen Visa GTI. Apparently it's the front end of the 1.6 205 GTI with the back end of the Talbot Samba. If I could find one I'd certainly get it for him!

[fredbrad]

Eighteeteewhy said:

Used to ave a 16v, wish I'd never sold it.

How many other cars can you do this?...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HK2nTRvm_s&fea...

Brilliant. No need for a spare wheel then.

[garypotter]

horrible horrible horrible french car.

even for £1.20 not for me

[Raoul Duke]

Just had a quick read through the pages on this thread and am fairly amazed to see ( with only a few exceptions ), almost complete approval of this weeks shed.
I really wasn't expecting that, but I certainly give this a big thumbs up!

My parents purchased a BX in the early 90’s that just ran and ran without any major issues all the way to well over 200,000 miles. It was the first car I got the use of when I first passed my test as a 17yr old ( before buying something of my own ), so I have some very fond memories of these old things.

Loose change for something thats so rare and dare I say charismatic – admittedly they aren’t for everyone but it’s much more appealing to this particular PH’er than another German barge.
I sincerely hope it gets bought by an enthusiast and kept alive, if I was in the market for something sub 1K this would be right at the top of the list.

[anonymous-user]

I drove one of these from Edinburgh to Thurso and back in 1989. Made of tin cars, but a fabby drive. Qualidee sheddage.

[Greg 172]

GBB said:

OK. We need a Pistonheads collectors pot into which we all chip in a £ per week to buy such sheds and store them for posterity.

Only 26 left is a crying shame of what is/was a great car.

Such oddities are a dying breed.

Oooh, I like the idea of this. There could even be one of those emotive charity adverts with lots of dusty old sheds in fields/council estates - "Each month your £5 would help us to take 4 sheds off the streets, to provide them with a loving, nurturing environment, to provide shelter and vital fluids...."

Seriously though, £5.00 a month, from a couple of thousand people would get each weeks shed into some cheapo hired barn and donators could pop round and donate their mechancial skills to restoring them

You'd need some kind of onsite administrator of course.... Make it £10.00 a month to cover my pay and we're done!

[jamespink]

I had one of these, and an excellent car it was but the price is not cheap (even though this one looks as good as it gets) when you consider there are 2002 Golf GTI turbos to be had for the same money and less. All I could do to stop myself hitting "commit to buy" last night on eBay. Seriously good value to be had for less than a grand these days.

[crofty1984]

Can you install an early-model dash into it? THAT is the question!

[jamespink]

MontyC said:

My Poor very late BX back in June this year after someone went into the back of me at a zebra crossing writting the car off.

Good job they weren't driving a car!

[BigTom85]

Made a bid that is under consideration. Wish me luck!

[Matt Bird]

Great to see such widespread approval! We will try to maintain these Shed standards next week but it is very rare a SOTW pleases so many of you so I can't promise anything...

[dublet]

Strawman said:

He liked it so much he appeared in an advert for it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW2ZQF_pDi0

I remember the advert but can only find the French language version.

Watching that video without sound, and all that's going through my head is:

Wilton Knight said:

Knight Rider. A shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist. Michael Knight: a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

[ADP68]

Trusty Steed said:

Nice veals init mate...

What?

[infradig]

My wife had a TZi ,which was basically a Gti estate and it was a rapid thing in its day. Other 'sporty' rep mobiles and low end 3 series were easy prey in a straight line,probably because it weighed about as much as the airbags and seat motors of a modern car! I seem to remember it was falling apart when it was a couple of years old but towed surprisingly well considering its lack of weight. I never saw another TZi when we had it and they were still making them so doubt there are any left .

[PH lurker]

Fantastic.
Love it; so I got insurance quotes online as though I passed my car test last week. I did the usual stuff such as adding a person aged 50+ with an excellent driving record and said it would be parked off the road. I claimed it would be worth £850. My cheapest quote is not the expensive fifteen hundred quid you might think this says:

I still can't make it out/ convince myself. What does it think I need to pay for a year's insurance?

[Stuart J]

Another person who owned one of these & has to admit it was a brilliant car for the money. Ours was very reliable despite being regularly thrashed within an inch of its life. Good Choice