This week we shall mostly be talking about seats. Yes the CX is a cool car, and yes the GTI version is a fast, cool car, but just look at those seats. If Sigourney Weaver had reskinned an alien after she popped a cap in it this is surely what it would look like.
These are the kind of chairs that wouldn’t look out of place in the living room of a French jazznik modernist, smelling of Gauloise from endless sessions discussing the architectural merits of Le Corbusier. Ok, so I’m losing the plot slightly but the good news is that the seats are not let down by the rest of the car.
Rare, cool and collectable, the CX looks as odd now as it did in the seventies and eighties. But intriguingly the design still appears fresh and modern, a credit to its unique proportions and detailing. The car may be over three decades old but it appears future proof, a slippery economical design that LJK Setright once argued had the forward thinking properties of the Audi 100 and Ford Sierra.
With 128bhp it went well too, helped by the Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection. The suspension was firmer and the GTI had extraordinarily good handling for its size. The model we have found on classiccarsforsale.co.uk is a 1988 version with tax and MOT. It looks straight and rust-free (from the pictures at least) and hasn’t had any crude modifications.
148,000 miles may sound like a lot for a French car but the owner appears to have looked after it. Perhaps it’s best to ignore the bit about stalling and instead admire the guy’s honesty. After all if it all goes bang at least you’ll always have somewhere nice to sit…
Ad reads: 'It is with real regret that I am selling this beautiful car. It has been a dream to drive and gaze at over the last 5 years and has been treated with TLC. It has been ousted by a van which is just not the same thing at all. Here are the details: Tax December, Good condition inside and out, Been driven regularly and garaged for the past 5 years, Full service history, Needs an engine mount replacing before the MOT, Occasionally stalls when changing from neutral to drive, Otherwise runs extremely well. £750.'
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Meanwhile there is big news at PH Towers this week, with scenes akin to those when Ferrari thought it had bagged the 2008 F1 Driver’s Championship. Yes, that’s right, we have sold the PH Golf GTI 16V, writes Garlick.
Ollie had arranged to go out of the office on the day we were expecting a punter to come and look at the Golf. With a cheery smile he threw the keys to me and asked me to show them round and to not sell it too cheaply. Thanks mate. So, just as it started raining, the chap (Richard) arrives with his mate and we wander over to take a look at the car. By this time they have realised it is the PH Golf and we start to look over WNO as it sits there looking all shiny.
It turned out that Richard is a PHer (Ricky86) so he seemed to know what to expect, and wasn’t at all phased by the little things that are wrong with the car. He told me that he plans to restore the car to its former glory and hopes to have it ready for Le Mans ’09. All he wanted was a Golf with strong mechanicals and no rust - something our car offered so things were looking up.
As usual, it started first time and we went off for a drive, Richard was surprised with the torque the car had, and that’s something that surprised me too whenever I drove it. It may not be the prettiest Golf around but the important bits seemed in great order. Test drive completed we stood in the rain and had a chat. We’d advertised it for £600, and Richard hit me with an offer of £450.
A quick call to Ollie and I went back and told them it was £500 and that’s as low as we would go. In the end I chucked in two tickets for the PistonHeads Show and Richard and I shook hands. Ten crisp £50 notes were handed over and Richard drove off in the car there and then.
So how did we do? Well, the car was originally bought for £250, we had our work experience lad take two days to polish it, spent £101.75 on six months tax and £10 on a new expansion tank so £361.75 all in. The car was sold for £500, giving us a profit of £138.25. The shed pot had some cash left over from the Mercedes sale, add in the money from the Golf and we now have £896.50 to spend on the next one. It’s fairly safe to say that we are not very good at this car dealing lark.