My bodged Citroen BX 16v
Discussion
Another good day out with the BX yesterday. Hampered by the fact I had Simon - S10.....or whatever he is now. S100HP, or Sb3ll3nd? - in the passenger seat! 
Took it up to Donington race track, for reasons I can't fully go into yet. All I can say is that it was a chance to be part of something very cool, and that next month's Practical Classics magazine will yield all answers.
I set about cleaning it up (a bit) late Friday afternoon. It had gone very pink, sat in the sunshine for, oh, I don't know....5 days?
I only had a drop of polish left, which was just enough to do the roof and bonnet. On one hand, this was annoying, as the whole car needed doing. On the other hand, it was a blessing, as I really don't like cleaning cars any more! The weather was also scheduled to be s
te for 8th August, so I was hoping the rain would make it look more red than it normally is. Imagine that, planning to go to some kind of car-based event, and hoping for rain!
The sky duly delivered, as evidenced here at Watford Gap services:
I also had my first ever drink from a Costa! I didn't pay for it, Simon bought it for me (probably thinking I can't talk/whinge/moan if I'm drinking, ergo he gets some P&Q). At £3 or whatever it was, I remember thinking it really had better be the best bd hot chocolate I'd ever had!:
Costa got lucky.
Then, we both enjoyed a game of 'Hot precariously-placed drink in old 80's car with hard-to-find trim' roulette:
Simon even did a bonus round, where he not only slumped into the passenger seat while the game was in play, but also shut the door! He didn't go for the hatrick of 'shuffling around in the seat to get comfy', but I can't judge as I didn't have the balls to partake in extra-point scoring. In any case, I can't physically kick my own arse in the event the cups fell, but I was in striking range of Simon.
My wife once lost a similar game in that BX too. It was the other version, with cold drinks. Took ages to get the Tango out of the cubby hole in front of the gearlever. I didn't even realise she was playing, but with the size and taper of the cup, it was a game she was destined to lose.
Budget tyres aren't always rubbish. I have a set on another one of my cars, and hand on heart it drives better on those than it did the Michelins before it. You can get good budget tyres, and you can get crap premium tyres. Of course, it's completely possible to get crap budget tyres, and that's exactly what the BX is wearing. As I've probably mentioned a million times already, I'm planning to take it off the road for some extensive work underneath. Whether that ever happens (as it was supposed to be off the road now, but was put back on for yesterday's event) remains to be seen, but I haven't fitted new tyres just for the car to then sit around on them while they go hard. As a result, I'm still running on the ancient, rock hard, cracking and only-just-legal rubber than the car has sat on for three years or so. Dry grip is bad, and wet grip is appalling. The understeer on wet roundabouts would be hilarious, if it weren't see tragically alarming. A good job a BX is good on its brakes, because those tyres needed all the hand-holding they could get!
Dodgy tyres not withstanding, we arrived at 'Donny' at about half 12:
Huge great big soaking-wet paddock could be the location for a huge amount of fun in most cars. In the BX, strangely, the appeal of driving around in straight lines with the steering on full lock while bouncing off the rev limiter in second gear didn't appeal as much. Weird.
A opportunity for a photo with another BX I met up with. It's a GT; the same model I'm doing up for my Dad in one of the other threads in these here forums....somewhere:
We were at Donny for a couple of hours, and contemplated what we could do on the way home to make the journey more interesting. I had ideas of stopping at interesting sites, or villages with stupid names (Cumnor and Kingston Bagpuize may well have received visits from the red Wedged One), but to be honest the weather put paid to any plans, as the traffic was really bad and we'd have been been home too late with no decent excuse (Hamstead Gay is not an excuse).
We set about leaving Donny:
....saw a Vulcan bomber we couldn't get anywhere near:
...and headed home.
The run home was uneventful, though Simon had another attack of I'msuchahelmetitus (he had one previously in this thread back when we ended up in Paris). It wasn't quite as bad a case as he suffered with in France, but it was still a fairly bad bout, compounded by the awful weather. The attack struck when he set up a diversion to avoid traffic on the A34, and took us through fkING OXFORD IN fkING RUSHHOUR, THE tt! The illness passed shortly after Abingdon, and he was back to regular nobhead Simon.
Only other events of note were that it turns out a BX 16v can push a brand new Mercedes A200 turbodiesel something-or-other down the sliproad onto the M40, and that the rear end of the new Discovery troubled us:
I genuinely felt worse for seeing that car. My day definitely took a downward turn upon catching sight of that rear end. I started getting all deep, and asking myself really meaningful, yet negatively-tainted questions. Was life really worth it? I mean, honestly? All the way to the end? 70-80 odd years, and then what? Death. Seems a bit pointless.
I felt all sense of drive and enthusiasm to live each day to the full just completely dissipate when I saw the back of the new Discovery. Simon didn't talk for 17mins afterwards. He just looked.....grey. And that was before his illness.
I've not spoken to Simon since yesterday, but I know I'm still not feeling right. I just can't be positive. I mean, what's the point? Everything just looks.....I mean......meh, I can't be bothered to finish this now.
Took it up to Donington race track, for reasons I can't fully go into yet. All I can say is that it was a chance to be part of something very cool, and that next month's Practical Classics magazine will yield all answers.
I set about cleaning it up (a bit) late Friday afternoon. It had gone very pink, sat in the sunshine for, oh, I don't know....5 days?
I only had a drop of polish left, which was just enough to do the roof and bonnet. On one hand, this was annoying, as the whole car needed doing. On the other hand, it was a blessing, as I really don't like cleaning cars any more! The weather was also scheduled to be s
te for 8th August, so I was hoping the rain would make it look more red than it normally is. Imagine that, planning to go to some kind of car-based event, and hoping for rain!The sky duly delivered, as evidenced here at Watford Gap services:
I also had my first ever drink from a Costa! I didn't pay for it, Simon bought it for me (probably thinking I can't talk/whinge/moan if I'm drinking, ergo he gets some P&Q). At £3 or whatever it was, I remember thinking it really had better be the best b
d hot chocolate I'd ever had!:Costa got lucky.
Then, we both enjoyed a game of 'Hot precariously-placed drink in old 80's car with hard-to-find trim' roulette:
Simon even did a bonus round, where he not only slumped into the passenger seat while the game was in play, but also shut the door! He didn't go for the hatrick of 'shuffling around in the seat to get comfy', but I can't judge as I didn't have the balls to partake in extra-point scoring. In any case, I can't physically kick my own arse in the event the cups fell, but I was in striking range of Simon.
My wife once lost a similar game in that BX too. It was the other version, with cold drinks. Took ages to get the Tango out of the cubby hole in front of the gearlever. I didn't even realise she was playing, but with the size and taper of the cup, it was a game she was destined to lose.
Budget tyres aren't always rubbish. I have a set on another one of my cars, and hand on heart it drives better on those than it did the Michelins before it. You can get good budget tyres, and you can get crap premium tyres. Of course, it's completely possible to get crap budget tyres, and that's exactly what the BX is wearing. As I've probably mentioned a million times already, I'm planning to take it off the road for some extensive work underneath. Whether that ever happens (as it was supposed to be off the road now, but was put back on for yesterday's event) remains to be seen, but I haven't fitted new tyres just for the car to then sit around on them while they go hard. As a result, I'm still running on the ancient, rock hard, cracking and only-just-legal rubber than the car has sat on for three years or so. Dry grip is bad, and wet grip is appalling. The understeer on wet roundabouts would be hilarious, if it weren't see tragically alarming. A good job a BX is good on its brakes, because those tyres needed all the hand-holding they could get!
Dodgy tyres not withstanding, we arrived at 'Donny' at about half 12:
Huge great big soaking-wet paddock could be the location for a huge amount of fun in most cars. In the BX, strangely, the appeal of driving around in straight lines with the steering on full lock while bouncing off the rev limiter in second gear didn't appeal as much. Weird.
A opportunity for a photo with another BX I met up with. It's a GT; the same model I'm doing up for my Dad in one of the other threads in these here forums....somewhere:
We were at Donny for a couple of hours, and contemplated what we could do on the way home to make the journey more interesting. I had ideas of stopping at interesting sites, or villages with stupid names (Cumnor and Kingston Bagpuize may well have received visits from the red Wedged One), but to be honest the weather put paid to any plans, as the traffic was really bad and we'd have been been home too late with no decent excuse (Hamstead Gay is not an excuse).
We set about leaving Donny:
....saw a Vulcan bomber we couldn't get anywhere near:
...and headed home.
The run home was uneventful, though Simon had another attack of I'msuchahelmetitus (he had one previously in this thread back when we ended up in Paris). It wasn't quite as bad a case as he suffered with in France, but it was still a fairly bad bout, compounded by the awful weather. The attack struck when he set up a diversion to avoid traffic on the A34, and took us through f
kING OXFORD IN fkING RUSHHOUR, THE tt! The illness passed shortly after Abingdon, and he was back to regular nobhead Simon.Only other events of note were that it turns out a BX 16v can push a brand new Mercedes A200 turbodiesel something-or-other down the sliproad onto the M40, and that the rear end of the new Discovery troubled us:
I genuinely felt worse for seeing that car. My day definitely took a downward turn upon catching sight of that rear end. I started getting all deep, and asking myself really meaningful, yet negatively-tainted questions. Was life really worth it? I mean, honestly? All the way to the end? 70-80 odd years, and then what? Death. Seems a bit pointless.
I felt all sense of drive and enthusiasm to live each day to the full just completely dissipate when I saw the back of the new Discovery. Simon didn't talk for 17mins afterwards. He just looked.....grey. And that was before his illness.
I've not spoken to Simon since yesterday, but I know I'm still not feeling right. I just can't be positive. I mean, what's the point? Everything just looks.....I mean......meh, I can't be bothered to finish this now.
Oh I meant to say, the car performed brilliantly, and all that. No problems. 380 miles done, and was probably knocking on 38mpg, which is...........I mean why is the number plate not in the middle? WHY?!
And it's just......like.......fat. And blobby. And why would anyone.....I mean......
Why is it off-centre?!?!
And it's just......like.......fat. And blobby. And why would anyone.....I mean......
Why is it off-centre?!?!
It's not even properly off-centre. It's not like an Alfa 156 or something. It's just a 'bit' off-centre, like one of those tiny little Japanese cars, who position it slightly off-centre to help with airflow to their minuscule little radiators.
The new Disco doesn't have radiators in the back. It's just got LOTS of car and LOTS of chitz and LOTS of everything (except radiators). And yet the numberplate is slightly off-centre, for no good reason.
It's a design without conviction. It's like stating an opinion about something, before adding in 'Just saying' at the end, or even worse, saying 'Each to their own', which is just the meekest, most feeble way of saying "I've got an opinion, and I'm going to state it, but I'm leaving some wiggle room to sidestep out of it incase others don't follow it."
Well I've got an opinion, and I'm sticking to it; It's probably possible to get eye cancer from looking at the back of the new Discovery for too long.
Yeah.
The new Disco doesn't have radiators in the back. It's just got LOTS of car and LOTS of chitz and LOTS of everything (except radiators). And yet the numberplate is slightly off-centre, for no good reason.
It's a design without conviction. It's like stating an opinion about something, before adding in 'Just saying' at the end, or even worse, saying 'Each to their own', which is just the meekest, most feeble way of saying "I've got an opinion, and I'm going to state it, but I'm leaving some wiggle room to sidestep out of it incase others don't follow it."
Well I've got an opinion, and I'm sticking to it; It's probably possible to get eye cancer from looking at the back of the new Discovery for too long.
Yeah.
Edited by Kitchski on Wednesday 9th August 16:00
Sillyhatday said:
Couldn't agree more, the Disco is hideous, but each to their own.
Sillyhatday, pls 
RC1807 said:
Poor Simon....
It's fully deserved. He's just....awful.JonChalk said:
You've photoshopped that for full-on trolling effect!
There's no way JLR would sign that design solution off and release on an unsuspecting public.
Frail old women and children of a nervous disposition would see it! The Daily Mail would be up in arms, and even Donald Trump would probably have tweeted some random syllables and vowels about it.
Come on, fess up.
I promise you, it's not. Simon wouldn't know how to Photoshop (otherwise those images of his 3in penis wouldn't have surfaced).There's no way JLR would sign that design solution off and release on an unsuspecting public.
Frail old women and children of a nervous disposition would see it! The Daily Mail would be up in arms, and even Donald Trump would probably have tweeted some random syllables and vowels about it.
Come on, fess up.
As for Trump, I hate the new Disco as much as Trump. They're equally gopping, and equally offensive.
MrBrightSi said:
This car looks brilliant. Always remember when my father had one when i was a lot younger, always had a soft spot for this era of Citreon.
Anyhow, on your quote, if you're ever up near Newark, go to the air museum there, last time i went 50p got us in the rear portion of the cockpit of one and a good chat with a member of the ground crew that worked one when they were flown.
Yeah, I did Newark a year or two ago. Cool place. You can go in the one at Coventry too - I think there are some pictures earlier in this thread, as it was a Parking with Planes day, where I took the AX and the BX.Anyhow, on your quote, if you're ever up near Newark, go to the air museum there, last time i went 50p got us in the rear portion of the cockpit of one and a good chat with a member of the ground crew that worked one when they were flown.
Update time for 'BAH'!
Not masses of content to go through, but since the trip to Donington it's been behaving nicely and continues to run sweetly. One of the bugbears the car has always suffered from, are front brakes that clunk when you apply them while reversing. I say 'clunk', I really mean 'OMGWTFWASTHAT?!?!' noises. It can be quite disconcerting! Managed to find a pair of refurbed calipers on the bay of E, so those are with me now and will probably be fitted in 2032 sometime.
One bummer is that the driver's door moulding decided to come unstuck (again) at the leading edge. Aesthetically this is not pleasing, but practically it's annoying as piss, as it means you can't open the door very much as it fouls the arch spat on the wing.
Unless one day you forget not to push the door too hard, and the moulding penetrates the spat:
Knock knock....
Oh fk!
Luckily the spat is fibreglass, so can be repaired easily enough. I might even have a spare, somewhere.
Otherwise not much to report. It's only done 500miles or so in the past few months. Did get a picture of it with another mode of transport that rides (or rode) on a cushion and spent a lot of time in France, while on the way to work:
A couple of weeks later, me and the little 'uns took it out for a run, and swung by a newer form of transport that crosses oceans:
You'll have to spot what I'm on about! Honestly, it's much bigger in the flesh than on camera. Ooh, got Deja-Vu for a minute there!
Lastly, I've heard that tomorrow sees the release of the new Practical Classics edition. Apparently, this the one featuring the top-secret photoshoot the BX was at, so looking forward to that one
Will have some videos up on Youtube soon, too. Went out with the BX and a GoPro on Saturday. Most of the vids were useless (still getting to grips with it) but a couple came out OK. You can really get a feel for how it sounds on the move, and the wheel-tracking shots are pretty cool, as Citroen suspension is awesome! I'll aim to get some vids up soon, and I'm even toying with the idea of trying to make ones where I talk in them. Not convinced by the idea yet, though!
Not masses of content to go through, but since the trip to Donington it's been behaving nicely and continues to run sweetly. One of the bugbears the car has always suffered from, are front brakes that clunk when you apply them while reversing. I say 'clunk', I really mean 'OMGWTFWASTHAT?!?!' noises. It can be quite disconcerting! Managed to find a pair of refurbed calipers on the bay of E, so those are with me now and will probably be fitted in 2032 sometime.
One bummer is that the driver's door moulding decided to come unstuck (again) at the leading edge. Aesthetically this is not pleasing, but practically it's annoying as piss, as it means you can't open the door very much as it fouls the arch spat on the wing.
Unless one day you forget not to push the door too hard, and the moulding penetrates the spat:
Knock knock....
Oh f
k!Luckily the spat is fibreglass, so can be repaired easily enough. I might even have a spare, somewhere.
Otherwise not much to report. It's only done 500miles or so in the past few months. Did get a picture of it with another mode of transport that rides (or rode) on a cushion and spent a lot of time in France, while on the way to work:
A couple of weeks later, me and the little 'uns took it out for a run, and swung by a newer form of transport that crosses oceans:
You'll have to spot what I'm on about! Honestly, it's much bigger in the flesh than on camera. Ooh, got Deja-Vu for a minute there!
Lastly, I've heard that tomorrow sees the release of the new Practical Classics edition. Apparently, this the one featuring the top-secret photoshoot the BX was at, so looking forward to that one
Will have some videos up on Youtube soon, too. Went out with the BX and a GoPro on Saturday. Most of the vids were useless (still getting to grips with it) but a couple came out OK. You can really get a feel for how it sounds on the move, and the wheel-tracking shots are pretty cool, as Citroen suspension is awesome! I'll aim to get some vids up soon, and I'm even toying with the idea of trying to make ones where I talk in them. Not convinced by the idea yet, though!
Jonesy1972 said:
Like many, I have fond memories of the 2 BX's my old man had. Loved them both especially his red TZD (think that was the correct model name). I remember lusting after the GTI when it was released as did my Dad. I haven't seen one on the road in years and to see yours in such lovely condition is a rarity. Well done, bud.
Jonesy
Thanks Jonesy. It's really not that tidy up close though! It's well 'used' Jonesy
S100HP said:
Saw one of those discos today. #sadface
Yeah, I'm feeling a bit blue having now seen the PC article (and the fold). I hope I don't see one of those Discos today, as it might tip me over the edge!Dazed and Confused said:
Great cars. I used to love mine.
They are. The majority of people wouldn't agree, but then people don't like things they can't figure out MarkwG said:
Just reading the PC Citroen article - you're there! But in the flipping fold, stuck behind the SM! Fame is such a fickle beast...
Yeah, I just picked it up myself. A bit gutting really, as to travel around 350miles to be a part of something you're not really a part of....yeah. It's a bit like being persuaded to go to a party by a girl you like, with the promise of going home with stinky fingers, only for her to swan off with another guy when you eventually get there. Well, maybe it's a bit like that....
Well, overdue a bit of an update! Haven't got time for one now, but the BX is now off the road (again) and this time I really don't think it'll be coming back for a couple of years.
In the meantime, Autocar came out today, and on page 74 I can read all about it to remind me what it's like! He's done quite a good job of the write-up, but then he used to own one, so he knows them well enough!
In the meantime, Autocar came out today, and on page 74 I can read all about it to remind me what it's like! He's done quite a good job of the write-up, but then he used to own one, so he knows them well enough!
LeoZwalf said:
I'd love to see the video shots of which you speak. Are they available?
I'll try to get something knocked together and uploaded Zonergem said:
Crumbs! 10k asking for this 32000 mile 16v car.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Citroen-BX-GTi-16-valve...
Yeah, it's got a few tongues wagging in Citroen circles too. Obviously what it's up for and what it might actually sell for a two separate entities, but the general consensus seems to be that he owns a number of older Citroens, and he's put a number of them up at daft money as he actually only needs to sell one (against his will, it seems), ergo whichever one goes will at least fetch a tidy price. I can't see that BX fetching £10k, but I think £6-7k is probably realistic now. A highly modified one went for £7k last year, though the value of the parts on it was worth that, in fairness. Others have been placed up for sale at £5k-£6.5k in recent months, possibly as some current owners think it's a bubble that will burst and want to try and cash in. Personally, I can't see it bursting. The BX is still near the bottom of the slightly-go-faster crowd of the 80's, so while everything above it climbs, the BX will climb in relative numbers too.https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Citroen-BX-GTi-16-valve...
Well, another day, another broken record to play. It's the same old story with this car; I drive it around and love it, then spot something which leads me to decide that it needs to come off the road. Then I take it off the road and behold! Six months later and I'm sat behind the large, positioned-like-a-bus steering wheel once more. And so, that is exactly what happened this year, when I decided to drag it back out onto the road and off to Donington for that Practical Classics shoot (that my car ended up in the crease of....)
Well, this time, the BX 16v truly is off the road. It's actually in a garage as we speak, and since reading about the £10k BX 16v above, I put a dehumidifier on there with it, and flicked the switch! That's where the BX's story ends this year (and likely for next year too), but up to that point in time, I enjoyed having it out and about. I also managed to add a list of things to sort out to the existing list of things to sort out.
However, I also managed to scrub a line off of the existing list. I bought a mop, and decided my pride and joy was the best thing to learn how to use it on! Luckily, it went well.....up to a point!
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/xbgxSUVv.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/4ly7UmnH" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/4ly7UmnH.jpg)
The point it got to was where the car ran out of paint, in a number of locations! It was going to happen one day! Still, at least the primer is glossy now....
The main reason behind this uncharacteristic session of car shining, was that the BX was being wed out AGAIN! This time to Autocar magazine (Hello Haymarket people 
), as I have a friend who writes in the Used Car section, and wanted to do a 'Pastmasters' article on the BX, like they did with the 250,000 mile AX GT I had until recently. Oh.....the AX. Hadn't missed that for a while now - hello darkness my old friend!
They also did one on my TVR at the same time as the BX, but you came here for unloved French chod, not unnecessarily-macho-yet-misunderstood British tomfoolery.
A good morning was had, watching someone else cain the living st out of my car. On one occasion he passed, I commented I could smell it cooking EVERYTHING. "Well, you told him to give it some" was the response from Mr Cameraman. I'll follow this thread up with some videos taken on my phone of the day.
Mr Cameraman did some good stuff though. I'd be naughty if I showed you everything, but here's one of my favourite shots:
The article reads well, though in fairness the writer is a big fan of the BX 16v, so it's a fairly glowing appraisal. That said, I try to be as straight as I can on opinions, and if I honestly think something I own/love is crap, I'll say so. On this occasion, I pretty much agreed with everything he said.
To contrast something positive, my intake bellows decided that metered air flow is overrated, and that it would add a bit more oxygen into the mix (literally) just for fun. To overcome this, I applied some black goo:
And, my gearknob decided that, after nearly 28 years, it wanted to shed its outer form:
After the Autocar shoot finished them off, my brakes were well and truly goosed. My calipers have always made a 'kerr-donk' when applied in reverse, and it turns out the slider pins operate in bushes that are well-shagged.
A refurbished set of calipers arrived last month, from Poland of all places!
As the BX's time drew near, one last car show was attended. It was the Southern Vehicle Preservation Society.....or something like that. Had low expectations before the event, and was blown away not only by the friendliness and warm welcome of the organisers, but by the love for the BX! You think classic car show on a Sunday morning, and immediately think 'MGB, Cortina, Escort, Dolomite and a Mini'. Turning up to an event such as this in a BX is something you normally don't even bother doing, and yet, how wrong could I be?! It was brilliant, and I will endeavor to get down to any local events they do next year. Allsorts there, from the usual classics to a DeLorean, a Jag XJS, some classic American stuff and ANOTHER BX!
And then I saw it:
I've always been a big Honda fan, and I've loved the Prelude since I was a 13yr old lad. A friend's parents had one, and I remember thinking it was fantastically quirky and different, yet good. I even went on to own a 2.0 - 16 GSI 2nd gen model, which was a rare beast. Funnily enough, I only ended up buying it because the red ph2 BX 16v I'd seen for sale that I wanted (but couldn't insure) had sold for £999 in the paper, and I just missed it. Funnily enough, the Prelude was £300 less to insure than my AX GT!
Anyway, on the whole we actually had a very bad day, because two of my three kids acted up big-time, and we left in a huff with two 8 year olds in the back having a complete meltdown. Everyone's gawping too (lucky when I go back, it won't be in that car!) A sad end to the summer with this car, but they're more important than a car, and the day spurred us on to take some of their 'characteristics' more seriously. A day that bad is a day wasted, if you learn nothing from it
I never took a picture of the BX there, but when I got home, my brother-in-law sent me this of it and his Dad's Sierra XR4i:
I was being a right saddo though. I even had the Modern Classics article spread out across the back, because they were in the boot and I was all chirpy because people were actually being kind about it for once
....I'll conclude the rest of this after I've eaten a pizza from Aldi, and watched an episode of The Apprentice from about 5 weeks ago on catch-up.
Well, this time, the BX 16v truly is off the road. It's actually in a garage as we speak, and since reading about the £10k BX 16v above, I put a dehumidifier on there with it, and flicked the switch! That's where the BX's story ends this year (and likely for next year too), but up to that point in time, I enjoyed having it out and about. I also managed to add a list of things to sort out to the existing list of things to sort out.
However, I also managed to scrub a line off of the existing list. I bought a mop, and decided my pride and joy was the best thing to learn how to use it on! Luckily, it went well.....up to a point!
The point it got to was where the car ran out of paint, in a number of locations! It was going to happen one day! Still, at least the primer is glossy now....
The main reason behind this uncharacteristic session of car shining, was that the BX was being w
ed out AGAIN! This time to Autocar magazine (Hello Haymarket people ), as I have a friend who writes in the Used Car section, and wanted to do a 'Pastmasters' article on the BX, like they did with the 250,000 mile AX GT I had until recently. Oh.....the AX. Hadn't missed that for a while now - hello darkness my old friend!They also did one on my TVR at the same time as the BX, but you came here for unloved French chod, not unnecessarily-macho-yet-misunderstood British tomfoolery.
A good morning was had, watching someone else cain the living s
t out of my car. On one occasion he passed, I commented I could smell it cooking EVERYTHING. "Well, you told him to give it some" was the response from Mr Cameraman. I'll follow this thread up with some videos taken on my phone of the day.Mr Cameraman did some good stuff though. I'd be naughty if I showed you everything, but here's one of my favourite shots:
The article reads well, though in fairness the writer is a big fan of the BX 16v, so it's a fairly glowing appraisal. That said, I try to be as straight as I can on opinions, and if I honestly think something I own/love is crap, I'll say so. On this occasion, I pretty much agreed with everything he said.
To contrast something positive, my intake bellows decided that metered air flow is overrated, and that it would add a bit more oxygen into the mix (literally) just for fun. To overcome this, I applied some black goo:
And, my gearknob decided that, after nearly 28 years, it wanted to shed its outer form:
After the Autocar shoot finished them off, my brakes were well and truly goosed. My calipers have always made a 'kerr-donk' when applied in reverse, and it turns out the slider pins operate in bushes that are well-shagged.
A refurbished set of calipers arrived last month, from Poland of all places!
As the BX's time drew near, one last car show was attended. It was the Southern Vehicle Preservation Society.....or something like that. Had low expectations before the event, and was blown away not only by the friendliness and warm welcome of the organisers, but by the love for the BX! You think classic car show on a Sunday morning, and immediately think 'MGB, Cortina, Escort, Dolomite and a Mini'. Turning up to an event such as this in a BX is something you normally don't even bother doing, and yet, how wrong could I be?! It was brilliant, and I will endeavor to get down to any local events they do next year. Allsorts there, from the usual classics to a DeLorean, a Jag XJS, some classic American stuff and ANOTHER BX!
And then I saw it:
I've always been a big Honda fan, and I've loved the Prelude since I was a 13yr old lad. A friend's parents had one, and I remember thinking it was fantastically quirky and different, yet good. I even went on to own a 2.0 - 16 GSI 2nd gen model, which was a rare beast. Funnily enough, I only ended up buying it because the red ph2 BX 16v I'd seen for sale that I wanted (but couldn't insure) had sold for £999 in the paper, and I just missed it. Funnily enough, the Prelude was £300 less to insure than my AX GT!
Anyway, on the whole we actually had a very bad day, because two of my three kids acted up big-time, and we left in a huff with two 8 year olds in the back having a complete meltdown. Everyone's gawping too (lucky when I go back, it won't be in that car!) A sad end to the summer with this car, but they're more important than a car, and the day spurred us on to take some of their 'characteristics' more seriously. A day that bad is a day wasted, if you learn nothing from it
I never took a picture of the BX there, but when I got home, my brother-in-law sent me this of it and his Dad's Sierra XR4i:
I was being a right saddo though. I even had the Modern Classics article spread out across the back, because they were in the boot and I was all chirpy because people were actually being kind about it for once
....I'll conclude the rest of this after I've eaten a pizza from Aldi, and watched an episode of The Apprentice from about 5 weeks ago on catch-up.
Edited by Kitchski on Friday 24th November 10:38
....continued....
Some time later, the BX made its appearance in Autocar:
You don't read many publications with accurate reporting on a BX. No errors, no incorrect info....it was all quite surreal, really!
Just before the car came off the road (did I mention it was coming off the road?), I took it out for a run at lunch. Initially, it was only to pop up the road to get something, but I found myself at one of my favourite local haunts taking pictures once more!
It dawned on me that the last time I took it off the road, I drove just up the road from here. I have a strange fascination with disused railway lines. Not current ones, or even heritage ones (nice as they are). For some reason, I love seemed evidence of a past history, and railways are one of the ones that fascinate me the most.
In between this drive out, and the last drive out I did, before I parked it up, I had a day at work where I blitzed through the list of customers who wanted to go on the rolling road dyno. I don't like doing them, and for the most part it's been out of action, but for this particular Friday, the dyno was on-line.
For reasons I'm not entirely sure, inbetween customers using the dyno, I decided to run three of my cars, live on Facebook. If they did well, great success! If they did badly, huge embarrassment. And if they blew up live on camera, enough comedic content to last my friends the rest of the decade.
The three cars were my Hillman Imp (of which there is also a blog in this very parish), my TVR S1 (which there is also, but I don't really do anything with it) and, of course, le BX. I announced my plans in advance, and suggested people estimate the results. The BX was on the end of the most negative responses, one guy thinking it wouldn't bust 130bhp. The TVR was generally massively over-egged, but in fairness some people didn't realise that I didn't actually have a V8!
I did manage to download the live vids, and again I'll post the results. Needless to say, the BX hit 158bhp: 2bhp off the quoted book figure, or, if we're now running SAE correction figures (Oh! Guess what? We are...!) then 158bhp is actually exactly what it should chuck out. The Imp did OK, and the TVR....I don't want to talk about the TVR.
The final drive came the following weekend. Keen to finish off on a high, I simply had a day out with my wife in the car I was in when I first met her. My increasing fascination with old railway lines hasn't caused her to desert me yet, and it took her a while to realise the route I took the car down (Romsey to Andover) was actually the route of an old railway line. Still, we stopped in Stockbridge (just like the railway...OK, I'll stop) which is where we got married. And to cap the day off, I bought FIFA 18. Still a kid at heart
And there endeth the tale for now. Honestly, I can't get it back out again. It'll fade and there's no paint left to polish! Its rusting underneath and it needs a fair amount of elbow grease to halt all that and maintain what's there. Some people are happy to jack it up, wire brush it and slap a load of Hammerite all over it. I'm not, I want to do it properly. I don't have time to do that now, so I will wait until I do have time.
That will be after I've got the 16TRS on the road (can be found here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...) and that (along with my Dad's GT) is the BX I'll be concentrating on for now. Sure, it's not the go-faster one, but it's much older, more quirky and I will have it riding so smooth, it'll make every passenger feel motion sick within 5 mins of being in it. And this way, the 16v can sit back in a dark garage, not being eaten by UV rays and preserve itself for future me in a couple of years.
Perfect
Some time later, the BX made its appearance in Autocar:
You don't read many publications with accurate reporting on a BX. No errors, no incorrect info....it was all quite surreal, really!
Just before the car came off the road (did I mention it was coming off the road?), I took it out for a run at lunch. Initially, it was only to pop up the road to get something, but I found myself at one of my favourite local haunts taking pictures once more!
It dawned on me that the last time I took it off the road, I drove just up the road from here. I have a strange fascination with disused railway lines. Not current ones, or even heritage ones (nice as they are). For some reason, I love seemed evidence of a past history, and railways are one of the ones that fascinate me the most.
In between this drive out, and the last drive out I did, before I parked it up, I had a day at work where I blitzed through the list of customers who wanted to go on the rolling road dyno. I don't like doing them, and for the most part it's been out of action, but for this particular Friday, the dyno was on-line.
For reasons I'm not entirely sure, inbetween customers using the dyno, I decided to run three of my cars, live on Facebook. If they did well, great success! If they did badly, huge embarrassment. And if they blew up live on camera, enough comedic content to last my friends the rest of the decade.
The three cars were my Hillman Imp (of which there is also a blog in this very parish), my TVR S1 (which there is also, but I don't really do anything with it) and, of course, le BX. I announced my plans in advance, and suggested people estimate the results. The BX was on the end of the most negative responses, one guy thinking it wouldn't bust 130bhp. The TVR was generally massively over-egged, but in fairness some people didn't realise that I didn't actually have a V8!
I did manage to download the live vids, and again I'll post the results. Needless to say, the BX hit 158bhp: 2bhp off the quoted book figure, or, if we're now running SAE correction figures (Oh! Guess what? We are...!) then 158bhp is actually exactly what it should chuck out. The Imp did OK, and the TVR....I don't want to talk about the TVR.
The final drive came the following weekend. Keen to finish off on a high, I simply had a day out with my wife in the car I was in when I first met her. My increasing fascination with old railway lines hasn't caused her to desert me yet, and it took her a while to realise the route I took the car down (Romsey to Andover) was actually the route of an old railway line. Still, we stopped in Stockbridge (just like the railway...OK, I'll stop) which is where we got married. And to cap the day off, I bought FIFA 18. Still a kid at heart
And there endeth the tale for now. Honestly, I can't get it back out again. It'll fade and there's no paint left to polish! Its rusting underneath and it needs a fair amount of elbow grease to halt all that and maintain what's there. Some people are happy to jack it up, wire brush it and slap a load of Hammerite all over it. I'm not, I want to do it properly. I don't have time to do that now, so I will wait until I do have time.
That will be after I've got the 16TRS on the road (can be found here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...) and that (along with my Dad's GT) is the BX I'll be concentrating on for now. Sure, it's not the go-faster one, but it's much older, more quirky and I will have it riding so smooth, it'll make every passenger feel motion sick within 5 mins of being in it. And this way, the 16v can sit back in a dark garage, not being eaten by UV rays and preserve itself for future me in a couple of years.
Perfect
Edited by Kitchski on Friday 24th November 10:35
seiben said:
S100HP said:
good read as always
Agreed. Always look forward to your updates, despite not having owned a Citroen since my first car - a sexy maroon AX 10e Spinakerr said:
Best thread update to start my day off. The BX looks fantastic, though some nightime shots in the mean street of Andover, neon buzzing and headlights on are my request!
Train sidenote - May I recommend Yeovil Junction down the A303 if you want a day actually driving a few steam/diesel locos.
Be a while until it's back in Andover!Train sidenote - May I recommend Yeovil Junction down the A303 if you want a day actually driving a few steam/diesel locos.
Yeovil Junction, not heard of that one. Driving a train is something I want to do one day. Done a car, done motorbikes, done a plane (kinda). Train next
ettore said:
Have just read and enjoyed this - brought back great memories of growing up when my dad had a series of BX's from the disreputable to the respectable. GTI's were always great fun as was the 19TZD which seemed a rocket ship back then - favourite though was an early (series 1?) 19 with 250K on the clock and the bonkers interior. First modern car I drove. Truly horrible really in beige on beige but would love to see one again!
Has brought about a pang of Citroen nostalgia - he had an SM, a CX GTI and an XM at various points and most of my elderly relatives were equipped with AX's, from 10E to GT.
May have a browse on ebay..
Cars like these are great, because they bring back lots of memories for people. Convert your nostalgia into currency, and go buy! Has brought about a pang of Citroen nostalgia - he had an SM, a CX GTI and an XM at various points and most of my elderly relatives were equipped with AX's, from 10E to GT.
May have a browse on ebay..
Swervin_Mervin said:
You've set me off now Kitchski. Got my dad on the case hunting for pics of the BXs he had when I were a nipper. I'm fairly sure his first was an A-reg 16TRS in red...
There's a chance you're thinking of my life, not yours rallycross said:
did anyone else notice this £10k Bx GTi 16v on ebay?
only 32k miles
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Citroen-BX-GTi-16-valve...
They did Craig, further up. Big money for a B.only 32k miles
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Citroen-BX-GTi-16-valve...
S100HP said:
I take it you've not actually read the thread then...
Burn! Harsh.... Hi all,
Been meaning to get some vids uploaded for a while. Don't judge me, these were thrown together in about 30mins, but you get the idea!
Wheel tracking shots:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9KySOyVBMs
Revving up and pulling away:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkPLs1hXI60&fe...
Standing start:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa_3AmtXm_0
And the one my talented mate made, but it only works on desktop versions due to copyright on some tracks he used in it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqpdoMK6l_Y
Been meaning to get some vids uploaded for a while. Don't judge me, these were thrown together in about 30mins, but you get the idea!
Wheel tracking shots:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9KySOyVBMs
Revving up and pulling away:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkPLs1hXI60&fe...
Standing start:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa_3AmtXm_0
And the one my talented mate made, but it only works on desktop versions due to copyright on some tracks he used in it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqpdoMK6l_Y
Darren-1 said:
I need a valver in my life. A pal of mine had one years ago when I had a standard bx 1.6 and I was jealous then lol and now I think I will have to do one up just to own one. If anyone knows of one or has one in need of tlc drop me a line I will take on almost anything
It's find a 16v that's the problem. I've got one that I was using as a spares car, but it's a LOT of work to put it back on the road. I have most of the parts, though.Just had word that Autocar have put the feature from last year online:
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/used-car-buying...
Enjoy
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/used-car-buying...
Enjoy
MX6 said:
Really cool car, such a lot of 80's retro character about it. There must be very few left in this condition.
Thanks. More left in this condition (which in honesty, isn't amazing!) than you'd think as the few that are left tend to either be rot boxes, requiring resto, or they're prized by their owners, and no expense is spared.Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff