Where it all began

Anything about BXs
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docchevron
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Re: Where it all began

Post by docchevron »

I thought Alan and Anders first surfaced on what was the andyspares forum?
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Re: Where it all began

Post by Kitch »

docchevron wrote:I thought Alan and Anders first surfaced on what was the andyspares forum?
I remember Citroenz \:D/
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Re: Where it all began

Post by Vanny »

docchevron wrote:I thought Alan and Anders first surfaced on what was the andyspares forum?
QandA forum, narrowly before the andyspares forum, and that must have been late 90's.

The first forum i ever went on after Dads BX lost all its indicators. The people on it suggested we get a new hazard switch, which we did (my first trip to a breakers yard!), and normal flashing was resumed. It was another 3 years before i needed it again.
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Re: Where it all began

Post by kieran.l »

Loved reading the stories so thought I’d write mine! Dad was also the reason for our family becoming a BX family. It started in 1984-1985 (he was 25) when the construction company he worked for bought a few BXs as company cars. One of the managers’ BXs developed a problem with the driver sun-visor which kept falling down and asked Dad to fix it. After doing so, with velcro, he took the car for a drive and was instantly impressed. So much so, that he rang his brothers (both in England at the time) to tell them about this car that he had discovered. About a year later his older brother bought a BX (not sure what model) and when he brought it back to Ireland he asked my Dad to sell it as he had family problems. Dad drove it for a while, mainly it weekends, before finally managing to sell it - he says that Ireland wasn’t quite ready for BXs, or for that matter, Citroens at that time.

In 1990 he bought his first BX, a 1985 BX19 TRD “90 TZK”. Even though it was four years old, the dealer gave one year warranty, which was good as it gave quite a few problems in the first few months (electrical, the fuel tank leak, and, of course, the courtesy LHM leak or two – he didn’t know much about the hydraulics back then). This car served the family well and I remember it fondly. Particularly the dashboard and the “dots” and how there was always lots of them when going up this step hill near or house – Mk1 tachometer :D At the time the hill was so step that for the car to make it up you had to get a run at it! I also remember when Dad used to be doing something with under the bonnet and I’d be wondering what the “green round things” were for. He probably told me more than once that they were for the “special suspension”, but only when I got older did I realise their importance. I think, although young I thought there was something different about BXs…maybe it was because no-one seemed to have one or maybe it was the unusual shape. The car brought us to France once or twice and most of the pics of it that we have were taking on a holiday in France in 1992 (I was 5). We brought Neil Diamond tapes with us and to me it seemed like we played them over and over!

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90 TZK in France in 1992

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Myself and my sister Helen

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Mom and Helen off to the shops

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A big duck in France!

Also in 1992 Dad bought a brand new BX van. Two days after he got it German tourists driving on the wrong side of the road had a head on collision with him. No-one was hurt and the their insurance paid but it was hard luck. Also he says of one time where he was changing the brake pads on the Mk1 and when he had finished the car was sitting on the jack with wheels off the ground in low position, so with the handbrake on he decided to go do something in the house while waiting for it to rise up – yes it took an unusually long time to rise! Anyway, the car was on a slight slope and at the bottom of the slope was the van parked and facing the car…and for some reason he didn’t quite get back to the yard in time…but just in time to see the mk1 heading down the slope towards the van – the handbrake hadn’t worked and the car had rose of the jack and run away! 90 TZK crashed into the van with a nice bit of damage being done to both! #-o He had a sore head after that! :lol:

Both were repaired but because the van was newer and the car getting old (and, tbh he never really maintained it properly, continuously having to top up the LHM) he decided to use the van more like a car when needed and made rear seats for myself and my sister essentially out of mattress foam, complete with lap belts, which could be removed and installed as necessary :wink: It brought us to France on holiday also.

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Colourful Eyeries Village

Dad decided to get a new car in about 1993 and retire the mk1. My uncle found a 1990 BX17 TZD Turbo for a bargain in Northern Scotland. The engine had been refurbisheded but when it was put back together it couldn’t be started. Dad, in consultation with my uncles were fully sure that they’d get it going so he sat off for Scotland with the BX van and a transporter trailer. Having got the car back home, they too couldn’t start it. So in the end, the 1.9 n/a from the mk1 was transplanted into the TZD. Due to the wrong gearbox the car was quite smoky but it did the job. While the engine of the mk1 lived on, the car itself was taken away by a not so reputable (found out later) waste disposal company, so probably ended up buried in a field somewhere. He found out later that, in fact, the wrong injectors had been put on the 17 Turbo, but, believing that the engine had been refurbed properly, they never thought to check this.

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BX17 TZD Turbo...

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I mean, BX19 TZD non-Turbo! (and smoke too) :lol:

The BX van was sold in 1996 and Dad got a Transit as he need more space for his work (I wonder where it ended up..)

One particular story with the (19)TZD (non-turbo!) was another time we were in France. As usual, Dad and Mom loaded he car with wine at a wine cave in Roscoff before getting the Brittany Ferries ferry home. We had loaded up and were getting back into the car and just as I was closing the door there was a load bang/crack sound. Dad thought it was me slamming the door (because seemingly I was in a bit of a huff!). He had a look and near the offside rear wheel there were pieces of rust/dirt… The car appeared to be sitting OK and was now fully laden with wine and luggage so he decided to take a chance that all was OK and we sat off home. At home, once the car was unloaded he went under the car to investigate. The ram on the cylinder had snapped at the mounted end just where it joins the eye. Due the huge pressure, it had indented the chassis and become lodged there. The car compensated by self-levelling! (and still brought us home with that load up!)

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Pet goat Fuschia with TZD

In 1998 Dad decided to get another car (a “safer car” than the BX, and thus came the end of our Citroen ownership [for a while anyway…]) which was a Peugeot 605. Mom had two crashes in this car (not her fault, one of them into tourists on the wrong side of the road) and because the car was white, so hates white cars since. Then we got a 1998 Peugeot 406 which was a grand car, but a Peugeot so not for here!

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BX replacement

Our Citroen ownership began again in 2006 when Dad was looking for a new van and was impressed by the C4, so after 8 years a Citroen returned to the family in the form of the C4 Van. A year later the 406 was sold and the family car was changed to a C4 VTR+ coupe (now my daily car).

Last year I myself was wondering about the chance of getting a BX and thought about my Uncle Mikes' 1986 BX19 DTR which I knew was sitting in his barn for quite a while. It is the one seen here, viewtopic.php?f=11&t=17435.

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Uncles car has seen better days... :(

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...like 16 years earlier!

Dad suggested that I buy a BX because he personally thought that that one was too far gone and that I’d be better off spending a bit of money on a fairly straight car. I preferably wanted a Mk1 BX because I remembered of course how cool the dashboard was :D and also the older the car, the closer it would be to 30 years old and cheap road tax over here. I thought I definitely wouldn’t find a mk1, but as it happens I found the 1984 mk1 19 RD (B253WAV) at Wolsey House Motors in Norfolk, this one, viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15538. After a bit of discussion, Dad, my uncle and I flew to London in March last year to see it. The car was really straight except for rusty doors and after a test drive during which Dad said “this car is better than any BX I had” and some haggling with Dan we bought it and headed for Ireland. But not before were drove some 300 miles to Torquay for a business meeting (I think we were pretty sure we’d take it as we’d booked the Rosslare-Pembroke Irish Ferries home the following day).

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Dad and my Uncle Mike, stopped somewhere on our way to Torquay (yes, the wheels have been removed!)

By the time the car had reached its new home in southwest Ireland it had covered about 500 miles with not a glitch. Not bad for a 28 year old car and considering that in the previous year it had only done 26 miles as evident from the MOT certs!

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The two C4 are watching closely

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Looking good!

After 14 years a BX was back outside our house! Dad cleared room in his workshop (thanks dad!) for it and it lives there and is used mainly in the summer months (and I joined the BXClub of course). The rusty doors have been restored and hopefully sometime in the next year it’ll get a full respray. Also, I hope to use it more often when it reaches 30 years and the road tax won’t be so high. I love driving it (even if it doesn’t have PAS) and it’s a different feel to driving a more modern car - the lack of ABS has given me one fright! Also driving something unique and rare is a nice feeling and puts a smile on my face (from provisional stats for registered Citroens in Ireland which is in February’s Citroenian it appears that there are only 2 mk1 BXs in this country of which this car is one).

A few weeks ago I bought BX number 2, a 1993 17TZD Turbo, not in the best condition but something to work on…

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Some company!

It’s funny, Dad was 25 when he first drove a BX and it all started, and now I’m 25 and have entered BX ownership, and it’s the memories for these cars from when I was a child that started the cycle again…

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Old and new
Kieran

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Re: Where it all began

Post by mds141 »

Excellent write up Kieran and some lovely pics. Glad you're enjoying the BX experience. Nice looking 605 BTW. :)
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