St Tropez restoration blog

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mds141
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Re: St Tropez restoration blog

Post by mds141 »

The plate maker in Dublin wouldn't happen to be 'Craig's plates' would it? I think your plates will be "show plates" if no ID check was made. Not really a problem for plod on an older car. Good job with the resto. Enjoying the pics. :)
Mark Smith

Is it just me or is everything shit?

1989 BX GTi 16 valve. Blanc Alpine. Completed the Citroen Classic Challenge Ecosse and 1337 miles without a hitch.
2000 XM VSX 2.1 td Auto. Rouge Magenta.
TGD saloon many years ago.

1990 Swift 'Corniche' 12/2 aka BXClub HQ.
Honda Firestorm. Gone, but not forgotten.
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Des Smith
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Re: St Tropez restoration blog

Post by Des Smith »

It was a company called Angel Plates and although their trading address is in Dublin, the plate was posted from inside the UK as it had a Royal Mail postage sticker. I wonder whether they are exempt from UK regulations if they are based in Ireland? It hasn't got a BS number on it, but I imagine only the most zealous PC would would feel compelled to look that closely as it is compliant in every other way. Besides which, there are so many personalised plates out there with non-compliant spacing, that Plod would have a century's worth of work processing them before they got round to me!

I might find out a bit more next week, as I have also ordered a 'bog-standard' front plate from another supplier for my MX3 and that didn't need ID either. That definitely wasn't sold as a show plate.
BX14TE St Tropez 1990 - now sold
Xsara Forte 1.4i 2000
Kawasaki GPz550A4 1987
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Tim Leech
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Re: St Tropez restoration blog

Post by Tim Leech »

If you wanted a set of original plates making up and have th oen of theoriginals my local signwriter will scan and copy them and make a new pair, my Xantia, and Marks valver wears a set with pride.
Lots of Motors, mostly semi broken....
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Des Smith
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Re: St Tropez restoration blog

Post by Des Smith »

Warning - explicit scenes that may upset sensitive people. Its rust, rust and more rust!
BX14TE St Tropez 1990 - now sold
Xsara Forte 1.4i 2000
Kawasaki GPz550A4 1987
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Tim Leech
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Re: St Tropez restoration blog

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Des Smith wrote:Warning - explicit scenes that may upset sensitive people. Its rust, rust and more rust!
:shock: [-o<
Lots of Motors, mostly semi broken....
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Re: St Tropez restoration blog

Post by rutter123 »

looks like my tzd turbo did when i got it, major rust issues helped along by salty south coast air, i couldnt even guess how many hours i spent welding/cutting/wirebrushing etc etc, and decided to take it off the road over this winter to attend to more rust issues cropping up on the inner wings and rear pillar, all worth it in the end.
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Mickey taker
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Re: St Tropez restoration blog

Post by Mickey taker »

Mind you it would have been cheaper to transfer the
"Wake me up before you go go " plate to another car
1991 BX Meteor 1.6

light travels faster than sound, thats why you look intelligent and then you spoil it all by opening your mouth !!!!!
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Tim Leech
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Re: St Tropez restoration blog

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Hmm my 19TZI spent most of its life at Southend of Sea, I hope it doesnt dissolve!
Lots of Motors, mostly semi broken....
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Des Smith
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Re: St Tropez restoration blog

Post by Des Smith »

Mickey taker wrote:Mind you it would have been cheaper to transfer the
"Wake me up before you go go " plate to another car
But it wouldn't be the same car and would have been the spineless option! Anyway, I'm in too deep now...
BX14TE St Tropez 1990 - now sold
Xsara Forte 1.4i 2000
Kawasaki GPz550A4 1987
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mat_fenwick
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Re: St Tropez restoration blog

Post by mat_fenwick »

If nothing else you're a) making me feel better about mine, and b) completely overshadowing any (minor in comparison!) work that I'm doing on it :lol:
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1993 1.9 TZD Turbo Estate
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Des Smith
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Re: St Tropez restoration blog

Post by Des Smith »

For those of you who haven't been following the unfolding drama on the Chevronic Facebook page, the latest update is that Rob and his team have removed the rear wings to discover a heap more corrosion than expected...

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Serious rust problems

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Look at the state of this

I really don't know what everyone is so excited about. I'm sure this can easily be made good with a little bit of filler!

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Dead wings

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NS wing removed

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OS wing removed

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NS rust pocket by rear wheel arch

The work has now moved on to cutting out all the sections beyond repair and cleaning up the adjacent metal to prep it for the cutting and welding of the new sections. Now that the work has reached this stage, it has become abundantly clear I was never ever in a million years going to get this properly sorted by anyone other than a garage like Chevronic. 99% of places would have run a mile or told me to scrap the car. Another 0.5% might have welded a few bits which probably would have gone rusty in a couple of years and I'd be back to square one. Can anyone hazard a guess as to how many other garages there are that would be willing to do this kind of work? Fingers of one hand, I'd wager.

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Oblique view of the rear end cut back to good metal

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Inside view of boot & OS inner wing cut back to good metal

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The new metal starts to be welded in. The mechanic is thinking "Uh-oh... was that 8.2cms or 8.3cm long?"

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Offering up the new metal - it seems to be the right size...

Highlight of the day, which exemplifies good customer service. Rob emailed me to ask if it was okay to replace my improvised repair on the plastic bonnet release catch with a new one. Um, let me think about that for a nano-second! Yeah, I think that'll be fine, just so long as there's still a car attached to the bonnet when you're done!
BX14TE St Tropez 1990 - now sold
Xsara Forte 1.4i 2000
Kawasaki GPz550A4 1987
mds141
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Re: St Tropez restoration blog

Post by mds141 »

Excellent write up Des. Both yourself and Anne-Marie deserve the 'BXClub medal of honour for services beyond the call of duty in respect to preserving their BX's'. =D>

The 'surgery' on my valver wasn't as extensive fortunately, but it was quite traumatic to see the old girl pulled apart to remove the corrosion from the sill/wheel arch area.

As you've stated there are only a handful of garages willing to take on such a challenge. The labour bill alone came to over a grand for the work done to my car. :shock:

I'm sure I'll be one, in a long queue of admirers, once your St Tropez is back on the road. Good job. :)
Mark Smith

Is it just me or is everything shit?

1989 BX GTi 16 valve. Blanc Alpine. Completed the Citroen Classic Challenge Ecosse and 1337 miles without a hitch.
2000 XM VSX 2.1 td Auto. Rouge Magenta.
TGD saloon many years ago.

1990 Swift 'Corniche' 12/2 aka BXClub HQ.
Honda Firestorm. Gone, but not forgotten.
2015 Triumph Tiger Explorer XC.
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Tim Leech
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Re: St Tropez restoration blog

Post by Tim Leech »

Des if you wouldnt mind I would love a condensed version with pictures for next months BX'clusive magazine which I need to write by the 25th!

Thanks
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Paul296
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Re: St Tropez restoration blog

Post by Paul296 »

Des Smith wrote: Can anyone hazard a guess as to how many other garages there are that would be willing to do this kind of work? Fingers of one hand, I'd wager.

That's probably because of the answer to the following question; How many people are willing to get that kind of work done, on that kind of car, in that condition? Fingers of one hand, I'd wager (if you happen to have 3 fingers missing!)

Absolutely fabulous job though and the finished product will be more than worth all the hand wringing in the meantime (by your bank manager - not you :D )
Last edited by Paul296 on Tue Apr 16, 2013 6:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Des Smith
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Re: St Tropez restoration blog

Post by Des Smith »

mds141 wrote:I'm sure I'll be one in a long queue of admirers, once your St Tropez is back on the road. Good job. :)
Cheers, Mark! I'm probably going to put her on a transparent pedestal so that I can admire her underside :oops: whenever I forget where the money went. I briefly considered tipping up to all available rallies and offering viewings at a pound a pop, but don't imagine there would be many takers. At the moment, I keep reminding myself that when it's all done, it will have cost less than the cheapest new car available in the UK and about a million times more imbued with character. Dacia Sandero, anyone? No, I thought not!
Paul296 wrote:Absolutely fabulous job though and the finished product will be more than worth all the hand wringing in the meantime (by your bank manager - not you :D )
My bank manager doesn't speak to me anymore, which is just the way I like it!
Tim Leech wrote:Des if you wouldn't mind I would love a condensed version with pictures for next months BX'clusive magazine which I need to write by the 25th!
Tim, If you pick out the photos you'd like included, I can use them and abridge the blog. If you can give me a rough word count, that would be a handy guide. It'll be 'part one' of the story though. Conservative finish date is the end of May.
BX14TE St Tropez 1990 - now sold
Xsara Forte 1.4i 2000
Kawasaki GPz550A4 1987
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