Yes it was really, I did the same trip in a boat once & was astounded I survived, but the boat was good but old & neglected, and the same goes for the BX. I have become a little attached to it, a bit like the head gasket had become somewhat attached to the block on removing head! One thing that I have noted is that the design, components & quality of metal used really were quite impressive, much more so than say a Mk2 Cavalier or a Sierra. I burnt a lot of clutch on the trip with all the off roading up steep hills. Oh yes, if you were wondering about the pet snake, it is just an extraordinarily long header pipe so oily gunk is unlikely to travel into the air intake, it is over 1m long & looks ridiculous

My only other addition which I do on every car is a trickle charge panel, and a proper illuminated temperature gauge, it is in the center of the dashboard. I was very lucky when fitting it, I think there are around 10 green wires & it could of been any that led from the heat sensor, it was the 1st one I cut, extremely fortunate

Thanks for watching, Trev