for sale : BX 16 RS 1985 estate LOW MILAGE !!!

DLM · Post by **DLM** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 12:04 pm

I bought it close to La Rochelle in France for 800 euros

Near La Rochelle - was it a Vendee car? About as flat as East Anglia there and round about, and also a reasonably warm micro-climate for the Atlantic coast so the cars last longer there. Bit like Holland with better climate. Got overtaken on a country road by a scruffy but very enthusiastically driven GS break the last time I was down that way.

Agreed - a very good price assuming it wasn't near the end of the 2-year CT ticket (CT=french equiv of MOT, for anyone wondering).

Normally the 2000 Euros for four freshly-legal wheels rule applies from what I've seen on recent French trips , though there are variations in the small ads in local papers & the like (where the people placing them don't know or care about the internet).

The other exception I know of is the pic-less ads in Gazoline, where cars which require dirty hands, dedication and love sometimes go for less. Even so, I suspect many of the sellers wouldn't sell unless they knew it was to an enthusiast even if advertising parts..

The older-car scene in France is so much healthier, as they've seen what carnage scrappage incentives cause to the older car stock, and don't generally restore cars for "investment"*. What's more, they tend to maintain and USE them rather than collect for the sake of it.

For example, last month's Gazoline had an article about a personal restoration of a Citroen Light 15H including conversion to green LHM (Note: mid-50s version of the big 30s Citroen incorporating first Citroen use of hydpneumatic suspension, though only on the rear of the car). Probably worth a reasonable amount now, but done out of enthusiasm and intelligent appreciation of the car by a long-term owner of the type.

Must post the pic I took last September of a BX break in use as a cycling transport and support station for a Mayenne team.

*DS decapotables excluded from the foregoing, of course.

Aerodynamica · Post by **Aerodynamica** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 12:37 pm

MULLEY wrote:Dont forget, you dont usually get like for like mpg when you do a lpg conversion, they can be quite a bit lower by upto 20%+ . Conversly i've heard people usually claiming the opposite, mind you, they are normally selling their cars

Just out of interest Graeme, how many mpg does your trs do on lpg?

-well tbh only about 36mpg on average but at half the cost so on balance it's the cost equivalent of 72mpg (average)

However, if you horse it it'll happily drop right down to around 25 average (for a road trip ragging it) but that's still about 50mpg cost equivalent.

... Stronger front subframe, wider (and remarkably stronger) front wheel bearings to name two....

-OK, I'll change my statement to : no significant mech. changes that matter to me!

Anyway the change from the original roller bearing arm spindles to rubber bushings is a negative change for me - the rollers provide very accurate suspension like on the DS/GS/CX.

Post by **Tim Leech** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 1:13 pm

Aerodynamica wrote:
MULLEY wrote:Anyway the change from the original roller bearing arm spindles to rubber bushings is a negative change for me - the rollers provide very accurate suspension like on the DS/GS/CX.

I always wondered why my Mk1 rode so much better, and knew there was a difference but not what it was between it and the Mk2, cheers!

ren16tx · Post by **ren16tx** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:04 pm

Well, i thought my MK1 BX was the only LHD one in the UK!!
MK1 Estates are all but extinct in the UK,don't think there were that many in the first place?
i understand that there is 1 rhd estate,a one owner non club member around, and a wreck! thats it! i know of no more,unless you know different!
this mk1 estate has to go to a club member!! its far too good and rare to go to someone to use as a "hack",were alot end up from ebay!!
sadly, there seems to be very few people who will take on a mk1,why i don't know! far,far nicer than series 2 BX's! i would just love this BX, go well with my lhd saloon!but i just don't have the money,otherwise i'd have it like a shot!!
Come on you lot!!

get yourself a proper BX!!
CHRIS
MK1 Registra

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 9:41 pm

36mpg on lpg is superb

Fancy doing a lpg conversion on my Dad's CX Graeme

ren16tx · Post by **ren16tx** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:33 pm

just been speaking with john self, who has my "other two" mk1 BX's,and he is bidding on the estate

so hopefuly it will stay in the club!!

DLM · Post by **DLM** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 8:55 am

Thinking back, I'm sure I've seen and admired this estate while passing it on the M4 in Wiltshire some times in the last couple of years.

In other circumstances... (isn't that always the way)

Mike E (uk) · Post by **Mike E (uk)** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 9:45 pm

Perhaps it would be worthwhile selling it in Calais?

Mike

Aerodynamica · Post by **Aerodynamica** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 12:20 am

MULLEY wrote:36mpg on lpg is superb Fancy doing a lpg conversion on my Dad's CX Graeme

I would mate, what CX model does he have?

Though I no longer have access to my workshop...

MULLEY · Post by **MULLEY** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 12:27 am

25 GTI Turbo 2

Its a lhd Swiss spec car.

DLM · Post by **DLM** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 8:38 am

Perhaps it would be worthwhile selling it in Calais?

Maybe, but I don't think it stacks up as it's not a natural location to sell a BX in France nowadays, and nobody hangs around in Calais unless they're living there. It'd probably be more attractive to an ex-pat brit to take back over to France from the UK as it's lhd: generally it holds you in good stead to be driving a set of French wheels when living in France (though there's a lot more to being accepted as a member of the community than just that one thing). But woe betide you if you run a BX there and don't know how to look after it - it won't do anything for your reputation except mark you out as a "fou anglais".

Lower and middle-range BX models seem to hang on in two different locales - in rural areas or in/around the scuzzier areas of the cities - both used as basic cheap transport. In either locations they may buck the 2000 euros starting price trend (there are natives who won't touch a hydropneumatic Citroen with a bargepole as they distrust the hydraulics or don't have a good garage in the area any longer with the know-how). The traditional rural or small city garage is getting rare in France too.

While there's still a small following for the sportier examples you won't see many advertised in Gazoline and the like: they're not particularly popular with ardent Citroen-lovers, maybe because they're they're one of the first Citroens with significant Peugeot input.

Post by **Tim Leech** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 8:54 am

Well I understand after speaking to Jon Self he REALLY wants this car, so if he wins it expect to see it at the CCC National in July. So much so hes selling a couple of his BXs to make room!

DLM · Post by **DLM** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:33 am

Of course a good home with a knowledgeable, dedicated owner is where it belongs in an ideal world (or with someone who's prepared to become one) - wherever or whoever that may be. As with any Ebay auction it's all up to the seller and prospective buyers as to what happens.

Post by **Tim Leech** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 10:17 am

DLM wrote:Of course a good home with a knowledgeable, dedicated owner is where it belongs in an ideal world (or with someone who's prepared to become one) - wherever or whoever that may be. As with any Ebay auction it's all up to the seller and prospective buyers as to what happens.

From what I gather Jon will be paying whatever he needs to within reason for it, unless it fetches something silly like £800 I do expect him to win it, which as you say DLM is good. I cant imagine someone "just after a cheap banger" to buy a 23 year old LHD citroen with a weird dash? At least I hope not.

DLM · Post by **DLM** » Sat Apr 04, 2009 9:43 am

Not really - but often ebay and logic can be two mutually exclusive things.

Anyone buying for French use certainly wouldn't buy a "banger" given that a ferry trip has to be purchased, admin paid for, and the car has to be driven on a long journey to even get there. People in that position generally buy their runarounds locally.

I'm certainly not bidding on this or any other eBay BX in the near to mid-future - I couldn't justify more than one BX in my current circumstances - particularly given the outlay in time and money potentially required to put one into decent fettle, mechanically set-up for long life, and maintained on the basis required for a 15+year-old car (and a hydropneumatic Citroen to boot).

Many ebay BXs (though not all) come without positive evidence of adequate maintenance - and the prices often asked are now such that a (mechanically) speculative punt is seldom worthwhile to my mind.

As it's ebay, current examples on sale will almost certainly contradict what I've just written!