The last big update on the BX 16v, for a while at least. Lifted straight from my PH blog:
The first thing of note is that I think it's going to end up on the telly sometime in the next couple of weeks. Some may remember back in the spring that it was used to film a new car show, and may also remember my tampon-throwing response to their use of the car! Well, it seems the show is about to air on the Travel Channel (I know) so we'll see how it comes out. Still trying to work out if I've taken it all to heart a bit too much or not, but my gut reaction at the time it was filmed with strong annoyance at the fact I'd bent over backwards to help them, and they basically used it to take the piss out of. I'm more mellow about it now, but then time has passed. Seeing it on the screen may well reignite my rage, but then I've seen what they've done with some of the other cars they used as verbal cannon fodder, and it's all very mild. Paddy McGuinness is the host, and it was clear on the day they've employed a guy who knows not a lot about cars to present a car programme, so it's a lot easier to laugh anything negative they say away. If James May ripped into my BX, I'd genuinely be heartbroken :laugh:
Much more important thing of note; I took it back to France! Been meaning to do that since I got it way back in 2004, so it was an ambition fulfilled.
The trip was to Citroen's Conservatoire in Aulnay-Sous-Bois, a grotty rundown cesspit of a town just north of Paris, near the airport. Aulnay was actually home to a large PSA plant until a few years back, and both the AX and Saxo we have in the household were built there. It predominantly produced smaller Peugeots and Citroens, but the first CX right through to the last was also built there.
So, last Sunday morning, S10GTA and I set about the journey:
Rather than bore it along the A26/A1 peage routes from Calais to Paris, we wanted to make more of a road trip of it:
Simon decided we'd be going sans-SatNav. so as soon as we got off the chunnel, we avoided the motorways and headed for the coast:
This was a good idea. The coast route along to Boulogne-Sur-Mer is lovely. Didn't realise what a good view of the white cliffs you could get up there:
That's the road we're off to take:
The only drawback of this beautiful route, was the time it took. in the UK, motorways really do shave some time off a journey. In France, they can make a MASSIVE difference! We exited the back roads near Les Trois Fontaines and dove onto the A16; a not boring peage, full of viaducts and scenery:
We managed to cover almost three times the distance in the same time immediately after! We took the A16 down as far as Amiens, and then began to head cross country again. I have no issue paying to use roads like those. The BX probably didn't drop under 80mph the whole way, and the surface was smooth and quiet.
Having left the A16, our cross country route to Senlis (where we were staying) was easy and event free. And pretty, again:
We had a nice run across the countryside all the way to Senlis. It was one of those drives you remember!
[quote=Kitchski]The next day, we arrived at the Aulnay site in preparation for a visit I'd wanted to do for so long, and was never sure I'd get a chance to. The Conservatoire isn't open to the public (though that may all be about to change as Citroen's marketing team have suddenly remembered they have this thing called 'Heritage', and that Citroen's heritage is actually quite a big and impressive heritage. Unless you've got a DS (don't get me started on the 'DS' brand....)
So, Aulnay:
A bit of reading for those interested in the plant and its history:
http://citroenvie.com/last-citroen-roll ... sous-bois/
And inside Aulnay:
The BX was (I believe) the oldest car that made the trip from the UK. A few of the other guys have some older and more interesting models, but they wimped out and brought their modern versions along :hehe: I suspect the BX was the only one to nudge a speed in France that S10GTA could attest, but I couldn't possibly divulge. All I can say is that I chose to back off - it was still pulling!
I won't bore everyone with pictures of the inside (I took 600!), but I'll do a public album or something soon and link to that for anyone who's interested. But it had the most important stuff in there:
Along with less important stuff, you know...like history:
The prototype TPV's hidden from the Nazis during WW2. Discovered behind a wall a decade or so ago!:
This is also worth a watch, if you want to know what it's like inside this place:
https://youtu.be/oFcNlBl_cjc
The place is brilliant! It's oozing innovation and history. And to cap it all off, an old bloke I saw smoking outside in a Citroen overcoat. He couldn't speak English, but we deduced that he worked in the factory until it closed and ordered a brand new CX in the 70's and walked with it along the line as it was being built (he still owns it). He was still upset that the plant closed, and said the new range had no passion behind it. No true innovation, or desire to be different if different proved to be better. It was all profits and corporate bullshit. This guy was one of the best things about the visit.
There's something about Citroens, and other true French cars (cars actually built in France by the French) where you can sense that the reason they've done something different, is because different is better in that respect.
I had a little moment of clarity when I was driving home. One of those moments that kinda freezes you in time, and it was only a silly little thing. As I drove along, I was fresh with all things Citroen. Me being positive, for once! And it was in that moment that, for some reason, it sprang to my mind that there were quirks about the company and they way they did things that could also irritate. The BX rear wiper, for example. The switch doesn't latch, it only sweeps if you push the button. The reason? Because the aerodynamics of the BX mean that the rear screen doesn't get wet, and the airflow just blows the raindrops over the glass. "Total rubbish!" I thought, as I drove along a French motorway in the pissing rain. I clock the front wiper sweeping the screen, prepare to push the button for the rear wiper and move my gaze in the direction of the rear view mirror. Rear screen is bone dry, obviously. As I pointed this out to Simon, a single drip cascaded down the glass. Bastard French cars!
Incidentally, I watched something that drove the whole French engineering thing home the other day. Jay Leno's new episode on YT featuring his Panhard. Worth a watch, very cool car, and he nails the whole French design/engineering thing perfectly:
https://youtu.be/zcfVO6-UHgY
So anyway, brimming with French enthusiasm, we left. Nothing could dampen our spirits! Simon's non-SatNav map reading skills had been spot on, and the mood was good.
Was.
It began when we saw this:
The Stade De France. I love football, so this was cool for me. But not at that time, because it was rush-hour last Monday morning, and we were driving into Paris. The directions had massively gone to cock!
We got dragged in as far as the inner ring road, but managed to navigate back out again. The sense of relief was massive as we headed back up the A1, where we came off near a village called Arsy, which is what I was by this point. So we stopped and grabbed some more pics:
From Arsy, things got good again. We decided to head back over to our trusted friend, the A16, and the cross-country route we took was one of the best driving memories I think I'll ever have. Wide, empty French countryside roads passing through pretty villages, sun going down and in my favourite car with a best mate alongside me. It felt like a proper roadtrip!
Hit the A16 all the way back up to the chunnel, and made it there 30mins early:
Sailed straight in! It was so empty, the train was loaded on the bottom floor only, with every other carriage empty. Made getting to the toilet easier at least:
Back into the UK 30mins before we left France, and headed home. BX performed brilliantly, with the only glitch being that the speedo started clicking near Aulnay on the Monday morning. It's 26years old, and spent most of the previous day spinning around and on that frosty morning in Senlis it wasn't feeling like playing ball. That said, it didn't die and as soon as we got going again, it shut up and perfomed fine again.
Brilliant trip, brilliant venue, brilliant memories and the car was brilliant! Erm....brilliant!
So that's the BX done for a while................
........apart from a possible magazine feature coming up. And not a crap magazine either. In fact, it's probably the best one it could possibly be featured in as far as I'm concerned! Watch this space on that one, however after that, it'll be parked up in the garage until I've finished all the other projects. Then the major overhaul underneath can commence.