Free Citroen Bx GTi 4x4 and 4x4 Estate cars available........

[Kevin B]

This is on behalf of someone I know, and who is not a member on this forum.

He has available (from memory): 2 off Bx GTi 4x4 cars, and 3 off Bx estate cars. Whoever can collect them can have them for free.

They were driven to this location on trade plates 12 years ago from a well known Citroen Bx 4x4 collector in Western Super Mare.

The present owner is looking to sell the house where they are presently stored, and unfortunately if no one is interested then they will be scrapped.

They are located near to Harwell in Oxfordshire.

Due to the less than ideal storage conditions (left outside for 12 years), they will realistically be spares donor cars by now, but knowing how rare the 4x4 parts are they ideal for spares.

Contact me via the PM function, and I will pass onto the contact details of the present owner.

[greendale65]

Hi , Would there be any rubber citroen matts
the cars i'm looking for the fronts
Alan.

[Kitch]

Don't suppose you know whether any of them are venetian red or not?

[Jaba]

If there is any interest in these then I can go and have a look at them as I live very near their location.

Its a great shame that cars like these are likely to be scrapped. If I had a storage facility then I would store them myself.

I wonder if any of our Citroen BX specialists would be interested taking them into storage for eventual restoring or as a parts source.

[Nigel Bickle]

I'm interested, and realistic! I have space, and towing capability. I'm an enthusiast, not looking to resell etc.
Can I have an idea of condition of a 4x4, please?
Thanks, Nigel

[Jaba]

I'm interested, and realistic! I have space, and towing capability. I'm an enthusiast, not looking to resell etc.
Can I have an idea of condition of a 4x4, please?
Thanks, Nigel

Nigel, I think you have to PM Kevin to start the ball rolling. How many of them can you take ??

[Kevin B]

Fortunately it seems we now have some interest on these cars, as I have already had a couple of PM's

Having thought about it in more detail, there are 4 off of these cars and not 5 as previously mentioned.

They are as follows:

White GTi hatchback c/w alloy wheels

Red Gti hatchback c/w alloy wheels

Red estate, steel wheels, cracked windscreen

Red estate, steel wheels.

These cars previously belonged to Mike Jefferies, and were driven to this location on trade plates by myself on behalf of the present owner.

The present owner is in poor health, and needs to sell this property to pay for ongoing care costs. In addition there is also the stong possibility of another Bx (white hatchback) free to a good home in addition to the above, this one is at Pangbourne.

Realistically I feel these cars at best will require extensive restoration, due to the 12 years plus of poor storage conditions they have endured at the present location. But at the very least they could provide a valuable supply of critical 4WD spares, that would enable owners of other BX 4x4 cars to keep them on the road.

If it is possible to save these cars, preference will have be given to person(s) who make this happen ASAP, and who are experienced in the recovery of vehicles from moderately challenging locations, ie bring plenty of wheels (and steel wheel nuts for the cars with alloy wheels) as the ones on these cars are certain sure to all be flat and perished by now, you will also need some hedge cutting equipment with which to cut down 12 years worth of undergrowth. Access to the site is reasonable, but due to the layout of the site recovery will need to be sequential (ie in reverse order to how the vehicles were parked up in this location). In short I don't have the time to deal with messer's and daydreamers, as these cars need to be gone ASAP otherwise ultimately they will be on the slow boat to China.

I will keep you updated when I have further developments to report.


JABA
I like your thinking, I will PM you my contact details and we could perhaps conduct a site visit, and you could then report back to forum members via this thread with a sitrep as it were. I tentatively may be available to do something this weekend, as time is definitely of the essence.

[Nigel Bickle]

Hmm. I'm no messer, (as many on Autoshite will testify) but asking me to gear up and travel across half the country with 4 wd, trailer, ropes, wheels jacks etc etc etc without even a photo - is a bit much.

I have asked politely for condition, suggested pics as an alternate, but heard/ seen nothing; so if that makes me a messer, I apologise.

I think, perhaps you need someone a good deal closer than me, who is prepared to turn up, on spec, to liberate them.

Good luck

[djoptix]

I have heard a rumour on the underground grapevine, i.e. Autoshite, that these cars are in fact in Herefordshire - is this true?

If so, I could be interested in one or both hatches, definitely the red one and possibly the white one, but in all honesty it would be as parts donors. I suspect that they're extremely crusty anyway and probably beyond anything apart from a very brave and time-consuming resto, but of course if anyone was interested in them as going concerns, I would happily stand aside.

I have access to a mate with a Landy and various brush cutting equipment, and also have somewhere to put them in that neck of the woods. (But not actually in the woods)

If they're in Oxfordshire as stated, I'd perhaps still be interested in the red one, depending on condition, but obviously it's a bit less convenient.

[Kevin B]

Hmm. I'm no messer, (as many on Autoshite will testify) but asking me to gear up and travel across half the country with 4 wd, trailer, ropes, wheels jacks etc etc etc without even a photo - is a bit much.
I have asked politely for condition, suggested pics as an alternate, but heard/ seen nothing; so if that makes me a messer, I apologise.

I too apologise if you consider that remark directed at you, as I can assure you it was'nt, it was a poor choice of words on my part. I appreciate that the details are sketchy at best at the present time, however arrangements are been worked on with Jaba to visit the site this weekend so photos can be taken and a better idea of the condition of these cars and what it will involve to recover them can then be given on this thread.

I have heard a rumour on the underground grapevine, i.e. Autoshite, that these cars are in fact in Herefordshire - is this true?

That rumour is not correct, these cars are located near Harwell, and not more than a mile off the A417.

I could be interested in one or both hatches, definitely the red one and possibly the white one, but in all honesty it would be as parts donors. I suspect that they're extremely crusty anyway and probably beyond anything apart from a very brave and time-consuming resto.

They could very well be only suitable for spares donors, but if so that would still be a better outcome than the scrap man getting his hands on them.

Even if they were subsequently only suitable as spares donors, with the exception of the propshaft centre bearing support bracket, all the 4x4 parts are bolt on, so it would not be difficult to recreate a Bx 4x4 from a good bodyshell.

[Kevin B]

OK fellow BX'ers, a site visit was conducted as promised, and here is the situation thus far. The condition of these cars is far better than what I thought they would be in (they are to good to scrap), we were able to view the known rust areas on 3 of the 4 cars (ie open the doors and bonnet), where access was possible, as the Hatchbacks were parked next to a hedge which made viewing of the nearside impossible


Recovery will not be as difficult as I had envisaged, but as predicted all of the tyres were as flat as pancakes (I may have some steel wheels with bald tyres that could be used to get these cars onto a trailers and these would be FOC (but I do not have any spare steel wheel nuts to go with them). As per my previous post before the recovery will need to be sequential, with the Red GTi the first to go, this has a tow bar on it and could be pulled straight onto a waiting trailer (which could be backed right upto it) the white GTi would then be the next best car to go (and would be just as easy to recover) but if necessary recovery of the estate cars would also be possible at this point with the White Gti remaining in place.

Prior to posting the photos, these are the key points:

Red GTi J971LDY, fitted with trailblazer and towbar, approx 120000 miles, rust in drivers door hinge area present but I have seen much much worse, rust on drivers side rear wheel arch area but it is very minimal, no rust I could see in the scuttle/bulkhead area, minimal rust on front inner wings in the usual areas.

White GTi J608RAN, fitted towbar, approx 80000 miles, rust in drivers door hinge area present but I have seen much worse, no rust on drivers side rear wheel arch area, no rust I could see in the scuttle/bulkhead area, minimal rust on front inner wings in the usual areas. This has the later distributor less / coil pack engine.

Red Estate H125 ELU (U could also be O), fitted towbar, didnt get the milage (can you pls provide this Jaba), rust in drivers door hinge area present but I have seen much worse, rust present on passenger side rear wheel arch area (but I have seen much worse), unable to undo drivers side rear door, no rust I could see in the scuttle/bulkhead area, minimal rust on front inner wings in the usual areas. This also has a fair size dent in the roof, and is missing the rear lights, though one light lens is in the boot, also has a fitted towbar. The top of the 4x4 gearbox dipstick is missing.

Red Estate G496 VYP could not get into this car, hence details are sketchy at present, but from what I could see condition was comparable to the other cars above, This one was the first to arrive, and hence will be the last to leave. This one had the locking fuel filler cap missing.

In addition the additional car at Pangbourne is a White H reg TGD Turbo with 114500 on the clock, from what I could see there was no rust in the drivers door hinge area, or on the drivers side rear wheel arch area covered by the rear door (two well known rot spots), but due to the location I could not get to the engine bay or the passenger side of the vehicle to see if any rust was present in those areas.

Bear in mind that the description above is only what I could see, what is going on underneath these cars is unknown at present.

The only downside is that the owner has not yet located the keys for the 4x4 cars as yet (but efforts are ongoing), some of the logbooks have been located, and efforts are ongoing to find the rest.

JABA
Please feel free to chime in with the photos you took, as mine were not that brilliant, particularly of the Estate cars.

[Kevin B]

OK so I have now figured out how to post photos, here we go:

Looking into the site, from the road. Ignore the two Ford cougar cars, they will be going in the very near future. Using the Red Bx GTi hatchback as a reference, the White Bx GTi is parked in front of it. The two Bx estate cars are parked in single file to the right of and to the front of the RH Ford Couger. Behind the RH Ford couger is a Triumph Herald.

The red GTi, see what I mean about the hedge!

Red GTi drivers door hinge rust

Rear wheel arch driver side red Gti

The White GTi, again well covered with hedge

White Gti drivers side door hinge rust

White Gti rear driverside wheel arch

Air filter assembly removed, showing rust in inner wing area behind ABS valve block

[Kevin B]

Photos continued:

Red GTi showing trailblazer (which has a small bit cracked out of it), and towbar

Front bumper attachment point (another well known rot spot)


Now for the two Estate cars, this is where the limitations of my photos begin to show.

Jaba, if you have better photos, please add photos as you see fit.

The red estate with the cracked windscreen, and with the dent in the roof

close up of the dent

Showing drivers side door hinge rust



Unable to open the rear door due this tree growing through the door shut line, JAB helpfully cut it off, so at least it wont get any worse

Finally the first car that arrived there over 12 years ago, we couldnt get into this one. It has the missing rear light lenses, and missing locking fuel filler cap

[Kevin B]

Other items of interest:

Believe it or not a Bond equipe convertible with overdrive is festering under here

Remains of a bond equipe GT4S

Triumph Herald

Mordid remains of some Japanese motorbikes

So chaps there you have it, over to you.

[Kevin B]

I have some developments to report for you all, as follows:

I have a possible taker on the White TGD hatchback at Pangbourne, subject to a further more detailed inspection to confirm if there are any as yet unidentified areas of serious body rot.

I have a firm offer on one of the Bx 4x4 Estate cars, and if I get no takers on the other 3 cars, the fall back position is that this same person will take the other 3 as well.

As before PM me with your preferences for the remaining 4x4 cars and it will be on a first come first served basis, please only serious enquiries, as this is likely to require a short notice response and to be able to fall in with other peoples arrangements due to the sequence in which these cars will need to be removed from this location.