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You bunch of wags, you!!
First Car
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Softus said:
I bl**dy love citroëns, me.
2nd car, after the aforementioned fiesta, was a BX GTi - not really the car to own when you're 18 years old and think you're a good driver. When the hydraulics pack in at 60mph approaching a roundabout and you lose the servo brakes, suspension AND power steering, you find out how good a driver you really are (I wasn't)....
Didn't put me off, though - I've had a Xantia since which was absolutely the best car I ever had, and when I'm allowed to drive again in September (long story) a C5 is top of the list.
Although I would love a 2CV, maybe as a novelty 2nd car, but I suspect that finding a decent one now would be classic status and more money than a Y plate C5!!!
I'm quite keen too. I like the French "f*** 'em" attitude to car design.ninebob said:
My 2nd car was also a 2CV, but it was an older L.H. drive 2CV4 imported from Holland. The bodywork quality was about twice as good as the later ones.
Softus said:
It's not the bodywork that bothers me. I do very few miles and now consider myself to be a much safer driver than i was in the dark days, so I don't concern myself so much with ncap ratings and so on. If I buy a car made essentially out of bacofoil that's my lookout. It's more the fact that they made the heating ducts out of cardboard and therefore you're always running the risk of spontaneous automobile combustion......
I didn't mean the thickness - that was the same. It was the quality of the steel and its assembly that was better - the end result didn't rust like the R.H. drive models.ninebob said:
Indeed so - I have a friend whose '6 was written off before the Fire Brigade could get there, and the station was only around the corner; all down to a cardboard heater duct falling onto the exhaust.It's more the fact that they made the heating ducts out of cardboard and therefore you're always running the risk of spontaneous automobile combustion......
I'm pretty sure that you could find an alternative - for example my Volvo 240s had ducting of a similar gauge that piped hot air from around the exhaust manifold to preheat the incoming combustion air. There must be loads of safe stuff around if you can just find the right supplier.
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ninebob said:
And me. I had an 88F BX 19RD. Standard non-turbo, but went like SOAS.
Because the car was part plastic, no doubt. Belting motor.
The only thing that went wrong was a hydraulic hose blew off, resulting in your afore-mentioned quandry - "S*it! What do I do now????"
Did you know they're push-fit?
I bought a TDi Xantia off the back of the BX. It was dreadful. Everything went wrong except the hydraulics....
It was also appreciably heavier than the BX and the turbo did little to redress the power/weight ratio...But I know they're not all bad - Mrs Secure has a petrol Xantia hatch and very little has gone wrong with that that isn't WAT.
I'd like a C8.....[drool]
I started with a '68 Triumph 1300. Weird setup under the bonnet on those. In line engine driving a gearbox mounted behind and below the bellhousing through a clutch about the size of a saucer, then a prop shaft running through a tunnel in the sump to the differential mounted in front of it. The starter motor drove an exposed ring gear mounted on the the crankshaft pulley at the front of the engine. It sounded like someone rolling a dustbin lid down the road when you turned the key.
Does this give my age away.
My first car was a 1947 Austin 10 complete with running boards , crank handle, and windscreen wipers that you had to crank to get them going.
In addition to a side valve engine it had cable brakes which tended to fade if you used them to much, this caused some hairy moments when I was took the short cut from Grasmere to Coniston in the lakes, there is a hill on this route which is very steep.
From what I recall the top speed was just under 60mph.
Happy days, after about 18 months I ended up exchanging it for a Wolsley 15/50
My first car was a 1947 Austin 10 complete with running boards , crank handle, and windscreen wipers that you had to crank to get them going.
In addition to a side valve engine it had cable brakes which tended to fade if you used them to much, this caused some hairy moments when I was took the short cut from Grasmere to Coniston in the lakes, there is a hill on this route which is very steep.
From what I recall the top speed was just under 60mph.
Happy days, after about 18 months I ended up exchanging it for a Wolsley 15/50
my mates dad always used to have citreons when i was a kid. used to think it was amazing when the whole thing lifted up on the gas suspension.
Still cant understand why they named one their cars C5....dont they have any memories in the advertising dept?????
Still cant understand why they named one their cars C5....dont they have any memories in the advertising dept?????
Just remembered, when I had my Austin 10 a guy I worked with had a Ford V8 pilot.
It was bl**dy enormous and weighed about 3 tons.
Each wheel had a built in hydraulic jack and sometimes when it failed to start he had to use the biggest cranking handle I had ever seen, you didn't want to be around that thing if it kicked back
I think the petrol comsumption was around 12 mpg, but then petrol was around 1s 6d a gallon , that is approx 7p in new money.
It was bl**dy enormous and weighed about 3 tons.
Each wheel had a built in hydraulic jack and sometimes when it failed to start he had to use the biggest cranking handle I had ever seen, you didn't want to be around that thing if it kicked back
I think the petrol comsumption was around 12 mpg, but then petrol was around 1s 6d a gallon , that is approx 7p in new money.
