1985 Citroen CX GTI, The Phoenix.

[frecko]

The last ‘proper’ Citroen: a Magic carpet ride, 3 speed automagic, 2.5l engine and big comfy arm chair seats. This is the story of a 1985 Citroen CX GTI. We’ve all been there, browsing the net, sending classified ads to your friends. There it is, 1985 CX GTI, 73000miles, clean MOT. It’s cheap, and previously cherished by an editor of Classic Car Magazine. “Too good to be true”, you say. 10 points to Gryffindor. Three pictures and a phone call later… my amigo and I need to arrange a road trip.




Some weeks later, I have packed my 1993 Audi URS4 with all the tools needed to act as support vehicle on a Citroen adventure.



The day started well: 30mpg in the S4 on the way to collect my car friend from Leeds station. It continued to get better when the S4 embarrassed a 2018 Ferrari on the way out of Leeds. We arrive in the muddy yard of a cider farm somewhere north of York. It’s chucking it down, windy and cold. I talk about the weather with the Farmer, who it turns out is not happy to see us at all! We are there “too early” we are chastised and denied access to the toilet! Some apples are moved, a barn door is opened, and there it is: moss growing out of the window seals and covered by a thick layer of dirt. We open a front door each, all optimism disappears. There is a reason for the car’s crack pipe pricing: it has been on fire. < insert jokes about French electrics> . We are resigned to our fate, the bonnet is opened and the battery connected. During the 5 minutes we have been on set with The Archers go to anger management class, we have decided to 1. Leave angry farmer Boggis’ land as soon as possible and 2. clean it and list it on eBay, shortly after completing task #1. We check some fluid levels; pull some faces, and first go it starts! Maybe it is a Citroen rather than a Citron after all. We repay the farmers mean spiritedness by peeing all over his gate on our way out. Southbound and down, destination Melton: land of pork pies, stilton cheese and secure parking. All is going well, apart from a niggling sense of buyer’s remorse. Then it happened, the moment we were all waiting for. You re-join our fearless pair pushing Le Citron around a Travelodge carpark somewhere south of York. We have spark, we don’t have fuel. Some love taps from a 2lb dead blow on the fuel pump and once again, we head south. It’s mid-afternoon and there are a lot of miles to cover.


To be continued

[frecko]

The car sat in storage for 3 months, we had decided while lying in a puddle outside a Travelodge that the CX deserved our attention. Apparently in this time the MOT lapsed, but neither of us remembered to check! First week of January, It’s a Friday night, cold and dark. Our wives and children are in different time zones and a car friend’s weekend has been organised. Only a few small issues: flat battery, flatter tyres, fire damage. I have foolishly decided to use my 1990 range rover 3.9 V8 as support vehicle. The range rover jump starts the Citroen, which just about has 3 cylinders. The suspension raises up, a good omen? Off we go, another 100mile jaunt to a warm workshop which will be our home for the weekend, eating dominoes, sleeping on the floor, showering in a truck stop, restoring a Citroen. 7 miles later: we are in a motorway services near Wanlip. Sit rep: no start, everything electrical going haywire, suspension collapsed and an ominous oily puddle growing under the car. Once again the range rover is plugged in, doing its best to achieve negative mpg. I left my amigo mucking about with relays, wandering over to befriend an AA van driver, parked up having a burger king for his night shift dinner. He generously donated some hydraulic oil, even though we are both RAC members, there are good people out there! An hour later, we bought beer, chocolate hobnobs, coffee and petrol (because v8 range rover) and limped on.





First order of business was beer and pizza. Followed by a gutting the interior completely. Every switch/connection/relay we could find was removed cleaned filled with dialectic grease and reassembled, magically everything electrical now works! The old interior was laid out with our donor interior, and a greatest hits album made between the 2. Morning broke, it feels like I scrubbed endlessly. The pictures speak for themselves how nice the interior is now. A new loom was made to power the courtesy lights, I refitted the interior. My amigo replaced the ignition coils and fuel pump, fixed the hydraulics, flushed and bled them up with new fluids.

[frecko]

Here are some midway pictures of the interior. At this point everything has been scrubbed (34 year old head sweat marks on the drivers head rest , as well as fire debris) and wet vacuumed. There is some sun fading, here and there, but otherwise not too much to moan at. Especially from a 34year old car which spent it's formative years in Jersey. The seats for those who are interested, are even comfier than they look! CItroen also provided sun visors for the rear side windows, very swish. 








Next episode: Paint.... 

[frecko]

Paint. At the time of taking ownership the paint was showing it's age. lacquer peel, fire damage, dings and scuffs. 
The first stage was a big wash, 2 bucket method, snow foam, door shuts, engine bay, the full works. 


The second stage was a wet and dry colour sand. This had, shall we say, mixed results. 




Next stop colour matched gris perle paint. 


and clear coated.



The roof was also less than ideal.












Next time, new tyres, yellow lights, louvers, and that MOT business...

[rblote]

These are so awesome. Thanks for sharing!!

[johnthesparky]

Now I want one of these as well....... *sigh

[retrolegends]

Truly awesome cars, like something out of Thunderbirds come to life 👍

[Mercdan68]

Great thread absolutely superb cars these
Always been to wary to buy one
Respect to you and all involved in its rebuild

[grifterkid]

EPIC...

That is all!

[frecko]

Thanks all! This car really is worth saving, rare, mental, interesting, and you can switch between stance and high riding comfort at the slide of a button. Mechanically its pretty simple, electrically... well now its all been to bits and it all works, hopefully it will prove reliable. I don't have much to update you on. But we have 4 new tyres. Previously we had 4 differently sized tyres, which deflated every hour. Happily until now the car had only managed 45mins between breakdowns, so there were plenty of opportunities to reinflate!
Some TLC in the form of a polish up is definitely on the cards for the wheels.
Stay tuned!

[slacky]

Cool CX 👍
Audi’s not bad either 😉😉

[frecko]

Jan 26, 2019 16:57:43 GMT slacky said:

Cool CX 👍
Audi’s not bad either 😉😉

Hello my mate. You can vouch for the time travel capabilities of the urs4..

[slacky]

You need the put a readers rides of the urs4 😉

[vulgalour]

CX Gti in silver with grey cloth interior is a very nice combination. Arguably not the last 'proper Citroen', though it is very properly Citroen throughout.

Looking forward to seeing it with the wheels spruced up and the louvre fitted.

[frecko]

Jan 27, 2019 0:14:59 GMT slacky said:

You need the put a readers rides of the urs4 😉

I'd be there all day trying to remember how many different mods it has and where all the parts came from. I'd then give up and say "it sounds nice in tunnels. Trust me."

Jan 27, 2019 2:28:40 GMT vulgalour said:

CX Gti in silver with grey cloth interior is a very nice combination. Arguably not the last 'proper Citroen', though it is very properly Citroen throughout.

Looking forward to seeing it with the wheels spruced up and the louvre fitted.

Perhaps my original post was vague. What I meant was:launch of CX, bankruptcy, Peugeot buys 90% share. I would be interested to read your opinion. I am also excited for louvers, also having bad thoughts about morrette style quad round headlamps; A la ds. We are aiming to attend the Citroen X car rally, perhaps you are going in the bx?

Stay tuned folks: it's make all the lights yellow and fit louvers day. More to come later, hopefully.

[jamesd1972]

Nice car(s) and write up, thanks for sharing. Another vote for more info on the Audi as well.
James

[vulgalour]

Ah well, if your criteria is 100% Citroen ownership then yes, CX is last proper Citroen. I reckon the BX is the last proper Citroen (and arguably Mk1 only due to the normalising of the Mk2 interior) because when the Xantia came along interiors and even exteriors all got a little bit ordinary and safe and Peugeot-y.

Morettes do suit the CX nicely and since it's just a removable piece, you can always go back to original if you want to so no harm done. If I've got the BX sorted by then I may attend the X Rally, I'm hoping to have all the jobs done and the car back on the road by March. We shall see.

[frecko]

Jan 27, 2019 12:41:19 GMT vulgalour said:

Ah well, if your criteria is 100% Citroen ownership then yes, CX is last proper Citroen. I reckon the BX is the last proper Citroen (and arguably Mk1 only due to the normalising of the Mk2 interior) because when the Xantia came along interiors and even exteriors all got a little bit ordinary and safe and Peugeot-y.

Morettes do suit the CX nicely and since it's just a removable piece, you can always go back to original if you want to so no harm done. If I've got the BX sorted by then I may attend the X Rally, I'm hoping to have all the jobs done and the car back on the road by March. We shall see.

Of course, any interior filled with levers and giant non-self-cancelling rocker switches is a winner! I Do like the BX. Especially the square rear spoilers, the 3 horizontal vents on the C-pillar and the XUD diesel! Obviously my audi engine/ drivetrain choice means I have a soft spot for Group B too, another feather in the BX cap! 

The morrettes are decently rare, so that is both a plus and a minus. The possibility of seeing the next basket case online and needing to move the CX along, while being left holding rare and expensive parts does not fill me with joie de vivre. 

Here's a sneak peak: Louvers, yellow bulb masks, and soon to be yellow fog lights. I actually think anything retro French needs yellow lights, and pretty much everything from the 80s looks excellent with louvers. 

[frecko]

Jan 27, 2019 8:32:37 GMT jamesd1972 said:

Nice car(s) and write up, thanks for sharing. Another vote for more info on the Audi as well.
James

I bought this car on the strength of these 2 videos. That's all you're getting for now. The range rover is busy being a range rover. 

[slacky]

Beast 👹😉