Car of the Week: Citroen BX

Readers, my apologies for the tardiness of this post, unfortunately with a day job to go too I have neglected my blog. However wanting an escape from the everyday I'm back and hopefully the uniqueness of my car this week makes up for a lack of activity. I give you the Citroen BX Turbo Diesel.

First things first, this weeks car needs some work but as the BX was never sold in Australia the car is so incredibly rare that when I stumbled across it on Gumtree I just had to feature it and if your a French car fan at $800 surely it's worth a look.

If you need convincing though, here's some background on the BX, a proper wacky Citroen if ever there was one. The styling for starters takes all that was good with the wedge and mashes it with some truly 80's angles to make a hatchback like none other, look at those rear wheel arches for example, their barely there, the wheels just poke out giving a look akin to a classic american street machine, all low and sleek. Of course the BX also came with Citroen's legendary "magic carpet" like hydropneumatic self leveling suspension so if for some reason you wanted it even lower a flick of a switch could see the BX dropped onto it's bump stops.

With almost 30 different BX model variants produced between 1982 and 1994 it's handy that your choice in Australia is limited to what some loving, emigrating owners decided to import, otherwise you'd get stuck in a mine field of letter and number combinations ranging from BX11, through 19D, TRD Turbo and even GTi. For the record though contemporary press reckoned the BX to have was the 66kw Turbo Diesel, a car that became Britain's best selling diesel in the early 90's due its combination of refinement and power. It could do the 0-100km/h sprint in 11 seconds which at the time was hot hatch territory and totally unheard of for a supposedly dirty, noisy diesel.

And would you believe it the one and only BX I stumbled across for sale in Australia right now is a desirable turbo diesel with some lovely period alloy wheels. As I said however it is in need of some work. That brilliant engine has done a staggering 480000km and could probably be doing with a rebuild. Another few bits need looking at before it's roadworthy again too like some tyres and a general tidy up. Don't let this BX's rarity put you off restoring it, the Citroen shares it's platform with the Peugeot 405, a car that was actually sold Down Under, meaning parts might not be as hard to come by as you'd think and there is of course the wonder that is Ebay if you need to source bits from overseas, they built over 2 million BX's so the parts are cheaply available in Europe.
Citroen BX Turbo Diesel, $800





I'll be back with next weeks car in a few days, but if you do happen to buy this car let me know, as I'd love it to find an enthusiastic owner.                    

Get your own Euro Barn Find

In a potentially very tenuous link to my earlier post about the ultimate barn find collection, I have been spurred on to see what decaying European metal is out there in Australia ripe for some restoration. Thankfully I discovered there is quite a lot, so much in fact that I'm only going to focus on one manufacturer for this first restoration themed post and that brand is Jaguar. So please allow me to guide you through some of the best potential big cat projects I found out on the world wide web.

Firstly however, a brief explanation of why classic European cars can be found decaying around Australia. You see in the days before Japanese and Korean cars dominated the new car sales charts a full contingent of British car manufactures, some now deceased I hasten to add, battled for supremacy with their European and Australian counterparts. Some truly awful creations from British Leyland arrived down under, like the Morris Marina, but some good made its way here too. And thanks to a combination of blind luck and some careful owners once upon a time, there are classics out there that have not rusted back into the soil from whence they came.

Jaguar seemed like a fittingly British marque to start my hunt for classic's with. A company now in resurgence thanks to a truly modern range things haven't always been so rosy. Desperate years owned by the aforementioned British Leyland almost sent the big cat to the rescue center in the 70's while the 80's and 90's weren't much better. However despite the troubles cars kept rolling out of the factory and found homes with many Aussies. Some Jags were destined to be classics from the day they were penned, like the Mk2 while others like the XJS pictured have grown into their looks over time. Regardless of the back stories though I'm pleased affordable classic Jags can be found in Australia, as long as your willing to spend a little more cash getting them road ready! Here are my findings.

How do 2 Jaguars for the price of one sound? My first find is exactly that, two cars bought with the intention of taking all the best bits from both to make one very good XJS. Unfortunately the owner has not been able to turn their dream into a reality and is offering both Jags for a very reasonable price. The bonus of this buy is, given that spare parts are likely to eat up any restoration budget getting that second car thrown in could be worth its weight in dead cow hide, walnut and oily bits.
2x Jag XJS's, $4750

My next find needs a little bit more TLC, quite a lot actually as it is a proper barn find condition Jag. However don't let that put you off, the majority of this beautiful Mk2 does appears to be there just not necessarily all screwed together. The seller mentions the biggest missing piece is a dashboard. I suspect the car might have had an interesting past too, those red wheels scream period race car to me.  
1962 Mk2 in need of restoration, $1200

My last pick is a little more sensible, for starters it actually works and has rego. It also appears to
have had some very careful and loving Jaguar enthusiast owners. Yes admittedly the unknown mileage is of some concern but really once a car gets to this sort of age condition is key and this one looks good, if the engines lasted this long somethings been done right! This one just needs a little TLC.  
1976 Jag XJ6,$3500         

Just a bit of inspiration