Citsncycles XM

[CitroJim]

Ummm, nice project Mike... I had an S1 AX back in 1990, just an AX11TGE, and I loved it to bits... An excellent car!

An AX GT is even better

Have fun and keep us posted on progress

[russ92xmsed]

I recognise that AX! Thats who it belongs too... Hope the resto goes well Mike, when you get round to it.

Good to hear the XM is improving.

[citsncycles]

Just bought the AX yesterday Russ. Andy Weston had bought it back in about 2005 to rip the aircon out to go in a GTi he had, but sold the GTi before he got the chance. He pulled it out of the yard a few months back and showed it to me, saying that it would probably go for scrap - he even invited me to sit in it, at which point I discovered I actually fitted (usually I don't fit an AX either due to lack of adjustment of the seat, or lack of headroom due to sun roof)! I managed to talk him out of scrapping it, but it's only been the purchase of a Slough built Big 6 that's pursuaded him to sell. I've always liked the AX, and of course as I have the XM plus various BX's I now have a set of Bertone and Bertone inspired cars.

[russ92xmsed]

I see that's the story, best of luck with it. They must be rare now too. I would love to riffle through their pile of cars. They told me they broke an early manual V6 a while ago...so there are 'valuable' parts about....

[citsncycles]

Put it this way - when trying to work out what to offer them for the AX, I tried to find other Mk1's for sale to give me an idea of what to ask and couldn't find any! I've not checked 'How Many Left' yet, so will do so shortly. The spec makes it rare in any case, as Andy believes it's one of a batch of cars built for Australia that ended up here instead, hence the air con and lack of sun roof. There's a 'Japon' sticker after the GT badge on the back but I've had no luck finding out anything about that yet either!

Their yard is indeed a treasure trove. To my knoweledge there's a DS ambulance, 2 D safaris, a BX 4x4 estate, at least one BX valver, 2 H vans, 2 ripple bonnet AZU's, a Rosalie and a Bijou in there, and that's just a small proportion of what's there! He mentioned something about a 2.1TD XM the other day, which he might use to resurrect the XM estate parked by the gate. There's also several CX's about the place, one of which I've had my eye on for a while as it's a very early base model, which again needs lots of welding.

[CitroJim]

Mike, it may have been originally destined for the Japanese market and then perhaps an abortive attempt was made to export to the Aussies instead.

The Pug 205 Gentry, a posh wood and leather air-con'd auto powered by the 1.9GTi engine was a cancelled Japanese export order and ended up being sold in this country. Most, if not all, were painted Sorrento Green as far as I recall.

A very rare and desirable 205... Just like your AX.

[citsncycles]

Ah, that makes sense Jim, as all the search results I found kept mentioning Japan - I'll revisit them to see if I learn anything new. The Japanese and Australian car markets do seem to have close ties.

[jonathan_dyane]

That's brilliant, can't remember the last time I saw a 5 door mk 1 ax gt...

[citsncycles]

A mate of mine had a 5 door carb model in white (this one has Bosch monopoint injection). For whatever reason I couldn't get the seat set so that I could sit in it without being jammed up against the sun roof or steering wheel - both he and his wife are a good 6 inches shorter then me and half my weight so it wasn't a problem for them! Dunno what's different about this one but I seem to fit in it!

Theirs was very low geared, great on B roads but noisy and thirsty on motorways - but that's what the XM's for!

[citsncycles]

Never been so glad that I've got a tow hitch on the back of my car! Was about pull onto a roundabout last night when I heard rather than felt the car behind drive into me! Got out to find a rather embarrassed bloke and his missus sat in an old Golf. He'd been watching the traffic on the roundabout instead of me (I've done the same once, writing off both my Ami 8 and an Astra estate). Luckily all he'd touched was my hitch, which left a slight mark on his bumper and didn't touch mine. He apologised and we went our separate ways. By the look of his car, I don't think it's the first time he's done it!