Vince's xm - 2.1TD daily driver

[russ92xmsed]

I agree, nothing more satisfying returning a filthy motor back to it's gleaming self.

I'm sure we'll escape the white stuff....jinxed it now!!!

[CitroJim]

Yes, even I who has no talent at all for cleaning cars whatsoever finds deep satisfaction in giving them a wash and a good leathering afterwards...

Snow is a given really and I predict February...

Right now the weather is exactly as it was this time last year...

[russ92xmsed]

Yes...minus the drought!

[ragger]

Well, it hasn't rained here today - yet. Surely that must count as a drought among the climate worriers?

Rob

[russ92xmsed]

The green meanies! I am a firm believer that the planet will sort it's self out. If there is a drought, then it fixes it. And what did we get....rain and too much of it!

[Vince]

Well today is exactly 6 months to the day since i first drove an xm, and also the since i bought my car from Paul

I can honestly say ive loved every minute of xm ownership and have racked up 6k miles in that time with a broken accelerator cable being the only partial "breakdown"

Sure ive spent some money fixing up some other bits on the car, but some of those i could have lived with, but prefer to get things fixed money permitting

To this day, the design of this car still amazes me, as does the way it drives...its the whole experience i guess. Its nice to be back in a car that im interested in and is suitably old and rare to still interest others also. Last night i nipped to Asda and when coming back to the car found two teenage lads looking at it with one commenting that it looks like a Delorean ....perhaps if you squint from a distance, but i get what they meant. Its a pointy 80's design, and in my case gunmetal grey.

Here's looking forward to another 6 months classic citroen ownership and a few shows along the way

My sister has also just bought her first car yesterday after passing her test....what did she buy? .....a Citroen C3 At least she had the sense to buy french as i had nothing to do with it

[captainhaddock]

6 months Vince, congrats. I don't count in months nor miles but it's nice to drive these oldies. My first will be with us 2 years in March, we did 40.000+ with it and she cost me around a 1000 on maintenance. Tyres, cambelt, but nothing apart from the window cable that broke down yet. Touch wood, I have an ABS sensor in the mail....that's becoming the biggest issue now. I wish you luck with yours, don't count in months! C3 is nice for your sister, doesn't come anywhere close to the XM apart from being relatively more trouble free and economic..

[Vince]

Thanks Captain. I havent been counting the months per say, but this morning looked out at the car and wondered how long id had it....it then transpired it had been 6 months to the day

In other news. On the Pallas front, i did a Mini last weekend for a referral customer from Will on here =D> Thanks Will. If anyone is wondering how the paint on modern minis stacks up to their original forebearers, its damn tough Seriously, its like diamond tough...even the vinyl stripes !

The guy was selling the car due to an expanding family and also i have his range rover to do next weekend Im always a bit nervous when someone first sees their car once its been done, as i know how much work its been to correct its condition, but i realise its a financial outlay for people so im always hoping that they feel they get value for money. This job i figured would be a steady one with perhaps 8 to 10 hours tops in it. The paint looked soft and i figured the vinyl stripes would be easy to correct. The fact it was the polar opposite saw it taking 11.5 hours and that was with one quick cup of tea break for 10 mins. Seriously, that was all.

Every nook and cranny was cleaned up and being white everything shows up (which is better to work with) The whole lower section of the car was peppered in tiny tar spots which took as you can imagine a while to get off...one by one The bottom door drains were filthy, the tailgate surround seal had to come off to get at the filthy white paint behind it (its a dirt trap) and the engine bay and interior were done also as i knew it was going up for sale and the owner is too busy to get round to much himself. I was happy with the way it came out, but it was back breaking doing it all in one day, plus being winter i havent done a car for a little while. The owner was like "WOW, it looks amazing" Its funny but the most common word people say first is "Wow"...i think its place in the english vocabulary is secure for a while yet.

I took my camera to take pictures, but in my rush to get out the door i forgot to change the batteries for the ones id just charged the night before so it was flat! i had to use my mates camera which i find hard to take a good picture with as its so sensitive to hand movements when your taking pics. The resulting pictures arent the greatest , but show a degree of transformation. I have better ones on my phone, but ive not got round to transferring them over yet,

Pics are on my blogsite.... http://pallasautorefinishing.wordpress.com/

[Dieselman]

In other news. On the Pallas front, i did a Mini last weekend for a referral customer from Will on here =D> Thanks Will./

Not me afaik...??

[Vince]

Sorry, Will off the FCF, he has a range rover and a Xantia I posted it on my blog on there first and carried it over