Post
by xantia_v6 » Sun Sep 20, 2015 5:52 am
The XM keeps on going... We have had visitors from New Zealand and the UK in the last couple of weeks, so the car has been busy with trips to Lyon, Besançon, Vezelay, and a few other tourist attractions. In the process, it ticked over 90,000 km last week.
It has acquired two more minor battle scars:
I backed into an unsigthed bollard and bruised the rear bumper, breaking the 'chrome' strip. I have a good spare bumper from the other car, but it has been cut to fit a towbar. I don't relish the thought of swapping just the 'chrome' strip.
There was a storm in Besançon last week, and a chestnut or similar from a tall tree fell on the car as we were sitting at the lights, putting a 50p sized dimple into the roof panel. Such is life.
On the positive side, I replaced the illumination bulbs in the radio. I fitted 14V (rather than 12V) bulbs so that they will last forever. They are a little dimmer than the originals, but the display is still just legible.
I have taken the front bumper and fan assembly off the parts car, to make it a bit shorter for packing both cars into the garage for winter. Nothing seems to be rusted up, which is good, but there is a little more surface rust in vulnerable places (e.g. bumper brackets) than on the good car.
We are leaving France in two weeks for summer in New Zealand, so I am now busy rearranging all the junk and car parts that are currently filling half the garage. There wo't be time to do much on either car in that time.
1999 XM Exclusive V6 24V ES9 Manual (LHD) 105,000 km
1997 Xantia Exclusive V6 (RHD) 45,000 miles