THE X RALLY - 15th April 2012.

[robert_e_smart]

You need some linseed oil Will!

Mauritius blue is my favourite XM colour. I think the darker colours suit the XMs well.

[robert_e_smart]

Thank you Robert and yes of course do pass on the picture. I now wish I had taken one with the car actually under the rainbow!! In due course I still hope to get you an article on my engine rebuild! With regards, Matthew T.

Excellent Matthew, I'll pass the picture on, and look forward to your article.

[MTXM]

It was interesting that you should mention the bumpers Will, because your car has the correct colour, charcoal grey, and the XM trim (including mirrors and scuttle) seem to have been changed to black around 1992. My 1992 2.0i sei turbo has black. I originally thought the gold car bumpers had faded and preferred the black, hence the change, that I achieved by liberal application of India ink, which is surprisingly durable but will not work on the shiny plastic. The ink can be removed and I think I may return to the grey for the sake of originality. Oil or silicone polish will also darken the bumpers and door trim as noted by Robert. Some keen eyes might also have spotted the non-matching driver side mirror on my car that shows the difference and I must swap it for a grey one! With regards, Matthew T.

[citroenxm]

following on mathew thats how you tell an s1.5 model.. the small upgrades in the sei were the added body colour plastics.. mirrors, scuttles, and door mouldings all went body colour around 1992 on se cars. this WAS originally reserved for the s1 24v models only as top spec... while all lesser including se were grey plastic.

easilly added to earlyer cars of course!

[robert_e_smart]

I didn't realise there were different coloured plastic rubbing strips available. I always put it down to vary rates of fading and previous owners car, and attention for detail.

[Dieselman]

Sometimes I think about colour coding the mirrors and scuttle trim, but also like the grey as it makes the wing line of the car swoop downwards like the rear door makes it sweep back up again. These were original design lines lost on the S2 cars due to colour coding.

All of my cars had/have grey trims and mirrors.

I have found Mer bumper gel to work well on the bumpers and trims, just didn't have time to do them.

[citroenxm]

yes robert... se trim went body colour around 1992.. also added to sed trim was wood on the dash and centre console like early 12v v6s... early sed's didnt have wood from 1990 to 1992....

thats because they are NOT SE spec will like i said above... Se trim only

[robert_e_smart]

I was thinking more of Matthew's comments on grey and black plastic rubbing strips before the mass introduction of colour coded options. I'm not a big fan of colour coding. I prefer the plan black/grey rubbing strips to break up the car a bit.

[Dieselman]

thats because they are NOT SE spec will like i said above... Se trim only

I know that, but have sometimes considered colour coding to be the same, though do want to keep the car original.
As you probably know, only 24v cars were coloured then Se as well.

[robert_e_smart]

Or