Renovation progress

[Gerry TD12]

I thought I would give an update on my wagon. Mechanically virtually everything (apart from the dreaded sunroof) is now working, following a comprehensive service, cam belt,fluids and a few minor mechanical repairs my priority has been to get it looking as good cosmetically as possible. Rustwise the only poor area was a crunchy patch on the floor inboard of the sill, just under the driver’s footwell which was cut out and properly repaired. I have bought a Lanoguard kit which I will use to rustproof the underside/ box sections. Going to drop the spare wheel cage at the same time and re-rust and repaint. I managed to find replacement parts for various minor items of broken trim, as well as spare LED displays from an XM at a scrapyard nr. Rennes when I visited Brittany for a week 2 months ago.
Sadly I will have to sell it sometime next year as I recently found out that the London ULEZ zone will be extending out next summer literally to my back garden hedge and I can’t justify forking out £12.50/day to drive anything other than due south from my house…

[Citjon]

Looks very smart - I think that colour really suits the estate. Plenty of space for parts on those French scrapyard visits as well!

[Dieselman]

Not only plenty of parts in french scrapyards, but the bodies have no rot at all.

[Julianw]

Those pics show just how little the design of the break has aged - if I'd never seen an XM and was told this is the 2022 MY C5 wagon, I'd believe it.

Looks great

[Gerry TD12]

Having been told that I’d struggle to find an XM these days in any French yards I thought I’d try my luck around the Rennes area as the factory where they were made is there; previous experience working in car industry towns (e.g. Opel at Rüsselsheim ) suggested that there might be a higher than average concentration as those cars were driven by employees/ management and then filtered down onto the private market… I did look online for yards, narrowed it down to 4 ( incl. one suggested by the helpful Citroën main dealer in Saint Malo), it was only the last one (also thankfully a yard one could still wander into with tools) that had 2 hatches, one silver, one gold. Most of the front ends had gone but I got a set of “A” pillar trims, various switches, a sun visor, speaker grilles, good door brightwork strips and the full LED/ warning light display all for about £11. Going to try the displays and see if they work sometime. There is a helpful article on this on the Dutch XM website: https://www.xmclub.nl/sites/default/fil ... pair_0.pdf

[citroenxm]

If the displays are from an S1 y3 the left one won't work in an S2 y4 .. but the right one will..

S1 Y3 LH displays usually always work unless the crystal has bled..

I've got loads of speaker grills in UK stock and some interior pillar plastics too.. but thats a damm good price for all that..

[Dieselman]

If the displays are from an S1 y3 the left one won't work in an S2 y4 .. but the right one will..

The two pictured are both series 2 cars.

[Gerry TD12]

Thank you all for your complimentary and helpful words. I think August will be the month where I get properly stuck into the rest of the little renovation jobs. Will be interesting to see if the displays I got are any good. The right-hand display in the car works fine, just a bit of bleeding around the edges, the left one doesn’t at all…
I was slightly crestfallen at the lack of XMs in the yards I visited, I think all the scrappage incentives have got rid of a lot of good stuff. The yard with the two I went to only had a series 1 C5, a single Xantia and a late 605 and a Renault super 5 languishing at the back in a sea of dismal x07 Peugeots and other bland noughties cack….
What has cheered me up recently is the number of looks and thumbs up I’m getting from other motorists, including a group of Last of the line Saab 9/5s on the M25 – there can’t be many of those in the UK…!

[Dieselman]

I'm not surprised your car is attracting attention, a big silver Xm estate is rather striking. They have definitely moved on from being a piece of French scrap to a classic in their own right and yours is in nice condition.

[Degens]

Really a beautiful car. I had one, but because of some misjudgement I sold it (it appeared prematurely). It was L487 LUW. I hope it is still going somewhere, as it was in a fair state, and passed the last MOT it belonged to me. In the MOT check I see it was last MOTed in 2019.