Hello there

[Sam Skelton]

I'm viewing it at 8pm on Thursday. It would have been tomorrow had he and I been available at the same sort of time.

I spent half today on the phone to various previous owners and now have a fairly good idea of this car's history between 2010 and now. If it's anything like as good in the metal as the picture I've been painted so far, I reckon it's the one for me.

[dollywobbler]

Hold on. You own a Montego DSLX AUTO? Is it an estate? I ask because there was a chap called Gary in Peterborough who used to own one. He took it to BL Day once and had to listen to lots of people telling him it wasn't genuine.

And hello. You were right to sign up. Between us, we can raise the profile of the XM in the classic media and values will surely go through the roof. Just like they have for Montegos! Oh, hold on...

[Sam Skelton]

Got it in one Ian - that's the car. It's genuine, it's ex Perkins, and it's mine now. Plan is to smoke about in it for a bit, get the rest of the fleet where I want them, then go to town on it. I bought it last Friday.

[dollywobbler]

Excellent. Back on topic though, Citroens are not all things to all people, but I've completely fallen for my XM. It handles in a way my Saab 9000 just never quite managed. That never had the delicious turn-in of my XM.

[Sam Skelton]

I don't care about handling to be honest - I have other cars for that. What I want is a car that rides well. I live near Ramsey now, and you surely can't have forgotten how atrocious the surfaces are out here in the Fens! I reckon the XM will be spot on!

[dollywobbler]

Indeed not. I used to live not far from there. Not sure anything topped my 2CV on that terrain, though the BX coped well.

[Dieselman]

I don't care about handling to be honest - I have other cars for that. What I want is a car that rides well.

But...the XM can do both...

[Dieselman]

Got it in one Ian - that's the car. It's genuine, it's ex Perkins, and it's mine now. Plan is to smoke about in it for a bit, get the rest of the fleet where I want them, then go to town on it. I bought it last Friday.

I once read an article about a Renault Safrane diesel development mule that was being trailered from Perkins. On the way the driver stopped at a motorway services, came out and found the trailer and Safrane were gone. That was about £1M of development car gone...


Later on the Safrane was found dumped, just the trailer was stolen...

[White Exec]

A few years ago, a scrappy car was abandoned a few km from us, next to some rubbish bins.
Within a few days, the wheels (and other bits) had been removed, and the car stood on four piles of bricks.
A week or so later, the four piles of bricks had been nicked, to be replaced by a single pile of bricks under each sill.
Finally, all the bricks had gone missing, leaving a grounded car.
Moral? Bricks are more valuable than an old Ford.

[White Exec]

That was about £1M of development car...

And not just Renault.

During Rover's days at Solihull, more than one development vehicle went missing, including (I believe) an SD1 Estate (there were only three made), not to mention the reverse gear cogs from a one-off combined gearbox and back axle from the V8 mid-engined two-seater P6BS. The latter shuffled about for years, in Heritage care, without Reverse. Apparently an apprentice had lost the bits during a refit, and the cost of remaking them couldn't be met.

Rover did have more dramatic ways of making development vehicles 'vanish' though. Several of the gas turbine cars simply melted or burst into flame during track tests!