Hello from Norway

[White Exec]

Right, now makes sense - little/no salt, and dry air!
Remember walking through Moscow streets back in the late '70s, when it was -34degC over New Year. If you breathed out, your breath froze instantly, and fell to the ground as ice crystals. A scarf wrapped round a bearded face needed very gentle peeling off when you got indoors! Did it feel cold? No - no moisture left in the air.

Interesting to see an XM Commercial (van). Reportedly used in France to rapidly deliver the latest newsprint.

[EirikJ]

Yeah I think they are not so common, except up here. In Norway. A car used for work, like a van, is cheaper because it is less taxed. To class a car as a cargo van, It had to have no more than 3 seats, a wall behind the front seats separating the front seats from the "cargo area". And the cargo area had to have a minimum size of so and so. In the 80's and 90's lots of cars like the XM station wagon could be registered as a cargo van in Norway, by removing the back seat completely and installing said wall/flat floor. The XM was big enough and got this type of licence. It was much cheaper than a station wagon, but of course had no back seat. The earlier CX arrived in Norway as a station wagon and got the back seat removed and the dividing wall/floor mounted in Norway before it was sent to the dealers. The back seat would follow with the car, so at a later point the owner could pay some extra taxes and remount the back seat. But the XM was made like this at the factory. That ment it was not delivered to the customer with any back seats, or even normal doorcards or any wiring to the back windows. They were mounted shut permanently in the back doors. But many owners of these cars later put in back seats, but the trouble was finding back seats! Therefor many XM stationwagons in Norway that startet life as a van, now have back seats from a sedan because those were easier to find in the scrap yard. Typical these converted vans dont have matching seat fabric and may not have working windows in the back etc. I've helped people quite a few times with this job back in the days. Not many have been left as a Van, so actually getting rare here too.

[Julianw]

Great save! Welcome to the forum

[Dieselman]

The Xm "commercial" estate wasn't sold in the Uk.
I'm not sure if it was even sold in France, or if it was mainly a Netherlands tax break version, where they were popular.
The newspaper delivery Xm were Tissier Load-runners, with an additional rear axle and fibreglass rear body.

In the Uk we salt the roads far too much, due to driving cars with hard suspension on wide, low profile tyres and often with automatic gearboxes, all of which don't suit slippery conditions.
Many drivers rely on driver aids, so lack the skill to drive in snow.
As a result cars rust badly.

[Stickfinger]

......even WORSE now due to "Salt Slurry", that stuff eats old cars as a snack.

[White Exec]

Even before the current fascination with wide, low-profile tyres (and indifferent driver skill), the UK salted its roads mercilessly.
The salt solution not only corroded cars, it also attacked bridges and flyovers - eg the M4 elevated section at Brentford, where the reinforcing steel has been bursting through the concrete for years now.

[Dieselman]

The salt solution not only corroded cars, it also attacked bridges and flyovers - eg the M4 elevated section at Brentford, where the reinforcing steel has been bursting through the concrete for years now.

I don't wish to go off topic, but concrete rebar corrosion isn't a result of salt being applied, it's due to the steel rebar being placed too close to the surface of the concrete, thus inadequately protected from water ingress.
The steel rusts and expands, so spalls the concrete.

Salt will indeed exacerbate the problem.

[Julianw]

I now consider myself better informed on the subject of rebar reinforced concrete and its degradation! Thanks all

As for commercial breaks (ahem), i know van versions of cars were popular in Ireland, presumably for tax reasons as well as practicality, e.g. the Fiesta van* and Isuzu Trooper, lacking rear side windows and back seats - a few of both of these made it into Britain in the 80s and 90s. But did Citroen bother to do a rhd commercial estate for this (small) market?

*I've seen a few XRVans as well, though these may have been after market replicas