Partridge

I've had this since June, and thought it was high time I wrote a thread for it.

After three years of compulsively checking Autotrader/eBay/Car&Classic for another SVE, I'm once again behind the wheel of one of my dream cars. A Citroen XM would be easy to find, and even though they ride 5% better I just prefer how V6 605s drive. Imagine a FWD e39 with very light and smooth steering and you're on the right track. The Pininfarina lines of the 605 do a lot more for me than the XM, and Peugeot's take on how a French exec should look doesn't have the pretentious "oooh it's a spaceship" bollocks which many French car fisters attach to the XM.

But Partridge, you say: if you loved it so much, why did you get rid of your old one? It overheated and chucked its coolant at random intervals, and had buggered electrics which resulted in it having adorable, very amusing little electrical fires. After leaving a job which drove me to the brink of a mental breakdown, it had to go. Scenes like this became far too regular.

But I loved it all the same, and vowed to one day find a nice one.

"One day" happened in June, when Mrs P found it on eBay. So we sent them a message which went something like:

LOL HELLO I BUY 605 WITHOUT SEEING LOL HA HA

Sadly, this is the only collection picture I have, taken on the seller's driveway.

We drove to Bournemouth from Northants, to pick up a car we'd bought unseen. Given how my last one treated me, I was feeling tense at this point. 

Tense mixed with a surreal sense of excitement. I finally, I was in a 605 again. I forgot how nice they smell, a weird mix of a leather goods shop and warm electrics and plastics - a heady combination I'm sure you'll all agree.

The battery was dead, needing a jump start if the car was even turned off and left for seconds. Guess which moron left the jump leads in the East Midlands?

Luckily, there was a Halfords nearby, so in I went to buy jump leads. Despite it already smelling ambrosial, I bought an air freshener. But it turned out to smell like a mix of sick and shower gel, so I stopped in a KFC to throw it in the bin. Sadly, no photographic evidence is available of this event.

On the drive back I discovered that the radio display wasn't working (a big shame as they are damn sexy LCD displays in these cars) but it did have a free Craig David CD in the changer. Bo Selecta!

We stayed at my parent's overnight, who were thrilled* at a Xantia AND a 605 setting up camp outside. It was such a hot day, the little hook that held the rear blind for Xantia up melted. I was annoyed at the time, but one month later it gave birth to a core plug, so I guess it didn't matter very much.

It made it back home without incident, where it could meet the 405. They seem to get along OK.

.

The battery was replaced pretty pronto, but what else was on the list?

Service

Solve power steering belt squeak

Solve misfire

Fix rubbish paint

Service was first up, and was more eventful than planned.

One of the guys in the garage was tracing an electrical fault on a Lexus RX, and had a fit because he thought the battery had melted. Nope, just the acrid stench of the thick black gunk coming out of the old fuel filter on my 605. They had never seen anything like it. The exhaust is now smelling much less fruity, and she's running a tad smoother, and the MPG is now up by about two points. I think she needed it quite badly.

When I get it home, it occurs to me that I've never fully gone through the parts and bit and bobs the seller had in the boot, left over from the guy before him (an enthusiast named John from Essex - ring any bells here?)  What do I find? A fucking service kit.

Next up, power steering squeak. The nice man from Essex had helpfully left a new belt in the boot, so off comes the old one. The old one was so corroded, dry and cracked I don't think it would have lasted very much longer. Moral of the story? If you find parts/service items in the boot, they're probably there for a reason.

Power steering squeak not gone though. Power steering squeak still present. Balls. A new pump will be next.

The misfire has been traced to a faulty coil pack, which you can actually hear ark as the car splutters. It's not a very bad misfire, but obviously it's not something I want.

That's about where I am with it. The last couple of months I have been using her a lot more than I would have liked, because after my Xantia blew up, the 405 went into storage for winter and my Sterling died, I don't have very much choice. Thankfully, they've not been chucking awful amounts of salt onto the roads around here, courtesy of this warm winter (thanks global warming, but did you really have to break my Xantia's sunblind?).

A new daily is looming thanks to a friend lending me a car, so soon she can have a rest until the Spring, when the pump and coil pack will be done, then she's off for paintwork...that's the plan anyway.

Things that the everyday folks leave behind?

We're basically motoring Wombles, but not as cute.

Okey doke. My tester is of the 'anything goes' school ("you will get those headlamps working soon right?") so I might be in with a chance. It is a bit Goldfinger when you put the boot down on the motorway but it's better in the summer

Yeah, Castro B got shafted by his tester on my Sedan IMO. One of the things it failed on was excessive smoke, when I know for a fact my guy would not have failed it on smoke.

Yo, is that visible smoke thing a reality for a 1997 car, because surely every old diesel is gonna have a massive fail at the next test? I thought shizz like that only applied to cars which are supposed to conform to modern emission rules to start with?

 

*starts counting down days till the 406 runs out of ticket*

From experience of my shite/others shite I think it's one of those things that is down to how your tester takes it. I'd take your 406 to a tester who is sympathetic to old cars and you should be fine, as long as it doesn't make a Goldfinger style smoke screen.

He got stung with the Sedan that I sold him, because it turned out to be a bit of a nail (known problems which turned out to be worse, as I recall). I don't see why asking sensible, clear questions is a problem?

A Cheapy McCheapface car can very easily turn into a relatively expensive car if you don't walk in with your eyes open.

Cam belt change 125 euro but need to get it home first

https://www.google.com/maps/dir//39.4749421,-8.8979749/@39.4667292,-9.2340196,10z/data=!4m2!4m1!3e0

This is *kinda* in my manor, so if you go for this and need help with collecting, let me know.

Just putting it out there... I keep thinking about a van. Predictably enough, although roof down is still fun in December, I'm currently mainly using a car for lugging stuff about, so this isn't seeing much use.

 

I fancy a small van that's long enough to sleep in and which I can chuck muddy bikes in the back of... longer term I kind of fancy doing a basic micro camper/surf van conversion.

 

At the moment favourites are a LWB Transit Connect (petrol would be amazing) or a Citroen Dispatch/Peugeot Expert/Fiat Scudo. I'd like a C15D but I think they're probably a bit small.

 

I also keep looking at anything cheap to run (i.e. classic insurance and lowish tax band) with a towbar, as that would solve the bike lugging issue I've got at the moment.

 

I'm going to tag this as swaps, but I'm not holding my breath as nobody wants a convertible this time of year. And as soon as spring arrives I'll probably change my mind.

Don't get too excited if you are, but are you interested in a straight sale? Mrs P is interested in something like this, but I don't know how soon she'd buy something, what her budget is blah blah blah.

This has been a pretty bad year for me, car wise.

In:

605 -£650

W124 - £1500

306 Sedan -£350

Xantia - £300

820 Sterling (again) £0 (gift)

Out:

W124 + £150 (got vandalised)

306 Sedan + £200

Xantia + £130 (scrapped)

Volvo + £80 (scrapped)

I really need to doing this. (I won't though).

I've offloaded four cars, yet somehow still have three on fleet:

405 - (bought last October, never going because we've sunk cash into it, and the Mrs is too attached to it).

605 - (probably not going)

820 Sterling - (my first car and it's come back to me)

In conclusion, I waste far too much cash on crap old cars, why that's a suprise for somebody who comes on here, I don't know.

Looking ahead to next year I want another X300 to love long time, and the Mrs wants a 309 or 205 diesel.

I've always liked the small central sunvisor that 605s and XMs have. Driving round here, where there's virtually no features for the sun to hide behind, it saves your eyes a lot in Summer and Winter. Really wish that more cars had it.

Happy that this car is now in your care, Dean. This place IS what it used to be

Grrrrrrrrrrrr. A very similar thing happened to me in the summer when my W124 got vandalised the night before the buyer was coming to get it. There wasn't a straight panel on it, so I just told the seller to take it away for free.

You sir, haven’t met my other half

Mine knows that trying to stop me from buying old cars is like trying to stop the tide by sitting on it. She's just learned to embrace it, but some would call it Stockholm Syndrome.

Damn, we have to wait that long?

I'll have 59, then. Let me know what I owe you and I'll sent payment.

Come on folks let get someone’s life ruined TONIGHT!!

Not sure about that. Great winter beater, then tip a bucket of AutoGlym over it in the Spring, get Charles Dickens to write the Car and Classic advert, then sell at an unaccountably inflated price. Because e34.

Same, I'll buy another ticket if it gets it roffled tonight. You may not hear from the others if they did what I did a few years ago and forget that one has entered a roffle (sorry, RobT). 

Paid Fingers crossed, I'm dead keen on this.

When you say "sort out insurance", do you mean cover your costs to insure it for the day, or to put you on one's policy as a named driver for the day? (just wanting to know the score in case my luck is in).

This is a really lovely thing, I'm thrilled that we have one on the collective fleet. Base spec for added perviness as well, so it should fit in well here. It looks very straight, too, certainly more so than my 605 which is six years your 505's junior.

You don't hang about either, do you? Pretty please, keep us posted.

argyll_08.jpg

Anyone remember the Argyll? A Scottish 1980s supercar effort. Originally designed to have a Turbo'd Rover V8, It eventually ended up with a Prv V6 and Renault transaxle. _20181203_022627.JPG

Cherry F11 coupe rear lamps for the win!

Jesus, I forgot how ugly they were. Never mind falling off the ugly tree, that fucker landed on the whole orchard.

Having an output shaft fall out of my XJ8 while I was still driving it was pretty bloody "amazing".

My Xantia swallowing a core plug, then proceeding to compress it, all the way out of the block and onto the road was also "amazing".

For god's sake, this is Autoshite. I'm suprised that a Citroen ZX Turbo-D on cracked Jinyus has not occurred yet (running on veg, naturally, with brakes bought from a scrapyard for "stopping" power). I drove one to the local chip shop once, and it was faster than an Arial Atom AND a Xantia Activa with a clearly displayed and obnoxiously placed Citroen Car Club sticker, driven by Jonathan fucking Meades. The fact that I have unbridled Asperger's Syndrome may have given me the edge, though.

Some real thoroughbreds there.

The owners or the cars? The owners clearly come from a small gene pool.

Three randoms for £25, please.

Sore point, right now. Every car that I've had, with the exception of two (my 405 and the X300 that I gave away) has done this to me.

My grounded Sterling is a case point, sitting dead on the drive with a renewed cooling system and two new tyres in the boot, that were going to be fitted. 

I'm actually delaying servicing the 605 because I know it will defecate on me from a great height, after 6 months of faultless service, if I give it love.

Remind me, why do we do this?