Down to my last used Jonny. Only the Anglia 105E left.

[barrett]

Eek! I'd be a bit annoyed to have paid so much for so rotten a car, but as you say, where are you going to find another one in this country?

Dez is a genius and this will be a superb job. Can't wait to see this on the road.

[forddeliveryboy]

Top buy. You might find the handling is better than the Anglia if the suspension is working and cheapo dampers aren't fitted.

 

For the first time in public I admit I have run a few - they're faster than 2cvs on the open road thanks to decent aerodynamics (I had an Ami8 saloon which held 86/7 on the level according to satnav), are made better than a 2cv and in estate form are bloody huge. Just a little nutty.

 

Flywheels are hugely massive - your acceleration in first is governed by how fast you can accelerate the flywheel, not the car. Under hard* acceleration, releasing the clutch in the next gear can give you a huge* shove in the back as the flywheel accelerates the car rather than the car slowing the flywheel. 

[cort16]

Wow that looks like a neat repair. You're in safe hands there for sure .

[Uncle Jimmy]

Marvellous cars those Amis! I believe the Ami super was only available in Britain and they really flew with GS power. Didn't the Maserati 350? use the Ami headlamps?

In terms of their appearance I think they're up there with the DS and Traction, not so much cars as brilliant examples of industrial design walking a tightrope with individual genius.

[jonny69]

Ordered some panels direct from the manufacturer in Slovenia - these are the same guys who made those floor pans. ECAS weren't much help, either weren't interested or didn't know; couldn't decide which. Either way they haven't got them in stock and they said to ring them in 3 weeks.

 

Got a whole front floor section and cross member under where the pedals are and a pair of sills because the ones on the car are too crusty to warrant repairing when new ones are €62 each.

 

Stock pics of the pedal floor bit here:

 

 

 

[dollywobbler]

Marvellous cars those Amis! I believe the Ami super was only available in Britain.

 

Nope. Ami Super was available in several markets. They do shift though.

 

Good to see this car getting some love. I'm not surprised that it was suffering a bit after several years of daily use in London. I am surprised at how the focus seemed to have been on making it look good despite getting frilly underneath though. I can't see the point in doing that, which is why my 2CV looks as shit as it really is.

[jonny69]

Yeah, I don't get that bit either. He must have spent quite a lot getting all the trim and fittings because all that stuff is in very good condition too.

 

I don't get how it had MOTs either. I didn't even need to start poking it to see that it would never get an MOT

[tooSavvy]

My '63 Hillman IMP [884 KOE] had no belts. I fitted 'spreader plates' under the floor, either side of the handbrake & sill, and used 'stiff stalk' mounts. I mounted inertiareels on the wheelarches (with 'spreader plates') >> belts were I think Sprite 'aftermarket' Kangol >> and so had 'over the shoulder' 3 point style  .

 

MOT man was very happy (and agreed a good idea!).

 

When I took a 'full barrel' head-on, from a bald tyred Mk3 Cretin taxi.... I kept ALL my front teeth/kneecaps.

 

 

I know Sterling Moss 'preferred to be thrown clear'... on the seatbelt debate... I know where my £25 went...

 

 

TS

[forddeliveryboy]

Interesting point about smart and shiny passing MoTs - in my experience, anything which looks genuinely good - ie clean inside and out, with no rust evident from above will pass a test more easily with many testers. On the other hand, a doggy looking machine often needs to be in a better state to pass.

 

I think it's a combiination of subconscious reactions by the tester, not least that a doggy car is probably more likely to be pulled by the 'law', if for no other reason that's it's assumed to be a daily user. The glass is always half full when testing an older smart, clean car.

 

The 4 cylinder Amis may be quicker but if driven hard like the others need to be (and the glorious engines, whether twins or fours, relish) they start demonstrating the laws of physics - not least that an engine which is so much heavier and further forwards doesn't do much for handling. They had a bad reputation for killing teenagers in France with their inability to change direction as well as a flat twin A-series.

 

Finally, jonny69, provided your restorer ties in the new front toeboard bulkhead properly, the car will be utterly transformed in its handling abilities. The chassis of all the little Cits relied on the stiffness of the shell for a lot of the torsional strength (as well as crash resistance) - money well spent.

[jonny69]

I've just assumed this doesn't have crash resistance. And then tried not to think about it

[mrcitroen]

Just spotted this thread. The one thing that puts me off A series & G's is the dreaded tin worm which items to take hold on these as much as it did on '70's Italian tin. However, you seem to have got that front sorted. I can't weld particularly well & that's why it took me years to find a rot free GS.

 

Love the colour. Just seems to suit the car.

 

On seat belts, my GS does not have rears, and I plan to fit them as the mounting points are there. Like everyone, I don't plan on crashing, but don't want to take the chance of something bad happening when carrying the famil

 

This place in Germany is quite good for parts. I have got a few bits & Bobs from them. Most of the stuff is NOS. Considering it comes from Germany, postage is reasonable. I got a load of stuff a few weeks back & postage was only 17 euros. Chevronics in UK is £12 standard. http://www.franzoesische-klassiker-shop.de/epages/63117739.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/63117739/Categories/Citroen_Ami_6

[dollywobbler]

I don't think a 40 year old car with rust can be described as horrific. At least Citroen used decent metal back then. By the 1980s, it was all too apparent that the accountants had been involved. Gs on the other hand - they really do rot, with some marvellous rot traps. Sorry to scare you.

[mercrocker]

The entire trailing edge of my 3 year old GSA hatch came away in my hands with no visible rust evident on the outside - it was all under the bit of 1970s cooker facia that masqueraded as a trim piece.....

[jonny69]

Some more fixy bits:

 

 

 

 

Still on the inner wings at the back. That step is on the other side of this, where the boot floor kicks up over the petrol tank and rear suspension:

 

[jonny69]

Update of last week's work. More grot, unsurprisingly.

 

Rear pillar where the the door slam mechanism goes:

 

 

It's rusted through in the panel behind it too:

 

 

No messing around, he's just cut it all out and replaced:

 

 

Bottom of the pillar really doesn't look healthy. I think this bit is going to be expensive:

 

 

New bump stop mount looks good though:

 

 

 

Back corner repair - I think this incorporates the bumper mounting:

 

 

 

 

Another really nice repair which includes a bit of the bodywork in the corner:

 

 

So I think I can safely say that this would have rapidly become a complete nightmare if I'd started this on the drive, but it's coming along now and Dez reckons he'll be able to zip through the other side now he's got some templates to work with. Sills and floor panel are on their way over from Slovenia.

[cort16]

Shitting Nora

[Angrydicky]

Wow, that's some quality work right there.

[mercrocker]

Very nice to see....

[jonny69]

Floors are coming out:

 

[jonny69]

Ja hoet! I am owner of both this cars! I soon will also carry out this testing!

 

 

Man you English. You are so CRAZY!

[cort16]

This things going to end up with less original parts than Michael Jackson.

[jonny69]

It must have had new wings at some point. I reckon that makes just the roof skin and the top halves of the pillars that are original now!

[jonny69]

Bit of progress to report. Floors and sills are out and new ones making their way in. These are the new panels from Slovenia plus some additional filler panels that Dez has had to make where original steel was too grotty:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cort16]

Is there any original car left ?

[dollywobbler]

Great stuff. At least you don't need to strip one of these very much to be able to weld new bits in.

[cort16]

Take note dollywobbler

[jonny69]

Wow, looks like I lost track of how long this has been away for. Just came back to say there's a pretty good chance I'm finally picking this up this coming weekend!

[chaseracer]

I don't think a 40 year old car with rust can be described as horrific. At least Citroen used decent metal back then. By the 1980s, it was all too apparent that the accountants had been involved. Gs on the other hand - they really do rot, with some marvellous rot traps. Sorry to scare you.

 

 

The entire trailing edge of my 3 year old GSA hatch came away in my hands with no visible rust evident on the outside - it was all under the bit of 1970s cooker facia that masqueraded as a trim piece.....

 

The other side of this is my thoroughly frilly 10-year-old GS1220 retaining enough integrity to protect me while T-boning a red-light jumper at 40mph.  It crumpled back to the B-pillar, but did its job well.

[RichardK]

It's worth it given the rarity, and that work looks stellar. You're very fortunate on the floor front to not have had the true bodge repair that killed one of my Dyanes - someone had welded a simple sheet from side to side, including welding it to the chassis - when we went to lift the body off, it tore the chassis part - we'd thought it was just covered in underseal!

 

Re: Crash performance. Predictably these will be Certain Death in a side impact, but several people have told me that a 2CV-chassis car can do surprisingly well in head on collisions due to the chassis - same discussion involved a CX owner who had met another car on one of the suicide lanes popular in France - at 70 (on their part) and the subframe & longerons ensured the car performed remarkably well for a design of that age. But CXs also have sills that are astoundingly thick, particularly around the base of the B-pillar.

[jonny69]

Yeah well you try not to think about that in any old car - it's just one of those risks you take. I think statistically it's quite low anyway because I can count the number of side-impacts I've had on one... well, I've never had one and I don't actually know anyone who has either! If I was genuinely worried about it I wouldn't be driving around in old cars, especially low stuff like my Anglia where anything coming in will probably be at head height.