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37th time lucky: 2023 in review


barrett

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It's a Citroen. Specifically, it's a Citroen with hydraulic suspension and yet more specifically the lhm has decided to make a break for freedom.

 

It's the return pipe that comes off the o/s front strut, I think, but I don't know the proper name for it or the part number or anything and I'm not having much luck with a replacement. I'll make a bit of effort tomorrow and actually speak to people on the phone (my worst fear: speaking to mechanic types about cars amd sounding like a dunce). Ho hum, it's the life I've chosen.

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Driveshaft was actually fine, it was the wheel bearing! I changed that, amd the caliper and pads on that side (caliper was sticking on) but doing that disturbed the pipe amd now leakage has occurred. I'm using Gary's Mondeo at the moment amd whilst I am very appreciative of its loan, it's really not a pleasant car to drive so I need to get this sorted asap

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  • 2 months later...

So, I never did get my Xantia fixed. Instead I bought a cheap 406 from Brammy, which has done alright getting me to and from work the last few months. I don't particularly like it, but it's comfortable and has an alright stereo so I can enjoy a bit of Keith Tippett whilst filling the atmosphere with hydrocarbons every morning. I haven't even taken a picture of it so here's one from before I got it.

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[EDIT - the 406 is car number 20!]

 

Anyway, more interestingly I just got back from picking up the 404, again, from France, again, and hopefully it's bore more or less sorted. To cut a very long story short, after the last long-winded engine rebuild it developed an appalling fuelling issue whereby oil was getting in to the fuel by way of part of the oil-cooled injection system. The gearbox also started grumbling, so it went back to have those things rectified.

 

We picked it up last Tuesday morning just as it started snowing. We then drove 200 miles towards Paris, bought a hard top off leboncoin, fitted the hard top in the middle of a blizzard and drove another 50 miles to Paris. After Rétromobile we drove it back to Calais, approximately another 200 miles, via the Villa Cavrois in Lille. It never missed a beat (although there is a bit of a blow from the exhaust manifold now, frustratingly) despite possibly the worst circumstances for driving a shonky old car. I think this means it's almost time to sort out some of the cosmetics, ie a whole new interior. Maybe I'll even get to drive around in it a bit rhus year without it breaking? Anything could happen!

post-3924-0-10443400-1518387069_thumb.jpg

 

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Hard top suits it very well, what a lovely thing, would be nice to see more pictures of it on here.  When I used to go to more of the Club Peugeot meets in the early 90s there were a couple of these around, remember a particularly nice white fixed head, 'F' reg I think.

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The hard top was a decision we made before the trip. In fact we've been after one for a while, but this seemed like a good opportunity to aquire one.

 

I was surprised to get it sorted so easily. I was expecting the bloke to either not bother turning up, or turn out to be a nutter. In fact he was a nice guy amd happy to help manhandled it on to the car in the middle of a blizzard. I think he was equally surprised that the dumb English guys in a Peugeot 404 C who wanted to buy his spare hard top wasn't just an elaborate practical joke.

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So, the 406 has a persistent cold start problem. When I first got it just before Xmas the temperature down here was (literally) freezing and one day it simply wouldn't start. I had the glow plugs replaced but by the time I did it had got a bit warmer so I couldn't really tell if that had solved the problem. Anyway, a couple of times this month it has been really reluctant to start in the morning if it's frosty. This morning it just wouldn't go and I ended up having to wait an hour for the ambient temp to increase enough to start it! I can't be having that. Despite exclusively driving knackered old shite I have never had a car that didn't just start all the time. It's even worse considering this is the newest car I've owned! Bloody French shite.

 

So, any ideas? Although I changed the glow plugs I admit to buying shitty generic ones rather than spunking some cash on Bosch or whatever. Tbh I feel a bit of a prat now as I can't 100% rule out potentially shitty /probably Chinese glow plugs playing up. The mot is up in a month and I really have no idea how it will fare, although it all seems alright to my uneducated eyes I am a bit reluctant to start spending money chasing a problem that only manifests itself in certain conditions. Shall I just sack it off and drive a petrol car until it warms up a bit and put this thing on SORN???

 

Anyway, today I discovered my absolute dream fantasy car (of which I thought only two were still around. This is number three) is coming up for auction in April so I am trying to figure out a way of raising some cash quickly. I don't really wanna sell all my other cars first and then potentially not get this thing, but I would be happy to let some other things go if it meant I could have it. Needs loads of work obvs but it's 99% complete and in pretty good shape by the look of it. I'm really excited cause I never thought I'd be in with a chance of owning one!

 

Anyone wanna make a small donation it would be appreciated, yeah?

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Hmmmm. When I had it it only did it in damp cold conditions when I was in Scotland. It hummed of diesel though so it was definitely fueling, I wonder if it's the immobiliser playing up? I know that the keypads have a bad reputation for going wrong, so it could potentially be that.

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  • 1 month later...

Well, it's been good and bad on the fleet this week. My 406 failed its MoT on a couple of minor points and is being sorted tomorrow. I also ended up buying that ridiculous Vintage contraption above, mainly thanks to a friend offering to buy the Model A off us to free up some cash literally whilst we were standing around waiting to bid.

 

I'll leave it up to you to decide which is the good news and which is the bad...

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I'd like to think the bidding was in Guineas.

So would I!

 

It's going to need a hell of a lot of work, but the new body frame is probably worth most of the asking price alone. I really need to track down the other one in the UK (there is a pile of bits in Australia but only one complete car, which is over here somewhere) so we can examine it in detail and figure out how it's all supposed to go back together.

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Would like to know more!  From the scant info above I'm assuming it's British even though it looks quite French?

From the catalogue:

 

Make & ModelPalladium Super SportsRegistrationXO 2814Year1923ColourGreenEngine Size1,465 ccChassis No.TC449Engine No.E15654DocumentsOld style V5; Buff log book; information fileFull Description

Up until the First War, Palladium made cars and commercials from their premises in London using propriety components sourced from France.

 

Initial post-war production focussed on commercial vehicles, finding a certain amount of success supplying chassis which were made into Charabancs, although the sudden influx of ex-Army trucks onto the market soon put paid to that.

 

It wasn’t until 1922 that a conventional car using all-British components was produced in the form of the 11.9. This used the excellent 1,496cc Dorman engine mated to a four-speed box. From 1923 four-wheel brakes were also made available making this a very sophisticated light-car for the period.

 

They were sold as Touring and Victory Models, the latter, as offered here, being the sports model with its elegant V-screen. Later cars had Anzani engines – very similar to the Dorman units that they replaced, but production ran aground in 1925, the mass-produced cars from Austin and Morris beating them on price, matching them for reliability although not for performance, as the Palladium was good for 60mph.

 

This part-restored 1923 model lived in Kent in 1952 according to its buff logbook. It was sold to Jeremy Bacon, the motoring journalist, in 1956 and a reference in Veteran-Edwardian-Vintage ‘Odds and Ends’ in Motorsport in 1971 stated that he still had it at that time.

 

It then moved to rural Herefordshire, passing into the hands of Bugatti exponent and restorer Ernie Allen, who some years later passed it onto the vendor’s late father, a professional restorer by trade.

 

While in Ernie’s hands, it had rested in a shed with a leaky roof, and one side of the car’s bodywork had suffered. Over subsequent years, the vendor attended to this, with much of the wood frame being replaced. The panel work that was removed in the process is still present and needs to be refitted – a relatively straightforward job before the rest of the car is given a proper going over.

 

The Palladium is very largely complete and even has its hood frame, two spare wheels, a spare braked front axle and an extra steering column and box. The number plates are nice cast items too and the detail fixtures and fittings are still present.

 

The file includes some old tax discs from the 1950s and a Motor write-up of the Palladium car from 1945. It comes with an old style V5 and the number is still recognised on DVLA database.

 

This is one of the most attractive light-cars we have ever offered, capable of delivering a strong performance on the road with excellent brakes, good weather equipment and four seats. The new owner of this car will never be short of friends...

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Took the head off today. There are, er, some pistons in there that don't look too bad, so that's something I suppose. Plans are being formulated. I'm taking the magneto to my magneto man on monday. Trying to source a full set of beaded edge wheels for it. We really need to find 'the other one' and examine it closely to se how various bits are supposed to go together, as this one has only been loosely assembled for sale.

 

I say 'the other one' as this is one of two surviving Palladiums in the UK. There is one in bits in Australia. So, slightly more difficult to get bits for than the Model A.

 

I have wanted one since I was 11 and I saw a grainy photo in an old copy of Classic & Sportscar of a down at heel Palladium on a London side street in the 1950s. Of course, it turns out to be the same bloody car. Here's a pic of what it's going to look like when it's done

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  • 2 weeks later...

I drove up the road in the gold Xantia today after it had been put back together after six months or whatever of sitting in the corner. Seemed alright I reckon! Will bung it in for a test asap and see what the score is. I reckon this is the longest I have ever gone not driving a hydro Citroen. I put my gold BX away before Christmas and that was it!! The Xant did seem a bit 'clonky' from various joints etc but still much more comfortable than the 406. Exciting times!

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  • 1 month later...

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