Vince's XM...213k and slowing....

[vince]

Well its good to hear that people prefer the honesty of an old car which is a little rough around the edges.....i do love the xm the way it is

I think ill settle for a compromise.....ill refurb the wheel trims and then keep the rest as it is...at least until i get bored

What i do want to post up though is the amazing journey this car has been on.....i have the full history of the car near as damn it.....would you believe its been to iran and jordan in the middle east and spent some time in italy and cyprus....its been all over the place...thats what i like about it most. Its a really interesting history...

I have the second owners details still.....a quick electoral role check shows he possibly still lives at the same place. I keep meaning to write to him to let him know what his old car is now up to Must get round to that.

On the old school ford stuff.....i do love the clean old fords...they are sometimes on another level of concourse

[Citroenmad]

It was good to catch up Vince, your XM is looking very smart and an awful lot better than the last time I saw it. I would leave its aging as it is, its a very solid body and looks fantastic. I can see what you mean about the money to get it a minter, though sometimes having a off-mint car is a much easier car to own. That said, I bet if you keep it long enough you will give in and mint it

It drives well too, its certainly a good one, you would never guess at its miles without looking.

[vince]

It does drive well Chris i must admit...im glad i got a good one for my first xm experience...thanks to its previous owners and to Paul no doubt

The more i mull it over the more i quite like the idea of not doing it up that much....its such a wierd concept to my normal car ownerships. I always relished the challenge of transforming scruffy cars to very clean ones but i have other areas i need to invest my time and money on at the moment...

Its an instant weight off my mind and wallet

It would be good for you to go down in your xm .....convoy?

[Citroenmad]

It does drive well Chris i must admit...im glad i got a good one for my first xm experience...thanks to its previous owners and to Paul no doubt

The more i mull it over the more i quite like the idea of not doing it up that much....its such a wierd concept to my normal car ownerships. I always relished the challenge of transforming scruffy cars to very clean ones but i have other areas i need to invest my time and money on at the moment...

Its an instant weight off my mind and wallet

It would be good for you to go down in your xm .....convoy?

There is definitely something to be said about running a car which you are not striving to get or keep in mint condition. Its a much easier way of car ownership, as dinks and scratches do happen.

I will be at CXM in my XM, I have decided to take it. Though I am planning on some more improvements before then.

When are you going down? I'll probably be setting off fiarly early Saturday morning, to try and be there for most of the event.

[DHallworth]

The XM's really are a hard car to beat, there's no modern car that comes close.

I went back to XM's from a C6.

Glad you're enjoying yours Vince.

David.

[addo]

Don't take a Ford out in the rain it will dissolve , sorry not a big lover of most of the old school Ford stuff , most of it is overrated junk , with exceptions of course .

Would something like this meet approval? (Not mine!)

[bxzx16v]

Very nice addo . Over in the Uk the market for even run of the mill Fords/spares has gone crazy , with seriously rotten basket case mk2 escorts base ones at that fetching £1000+ , yes I do like certain models but to pay the money some people are asking , no thanks , I'd rather have a Citroen/Pug/Renault from the same era .

Mark

[addo]

One of the best American classics to own is either the '67 Camaro or '65 Mustang. Almost everything can be bought new as a faithful reproduction from competing vendors. No need to drive halfway across the countryside for a rusty piece of junk that's nothing like how the plonker selling it, described. My father had an Esky, new in 1969/70. He didn't buy the sporty one (Twin Cam) because he thought it overpriced.

That lack of passion and foresight, drove me to seek out and embrace the "orphans" of automobilia. XMs and 605s fit the bill nicely, and hearing about the amazing travel history of Vince's car is great (one of the nicest snippets in this thread IMO) - an extraordinary car doing extraordinary things.

[citroenxm]

I was rather impressed by its travelled distance all over europe and the condition she IS in for it.. however in comparison to the milage on some of the xantias on here 205k miles isn't a lot... the particular part i liked was the hand written note book by the last owner of everything done .. and when they sold it the words along the lines of "Good car this one!!" .. they were mighty pleased. This also with what had been done made me feel confident with selling her on to vince...

[vince]

Ok so where exactly has it been?......

It all started on the 20/04/96 in the uk......the following is recorded as a continuous tour...the dates between each place record it as being in that place for that period of time
09/05/96 - Uk to holland (Incidentally would have been my birthday that day)
15/05/96 - holland
17/05/96 - germany
23/05/96 - Norway
10/06/96 - Finland
26/06/96 - Estonia
29/07/96 - Looks like Lithuania?
07/07/96 - Poland
18/07/96 - Slovakia
24/07/96 - Germany
27/07/96 - Belgium
24/08/96 - Uk

then on its next trip
31/08/96 - Uk to Egypt!
13/10/96 - Jordan
21/10/96 - Israel
21/11/96 - Cyprus
14/12/96 - Greece
01/01/97 - Italy
01/02/97 - Back to uk

Thats what you call a car thats been around some

The guy who did these trips was from what i can tell the first owner...he isnt the guy who is potentially contactable....but he bought it after this so he must know the reason for these trips perhaps?

Because of the itemisation of everything recorded...fuel costs, mileage, dates, gallons used etc im guessing he was a diplomat or something?.....Who knows...

Interesting though isnt it There is also a batch of receipts and invoices from some of these places where it was serviced etc...some are naturally written in languages i cant understand...ie nearly all of them

Perhaps it was the pre cursor to National Lampoons European Vacation....?

[Citroenmad]

That is very interesting Vince and very nice to have so much information on your XM. I imagine the service history is pretty well packed if that is the detail the owner has gone into.

[citroenxm]

The previous owner had the car from his dad.. so it was a dad and son owner ship...certainly obvious from the comments in the history note book...

[bxzx16v]

I've got some Megs wax you might be interested in Vince , a bottle of tech wax2 75% full at least and a bottle of Ultimate liquid wax at least 75% full again ( £26+) in CYC shop . If your interested I'll throw in 10 detailing brushes . I'll take £25 for everything . If your interested I can take them to the Cxm on Sunday . Thanks .

Mark

[vince]

By all means Mark, take them and if im well fixed money wise then ill have them yes I do like the Megs waxes...they arent as durable as some other brands but the finish is always second to none

[bxzx16v]

Ok Vince no problem , a few weeks to go . I can't wait , hope the weather holds

Mark