A little history, I believe it was originally a Swiss car due to the EGR ands other emissions kit it had fitted aswell as it's spec - although there is no paperwork to support this. I bought it off of leboncoin.fr and had it imported from an area of France close to the Swiss border where it had sat next to a warehouse for quite some years.
Interestingly it is some sort of dealer special edition, a TRS SE, with pretty much all the factory add-ons ticked. It has alloys, an automatic gearbox, 4 electric windows, rear headrests, a sunroof and previously air conditioning.
The ORGA number is 3090, giving a build date of 25/04/1985, it is now (finally!) registered, as a historical vehicle too so no tax or MOT to worry about, I would not advise driving this on the orads though for hopefully obvious reasons!
Good bits:
It runs, drives, rises and stops. It works as a car should work.
No leaks! At least when I last ran it a few weeks ago. One of the LHM 'T' returns did leak a few years ago, so I have temporarily fixed this. Interestingly I had the same pipe go on the GT.
It has a rebuilt UK spec weber 32/34 DRTC on there (autochoke). Originally it had a slightly different weber 32/34 with a load of Swiss market specific emissions control stuff and EGR on that made it run terribly. The original carb is still present andf there is an incomplete UK spec carb for spares also.
I serviced it after I had it delivered, new ignition parts (HT leads, rotor arm, dizzy cap, spark plugs), air filter, fuel filter, oil + filter, thermostat, alternator belt, HP pump belt and new battery earth leads.
Most engine bay fuel and coolant pipes were been replaced last year (the smaller pipes, not the larger radiator pipes)
The brittle alloy engine sump (for a/c compressor mounting) was replaced with the steel sump (non-a/c models) from my GT with a new gasket.
I put a set of part worn Avon's on the alloys a year or so ago - they aren't the newest tyres but have good tread and hopefully decent enough for now, although I notice the front nearside goes down after a few months.
It has recently had a coolant flush and new prestone coolant.
It has UK spec headlights.
Less good bits:
It's been stored outside a warehouse in France for an unknown length of time, we're talking decades here. There is a French CT sticker in the windscreen that could give a better idea of how long, but I can't remember now what it said! So I would like to emphasis that there is plenty of work to do on it, including things that will crop up after a bit of use.
It'll need a new cambelt ASAP and would recommend the water pump be done at the same time, purely for preventative maintenance purposes.
For it to be safe on the road, the brakes would likely need going through. The calipers are currently not seized and the brakes do work around the yard - but new discs and pads as a minimum I reckon.
Rear bumper is the wrong colour
There are a reasonable amount of dings, dents and scratches, particularly on the near side.
It is filthy, it needs a deep clean in and out, the paint has some sort of sticky residue on, particularly the roof. I have treated the plastics and cleaned the glass for the advert but unfortunately I have no access to water or cleaning stuff where it is at the moment.
It has a running issue at the moment. After the autochoke disengages when the engine is warm, it will splutter and stall at idle, making it very difficult to manouver (automatic) but when the engine is cold, it runs really nicely.. I have replaced the idle cut-off solenoid on the carb with a known good working part, my next suspect would be the inlet manifold gasket letting air in and leaning out the mixture.
Current situation
It is a dirty, slightly rough, MK1 top spec BX that needs some love. It is probably unique here in the UK and fundamentally is a very good car I think. There doesn't appear to be any rust topside - but I would suggest a thorough check in all the usual BX areas.
I was very unsure of the price, but I have spoken with a few BX gurus and come up with £1500, I will consider genuine offers but I have sunk a lot of time and money into this car, I won't get it all back but some would be great!
It is located near Gillingham, on the Dorset/Somerset border which is about a 30 minutes drive for me. I am more than happy for viewings organised in advance (I will need just OK them with the owner of the place its stored). Please do come and see it, the photo's are flattering!
I have a cheapish bluetooth radio/cd player that can come with it and most of an exhaust from my GT (the GT has a stainless system). It will have a new battery for the sale.
Ask away with any questions, thanks.
NB the pictures are July 2019! I'll get current ones once it is put back together again.
- TRS france.jpg (33.55 KiB) Viewed 3426 times
- TRS transport.jpeg (41.87 KiB) Viewed 3426 times
- TRS int1.jpg (29.33 KiB) Viewed 3327 times
- TRS int2.jpg (25.3 KiB) Viewed 3327 times
- TRS hinge.jpg (25.27 KiB) Viewed 3327 times
