No - not Messieurs Aznavour and Trenet but rather this pair of old 1/43 scale Solido diecasts which I picked up on eBay to serve as staff cars for my Little Cold Wars French forces.
One of the many joys of Solido models is that they are usually quite easy to dismantle for repainting and maintenance work. So it was with these models - a Citroen CX and a Peugeot 504 wagon. I was keen to preserve the considerable chrome plated areas while the stripped body parts were sprayed a rather fetching dark green.
After reassembling them I painted on the number plates - such as they are - and then sat back to admire them. As it happens I have run three 1/1 scale Peugeots - two 104SL and a 309GL - but the 504 was never a common sight on British roads. I never quite managed to buy a CX but came close on two occasions before my courage failed me and I bought Volvos instead. To date my only Citroen was a BX which to be honest wasn't great. It was replaced with - you guessed it - a Volvo.
C'est magnifique!
ReplyDeleteIs there a 2CV in your fleet?
Cheers
PD
Peter Douglas
ReplyDeleteSort of. All will be revealed in the fullness of time....
Citroen - I had a Citroen XM for a few years from about 1990 - that was one of the last descendants of the ID/DS/CX line of "barges". It was the most comfortable car I ever had, and had bags of space in the back; sadly, mine was a 3 litre, which went like a rocket but didn't go round corners so well, since the engine weighed a ton and a half. Can't have everything, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteMSFoy
ReplyDeleteI briefly toyed with the idea of an XM, but even the Citroen mechanic I used warned me off them! The Volvo 850 I bought instead had a rather firmer ride but it did corners quite well.
Sort of a 2CV? Isn't that like sort of pregnant?
ReplyDeleteI am intrigued - wasn't there a 2CV delivery van thingy at one point?
PD
Peter Douglas
ReplyDeleteMore sort of mutant really. I have a Solido Citroen Mehari - a 2CV without the bodywork!
Moi (Hi)
ReplyDeleteHere French cars are keep always their own place.
Driving schools favorite was the peugeot 404 station wagon, which was like a train ride in the road. (7 persons 1968)
Very fine gear users, even though the steering wheel gear shift lever was a very big
504/404 diesel engines were installed in Taxi-Volga,
Importers company (Russian) adopt this method was very popular.
Russian cars not any diesel-engine
Blue Renault 8, and 8 (gordini?) the competition model was very popular in Finland rally driving
(after the Mini rally cars)
I had a volvo 740 (1989) to gauge 750.000 km, no problems with the aluminum basket.
Now I have (in my life) the first Citroën.
Xantia 1995 and I am very happy with the car.
Aluminum bodywork, no rust, no problems with freezing temperatures -34
Cheap commonly needed spare parts (the same as the volvo)
The price of 200 euro, in 2010.
Maximex
ReplyDeleteInteresting to hear your car stories. I don't notice many Xantias in the UK these days, and 740s are getting pretty rare too.I'm intrigued by your car's "aluminium basket" - would that be the catalytic convertor?
Hello
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tim
I say wrongs way.
I means; al car body and doors is aluminium or galvanized, but no roof.
Today, I think / believe, old models 740 volvo and Xantia are (also here) rare models (are too old).
Catalytic convertor are normal exhaust pipe on material outside, aluminum, probably from inside (100 euro new, original 250 euro)
Finland car taxes (110 %), and fuel taxes (60%) are very large
These means, finland people (so many car users) drive or moves old car versions
Fuel today (helsinki)
95 bensin 1.425 euro
98 bensin 1.475 euro
Diesel 1.350 euro
Maximex
ReplyDeleteI think we can agree that your English is rather better then my Finnish....
Car body - that makes sense - neither of my 940s had any rust.
Fuel prices here today:
95 - 1.60 Euro
Diesel - 1.66 Euro
Tim & Maxime
ReplyDeleteI feel that the intervening Atlantic provides enough protection to point out that regular gas in Regins SK costs $1.08 Canadian a litre =£0.60 =0.76€.
Cheers
PD