Description
I bought this very early AX blind from marketplace in January 2025, it was about to be broken for parts and was filthy. The car had been off the road for around 20-25 years and has covered around 58k from new. It was pulled out of a workshop where it was sitting under a four post ramp for several years. This is as much as I know about the history but luckily the original book pack with the first and second owner details and service stamps was tucked under the passenger seat! This corroborates the mileage and gives a little provenance. I even found the original factory build sheet tucked up on top of the fuel tank!
The ORGA number gives a build date of 12th May 1987 making it a very early UK car. It is fitted with both original dealer number plates and rear window sticker from the supplying dealer ‘Langford Thomson’ in Oldham. It has the most amazing brown and beige interior - something I’ve never seen before on an AX. The dash is complete and free from any cracks which I’m told is incredibly rare. The boot lock is a conventional small lock barrel rather than the square plastic twist lock - only early cars had this. The rear windows are fixed and the rear belts are not inertia reel. It’s a 10RE making it one level up from total poverty giving you a rear wiper and a radio. On top of this someone had opted for a locking fuel cap (optional extra) and an after market car alarm system (now removed).
This car is surprisingly solid in all the usual AX rot places. The rear boot slam panel had completely rotted out on the top edge near the boot latch - I think there had been a small drip on the back end whilst in storage judging by the water marks on the rear glass and this was pooling on this ledge. The panel was cut out and replaced by a NOS genuine Citroen panel and painted. Three small patches were needed, one to the boot floor around the one of the subframe bolts and two near identical patches on the front floors. I have applied a fair amount of bilt hamber rust treatment to the boot floor and rear arches. There were numerous small rust scabs to the body, likely from being in a damp environment. I lightly sanded these back and treated them with rust converter. The paint would probably machine polish quite well but there’s obviously some patina to it. The passenger has definitely been painted in the past and some of it is starting to peel away. It probably looks better in the photos. Generally the body is very straight, there’s a small dent/ scrape to the lower right sided rear quarter - I suspect this was done when the car was pulled out of storage. The paint colour is ‘rouge delage’ and the interior is ‘Havana beige’. The interior has been stripped, cleaned and refitted.
In recommissioning this little car I’ve replaced the following;
Service items; spark plugs, HT leads, coil, oil, fuel and air filter, cam belt kit including water pump, rocker cover gasket
All fluids; engine oil, coolant, brake fluid and gearbox oil
Carb stripped and ultrasonically cleaned, rebuilt with new gaskets
Fuel lines in engine bay replaced
Fuel tank removed and cleaned
Thermostat gasket - thermostat checked for opening temperature
Alternator and belt
Mechanical fuel pump - Valeo
Reconditioned distributor
Battery
Brakes
Front discs & pads, rear shoes, cylinders, master cylinder, all brake lines (hard and flexi), rear compensator valve, front calipers stripped and rebuilt, reservoir removed and cleaned
Suspension and steering
Track rod ends
Lower suspension arms
Strut tops and bearings
Rear suspension bump stops
Rear shock absorbers
Front shock absorber gaiters
Front and rear wheel bearings
Lower gearbox mount
Gear selector linkage
Other
Rear exhaust silencer - Citroen NOS
Exhaust rubbers - all three
Washer motor
Wiper blades
Front wiper arm - Citroen NOS
Front wiper motor - used
Rear boot panel - Citroen NOS
All 5 wheels acid dipped, sand blasted and hand painted in AC140 ‘rose gris’
Five new Hankook Kinergy 4S H740 145/ 70 R13 71T all season tyres
Ignition barrel - used
Locking fuel cap
All dash bulbs
I’ve been using this car weekly since it’s MOT in February and have only used E5 fuel. It’s still not running perfectly and it smokes a little, almost certainly due to worn valve stem seals which is common on these older TU engines. I think there’s an air leak around the carb base despite new gaskets. It drives reasonably well, is nippy, has plenty of poke for a small car. I still cannot get to the bottom of a ticking noise that the engine makes under load, it disappears as soon as you let off the throttle. It sounds like pinking but no amount of adjustment to the timings has helped or changed it. All tappets have been checked and adjusted to spec. I dread to think how many hours I’ve put into this lovely little car or what it now owes me. I’m just pleased it’s on the road once more. I now need to move it on so I can continue work on our other cars. So if you fancy taking on one of the earliest known AXes, in all its burgundy, beige, brown goodness, let me know. I encourage viewings and am happy to discuss the car over the phone. I have dozens of photos which I can send. It’s a difficult thing to value in its current state and with an unknown engine problem but it’s a true survivor and a very rare example.
