THE CITROEN GRAVEYARD
Dick Halcrow ’ s attachment to the Citroën CX – that large, luxurious fastback (there was also an estate) of 1974 to 1991 – is so strong that he can ’t bear to part with all those he has ever owned. It’ s led to what can only be described as a bit of a parking problem.
Where most of us require space for just a couple of cars on our driveway, Dick has had to find room for eight. Where we might leave the patch of garden immediately behind our front gate free for access, Dick has deposited two more. And where, at the far end of our property, we might lovingly cultivate a vegetable patch, Dick has had to stash a further eight.
In all, he has had to find space for 16 CXS and two XMS. His collection of CXS features examples of both Series One (1974-85) and Two (1985-91) models. It includes at least four seven-seat Familiales (one of them a former funeral car) and a pair of CX 25 GTI Turbo fastbacks.
The years they have spent on his driveway and in his garden have taken their toll: paint has faded, window rubbers have grown hard and brittle, rust is rampant. Unable to grow in the garden, plants are growing in the cars.
Doubtless you ’ re wondering why he doesn ’t solve his parking problem by simply getting shot of these Gallic masterpieces – but then you haven ’t met Dick. His passion for the CX is intertwined with his former work as an aircraft systems engineer. He worked at Heathrow for 43 years, first by maintaining Lockheed Tristars and Vickers Viscounts, and ending his career on the Airbus A320 family. Retirement, three years ago, felt like a bereavement.
“It was engrossing work,” he tells me. “Even on my days off, I’d be thinking about problems with a plane’ s hydraulic system or an engine and trying to solve them. I was born to be an engineer and I will always be one. ”
And there lies the root of his attachment to his 16 CXS in particular. Simply, he loves the model ’ s advanced engineering and,
in particular, its hydropneumatic suspension and related systems.
“Like an aeroplane, a CX relies on hydraulics to function,” says Dick. “Once I had my first whiff of LHM fluid [used in the CX’ s hydraulics], I was hooked. ”
In its launch preview of the CX in 1974, Autocar praised what it described as Citroën ’ s “unique devotion to advanced engineering ” . It went on: “Each of its cars is designed to be ahead of its time. ”
Unfortunately, time has caught up with Dick ’ s CXS. They look fit for only one place – but tell their owner at your peril. “Breakers come here saying they ’ll take them away for me but I tell them to get lost,” says Dick. “I just can ’t throw away good engineering that can be repaired or restored and given a second life. ”
Dick ’ s love affair with the CX began in 1990 when he bought a Series One seven-seat Familiale. Even then, it was nine years old.
“It was my first experience of a CX,” he says. “The ride comfort was extraordinary and the brakes were incredibly powerful. It was a technical tour de force. Inevitably, the hydraulic pipes rotted through. I replaced them with copper nickel ones; they ’ll outlast us all. ”
Which, unfortunately, cannot be said of the rest of the car, which now rests on its deflated tyres in Dick ’ s garden, quietly disintegrating. Dick admits that replacing the pipes was actually where he went wrong.
“H aving gone that far, I couldn ’t bear to part with it,” he says.
It set the pattern for the 15 CXS that followed. Such was his passion that, far from taking his own CXS to the breakers, he rescued some from scrapyards. When anyone offered him one, he accepted it without hesitation. “I’ ve been a donkey sanctuary for CXS,” he admits.
What would persuade him to get rid of the lot? “The world’ s best CX,” Dick says, simply.
If any of his neighbours are reading this, as this is written there’ s a mint, low-mileage, 1987-registered Citroën CX 25 auto for sale for £13,440. Fancy a whip-round?
Breakers come here saying they’ll take them away for me but I tell them to get lost