KEITH ADAMS

EDITOR

The thought of spending £20,000 on a classic of my choice is always going to send me in a predictable direction: towards the Citroën SM.

OK, so it’s never going to be a straightforward journey for me – mainly because good ones are nearer £35,000 now, and the ones that come in under the limit are always going to need a little bit of work.

The fifirst port of call for me would be to check on the biggest French car websites. A quick look at the well-established Leboncoin (www.leboncoin.fr) throws up a number of examples for less than €20,000, all of which look very promising indeed. The fifirst thing to establish is what your SM plans would involve – whether you want to drive the car back, or prefer the relative security of having it trailered.

The former excites me more, as I have a well-honed (and well-documented) sense of adventure, but the latter, I guess, leaves options open for travelling further afifield, and worrying less about the condition of the car I’d be looking at. A typical example coming in at around £15,000, leaving some room to fifix any not-so major faults, has decent history, is in good condition, and will probably get you up and running in the UK without too many tears – as long as you’re on good terms with a reputable Citroën-flfluent specialist, who’s also happy to play with Maserati V6s.