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Roomy French Luxury: 1987 Citroen CXA CX

If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the Citroen CX is arguably a princess or a face only a mother could love, with not much latitude in between depending on your palate.  But for French design enthusiasts whose taste buds lean toward the former, the CX is sort of like rolling caviar, with the Prestige edition providing top-of-the-line luxury for its time plus a whole lot of rear leg room.  It gets confusing when the subject of that “A” being added to the CX becomes a topic of conversation, as CX Automotive was one of the importers who brought these cars into the U.S. from overseas, and somewhat controversial too as the Peugeot/Citroen folks weren’t very happy about the CxAuto Prestige offering.  But that’s kind of a long story, so let’s move on to this 1987 Citroen CXA CX Prestige here on Craigslist.  It’s located near Riverside, California, and comes at an asking price of $18,000.

Reader Pat L. spotted this one and sent it our way, and we’d like to offer him a nice Barn Finds thank you for the tip!  Just a couple of years after the CX first went into production in 1974, it was decided a longer variant with more legroom in the back was needed, so in 1976 the Prestige was introduced which offered just that.  The seller claims his roomy car is an unrestored and original weekend driver with all original panels, although there was one repaint in the original color back in 2005.  He describes it as having a mostly solid straight body with no real rust, which the optimist in me likes to hear, but the curious section of my brain wants to know a bit more about why the words mostly and real were included in that statement.

The Citroen features a 2.5 liter 4 cylinder engine with fuel injection, paired with an automatic transmission.  It’s only traveled 64,000 miles during the last 36 years, and some good news for the next owner is that the car recently received $7,500 worth of service and new parts throughout.  Mechanically, there are lots of new hoses, a new fuel pump, water pump, and alternator, plus some brake work has also been performed.  That way-cool adjustable suspension has gotten some attention, including all new spheres and a lower control arm bushing in the left front, with the seller suggesting it would benefit from a new bushing on the right side component as well.

Things are still looking pretty good inside for their age, with the one interior issue mentioned being the driver’s side front seat, which could use some restitching.  The Prestige is equipped with plenty of power accessories, including mirrors, door locks, windows, and even an electric moonroof.  And more kudos go out to the seller for providing us with plenty more photos of the car here, along with some videos that can be viewed on his YouTube channel.  Have you ever owned a Citroen, or known anybody who has?  What are your thoughts on this one?

Comments

  1. Avatar angliagt Member

    This was just featured here on December 28th.
    Looks like the same seller,but at a lower price.

    Like 2
  2. Avatar alphasud Member

    Yes I own a BarnFinds CX turbo2 that I can’t wait to get going on it. Customer work never stops and I have a hard time saying no. When if finally does happen I will send hopefully a success story to BarnFinds. So far I have amassed all engine parts to do a rebuild, complete stainless exhaust, and reproduction turbo wheels that use 16” tires instead of the Michelin TRX tires.

    Like 9
  3. Avatar Ike Onick

    Un low rider francais. Qui savait? Magnifique!!!

    Like 1
  4. Avatar TomCat440

    Has Gernan plates from Berlin in the pics so that’s probably where it came from. The pneumatic suspension on these things sucked and once the cylinders went bad, it would kiss the ground overnight and you had to pump it back up before taking off in the morning. I love how the designed the engine around the spare tire under the hood, making sure the spare is dry-rotted and deflated when needed. A masterpiece of French automotive design! Voulez vous pommes frites?

    Like 1
    • Avatar Kim in Lanark

      more like pommes de chevaux. Ergonomics that seem from another planet. weird engineering just because they can, and parts that are nowhere to be found.

      Like 0
      • Avatar Ken Nelson Member

        The ergonomics offer better visibility and comfort that most ordinary cars – and their weird engineering provides some incredible benefits that other co’s are too chicken/cheap to attempt. And lack of parts is just one of the many benefits our illustrious Dept of Transportation slapped on many excellent car brands – making the US market not worth pursuing due to the high costs of making silly changes just to meet DOTs changing standards –
        several of which just don’t make sense, so those non US brands just gave up and left our market, yet kept selling everywhere else in the world.

        Like 0
  5. Avatar Ken Nelson Member

    Hey Alfasud, just a warning about a part you should consider replacing asap: That plastic intake manifold can actually SOFTEN in hot weather, and the intake vacuum can suck it FLAT and shut off the engine. How do I know? I was at a Citroen Rendezvous around 1985 near Mass on a hot Father’s day. One of our members had driven his CX from Mich. to the event without trouble. However, on departure Sunday, it was extremely hot, and as the owner waited in line to leave for home, his engine quit!

    On opening the hood, we found the manifold – made of the WRONG type of plasti – propylene – like kitchen bowls – the air runners had been sucked FLAT – shutting off airflow. what to do? Club members pulled the intake – which UNFORTUNATELY Citroen had placed above the exhaust manifold – !!!! – with nothing but a flimsy heat shield, which didn’t stop the heat enough.
    So – as a short term fix, pieces of wood broomstick were inserted to prevent total collapse! Enough air got thru and the engine could run at reduced power of course – but enough to get to Boston & stay with friends.

    Thru a very bizarre circumstance, I happened to have a brand new, never on a car intake, given to me by Citroen engrs during a biztrip I was on in Paris, and it was sitting in my filing cab. in Detroit! Next Monday morning, I called & had my office fedex overnight the replacement plastic part to the car owner in Boston. He installed it and planned his return trip to occur during a cool part of the day, & on arrival home ordered a then-available cast aluminum replacement – Citroen had already converted later cars due to the bad plastic choice – the manifold should have been glass-fiber reinforce NYLON, which can take 500 F, versus propylene, a low temp material!

    Since then, the whole auto world has converted most of the IC engine intakes to nylon, since I and others worked with Ford on their 4.6L V8 nylon intake introduced in ’96, followed immediately with a vibration-welded V6 intake on the Vulcan 3.0 L in the Taurus/Sable cars. This revolutionary material change in a major engine part took 10 lbs. out of V8 engines when engineering plastics replaced castings. This advancement gave the mfrs a tremendous cost reduction plus free hp as sandcast air passages have always been rough, but plastic provides a free “port & polish” airflow improvement and eliminates all machining – a finished part comes out of the molds.

    Like 6
    • Avatar alphasud Member

      Fortunately Ken the intake runners on the turbo are aluminum probably due to the fact the plastic would not hold up to pressure.

      Like 1
  6. Avatar GitterDunn

    The listing has been deleted – car must have found a buyer at the reduced price. Someone got a really nice car!

    Like 2

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