You can take the boy out of England, but ........

[Geoff H]

Just spent a very British morning washing and polishing the Stag. It is now ready for what will probably be its last top down outing. The sun is shining and I will be joined by a Citroenn SM whose owner believes his V6 sounds better that the V8, pauvre mec.

Geoff

[jleyton]

Hi Geoff,

Hope you have a great time.

Citroen SM ? Ask him how his timing chains are

Mind you, I always thought there were a surprising number of parallels between the SM and the Stag:

• Both produced around the same time
• Both shared the basic underpinnings of their respective company's large family cars
• Both featured dramatically different styling to those family cars
• Both featured dramatically different powerplants to those family cars, that were never used in any other Triumph / Citroen
• Both were commercial disasters
• Both contributed to the ultimate 'demise' of their respective companies Citroen into the hands of Peugeot and Triumph into oblivion

Great car to drive though, the SM, just needs a few miles of swerving from side to side and braking like a nodding donkey until you familiarise yourself with the steering and brakes.

And I wonder how many people know that Citroen actually owned Maserati for a few years, hence the SM's slightly castrated V6 engine.

When I retired I had the chance to go for an SM or a Stag. Although the SM is a fabulous cars in many ways, there was absolutely no question in my mind which to go for. I've a friend who's got three and another who has one of the extremely rare Citroen GS Birotors (one of the few that Citroen didn't manage to buy back from their owners)

Cheers

Julian

[Geoff H]

Yes Julian, we often talk about his timing chains, I think it is planned for this winter. His big concern at the moment is that he has a breather pipe attached to the sump which recycles the vapours to the air filters, the problem being that the air filter was filling up with water! He has disconnected the pipe and lets the steam our into the air, it doesn't seem to impact the performance so he is leaving it like this until the day he has to take the motor out for another reason.
You are right though it is a great car to drive.

regards

Geoff