So the plans were made last year, to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Citroen Ax being produced, the Ax Owners Club would travel en mass to Paris and the Citroen Factory and Museum at Aulnay Sous Bois.
So far so good.
Unfortunately, as is the way on the AXOC, numerous people dropped out along the way.
Fast forward to late August and the attendance of Ax's at this Anniversary was looking bleak.
The 2 Ax Turbo's had yet to be mapped and various others were in states of disrepair.
Just a week before and one of the Ax's was undergoing an emergency engine transplant.
Then just the night before setting off that same Ax was undergoing a radiator and manifold change!
So somehow early last Thursday morning we ended up at the Channel Tunnel with these:
4 Ax's - two running Saxo VTS engines, one running a VTR Turbo engine and mine running a GTi Turbo engine.
It was a major effort to get the two turbo's there, mine had been off the road for 4+ years during the build and with just 3 days to go the log book had been lost meaning a trip to the local DVLA office to buy a new logbook and tax it at the same time.
and then the nervous wait for insurance proof to be emailed over to get the tax.
Stressful doesn't cut it!!!
So after some hilarity getting down to Paris (it took 6 1/2 hours, numerous stops, losing people a lot, getting lost a lot and racing each a lot ;D
) we arrived at our accommodation on the outskirts of Paris near Disneyland:
The evening was spent relaxing, drinking beer and sleeping after some long drives.
With members from as far as Glasgow (he left at 1:30pm the day before!!), North Wales, Wiltshire and Manchester to name but a few.
The next day we were booked in to see Le Conservatoire, the special Citroen Museum in the factory grounds, in North East Paris.
Parked in the grounds
French Ax club members VTS
Luxembourg Ax Club members ultra rare BB Cabrio
Then after a few introductions between owners club we were whisked inside for our tour. 5 euro entrance fee was the best bargain ever, considering it was a 4 hour tour through Citroen's history!!
Little did we know what wonders lay behind those double grey doors
View from the door
row upon row like this
from the first sports car
to tracked desert exploring cars from the 20's/30's
Special bonnet mascot denotes rubber engine mounts for less vibration
Traction Avants in various guises including a Slough made English registered one
The 2cv prototypes rescued from a hay loft in northern France after being hidden from the Nazi's
2cv Paris Car show models
Hermes trimmed 2cv
DS's galore
2 stroke DS!
Ami's
Mehari's (USA version and hydraulic suspension prototype)
GS's (Sport version)
Prototype SM (banded steelies and stupidly quick 300+bhp engine!)
Visa's
BX's
Ax Sport, 10e, Electrique (5dr one side 3 dr the other!) Ax 4x4, and Proton Tiara
as well as a ZX, XM limo, Xsara, Saxo, Picasso etc.
They had a corner dedicated to their short lived rotary concept:
Yes the helicopter did fly, yes it is rotary engined!!
Lots of space dedicated to their sports, racing and rallying pedigree:
Africa Raid 2cv,
Paris Dakar ZX (one of about 6 in there!!)
Visa 4x4
CX's
GS's
SM
DS's (yes that is a fastback/coupe DS behind!)
BX's
BX 4TC and ZX
and of course the AX Superproduction
The famous Visa Lotus
Finally finishing with the one off's, concepts and design ideas:
DS Presidential
Xanthia
electric concept
Sbarro Picasso gullwing
all in all an amazing collection and the biggest single marque collection in the worlds apparently
Ax's lined up outside
Everyone who went
So after that we eat out at a Steak House nearby and headed back to our site. The next day was spent seeing Parisien sights (i was ill so didn't go) and then on Sunday we headed back to catch an afternoon train back to Blighty
Martin's VTR Turbo overtaking the GTi Turbo
Me standing with my GTi Turbo
Screamer pipe exit on the VTR turbo
French Autoroute
Brought to you by:
a few more of mine
thanks for reading more pics are in here:
smg.photobucket.com/albums/v213/skinnylew/Ax/AXOC%20Paris%202011/?start=all
So far so good.
Unfortunately, as is the way on the AXOC, numerous people dropped out along the way.
Fast forward to late August and the attendance of Ax's at this Anniversary was looking bleak.
The 2 Ax Turbo's had yet to be mapped and various others were in states of disrepair.
Just a week before and one of the Ax's was undergoing an emergency engine transplant.
Then just the night before setting off that same Ax was undergoing a radiator and manifold change!
So somehow early last Thursday morning we ended up at the Channel Tunnel with these:
4 Ax's - two running Saxo VTS engines, one running a VTR Turbo engine and mine running a GTi Turbo engine.
It was a major effort to get the two turbo's there, mine had been off the road for 4+ years during the build and with just 3 days to go the log book had been lost meaning a trip to the local DVLA office to buy a new logbook and tax it at the same time.
and then the nervous wait for insurance proof to be emailed over to get the tax. Stressful doesn't cut it!!!
So after some hilarity getting down to Paris (it took 6 1/2 hours, numerous stops, losing people a lot, getting lost a lot and racing each a lot ;D
) we arrived at our accommodation on the outskirts of Paris near Disneyland:The evening was spent relaxing, drinking beer and sleeping after some long drives.
With members from as far as Glasgow (he left at 1:30pm the day before!!), North Wales, Wiltshire and Manchester to name but a few.
The next day we were booked in to see Le Conservatoire, the special Citroen Museum in the factory grounds, in North East Paris.
Parked in the grounds
French Ax club members VTS
Luxembourg Ax Club members ultra rare BB Cabrio
Then after a few introductions between owners club we were whisked inside for our tour. 5 euro entrance fee was the best bargain ever, considering it was a 4 hour tour through Citroen's history!!
Little did we know what wonders lay behind those double grey doors
View from the door
row upon row like this
from the first sports car
to tracked desert exploring cars from the 20's/30's
Special bonnet mascot denotes rubber engine mounts for less vibration
Traction Avants in various guises including a Slough made English registered one
The 2cv prototypes rescued from a hay loft in northern France after being hidden from the Nazi's
2cv Paris Car show models
Hermes trimmed 2cv
DS's galore
2 stroke DS!
Ami's
Mehari's (USA version and hydraulic suspension prototype)
GS's (Sport version)
Prototype SM (banded steelies and stupidly quick 300+bhp engine!)
Visa's
BX's
Ax Sport, 10e, Electrique (5dr one side 3 dr the other!) Ax 4x4, and Proton Tiara
as well as a ZX, XM limo, Xsara, Saxo, Picasso etc.
They had a corner dedicated to their short lived rotary concept:
Yes the helicopter did fly, yes it is rotary engined!!
Lots of space dedicated to their sports, racing and rallying pedigree:
Africa Raid 2cv,
Paris Dakar ZX (one of about 6 in there!!)
Visa 4x4
CX's
GS's
SM
DS's (yes that is a fastback/coupe DS behind!)
BX's
BX 4TC and ZX
and of course the AX Superproduction
The famous Visa Lotus
Finally finishing with the one off's, concepts and design ideas:
DS Presidential
Xanthia
electric concept
Sbarro Picasso gullwing
all in all an amazing collection and the biggest single marque collection in the worlds apparently
Ax's lined up outside
Everyone who went
So after that we eat out at a Steak House nearby and headed back to our site. The next day was spent seeing Parisien sights (i was ill so didn't go) and then on Sunday we headed back to catch an afternoon train back to Blighty
Martin's VTR Turbo overtaking the GTi Turbo
Me standing with my GTi Turbo
Screamer pipe exit on the VTR turbo
French Autoroute
Brought to you by:
a few more of mine
thanks for reading more pics are in here:
smg.photobucket.com/albums/v213/skinnylew/Ax/AXOC%20Paris%202011/?start=all
Ax GTi Turbo
