French Group B: 1987 Citroen BX4TC
A few years ago, some of you may recall that our own Scotty G. bought one of the rarer Subarus ever sold here in the U.S. with his gorgeous 1988 RX Turbo sedan. You can find one of his posts on the car here, which he later sold after some of the oddball appeal has worn off. It’s amazing how much that car reminds me of this one despite being wildly different machines, as our feature vehicle is a 1987 Citroen BX4TC, which is a rare French-market homologation vehicle listed here on The Cultivated Collector’s website. If it doesn’t have enough driving lamps, I cannot help you.
The BX4TC clearly was not sold here in the states, and I’ve seen this car floating around the last few months via various consignors and specialty car dealers. If you Google this model name, it actually pops up as having been part of the Lane Motor Museum collection. I have no idea if this is the same car but I find it hard to believe two of these obscure road-going rally cars made their way to the U.S. Regardless of how it got here, this rare Citroen is clearly a survivor and perhaps one of the best examples left in road-going condition.
The BX was a standard Citroen model, but like most production cars that end up having a competitive motorsports career, the model built for the track looks nothing like the one that you could buy in the showroom. The bodywork was revised, the drivetrain converted to four-wheel-drive, and the 200 horsepower four-cylinder engine was mounted longitudinally. The interior is a boy racer’s delight, with nicely bolstered sport seats, a three-spoke wheel, and lots of gauges, but it does without the microphone found in the rally-prepared model that allowed navigator and driver to communicate with each other.
Top speed in the road-going version was just shy of 140 miles per hour and the Citroen could reach 60 in under eight seconds. The competition version benefitted from a KKK turbocharger that increased thrust dramatically, with that model able to put down a healthy 380 horsepower and reach 60 comfortably under six seconds, and achieve an incredible top speed of 174 miles per hour. This is a unique car that will appeal to a narrow market of collectors, and it assures the next owner a brand of exclusivity that few cars can match.
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Comments
That’s pure 80’s right there! What’s that I see? A 3 spoke steering wheel on a Citroen that’s blasphemy! This is one of those cars if you have to ask how much you can’t afford it. At least my CX turbo shares the same turbo wheels as this car. I think the BX is built on a Peugeot platform using a Peugeot engine. Probably the same 2 liter they used in the CX models. Nice find!
Not the CX 2 litre, the BX had a 2.2 litre Chrysler engine found in the Chrysler 180 and also the 505 turbo.
Uncontested all-time Radwood champ right there.
This was the least successful of all Group B rally cars. So not many exist, but buyers are similarly hard to find.
The stock BX is a brilliant car. Yes, shares a lot with Peugot 405 but very Citroën in character. And styled by Marcelo Gandini, of Miura, Countach and Stratos fame….
Just when I thought I’d seen every whacky French car.
Good luck with the auction – but I just want to clarify – this is NOT the Lane Motor Museum car, as alluded to above. It’s a hoot to drive, but bigger than a Group B ever had a right to be – what was Citroen thinking?
“The Cultivated Collector, Cars of Distinction” sounds like a barely believable attempt to gentrify the crazy used-car business. Good luck with that.
And another thing. These gentlefolks show us photos of the hood prop, door jambs, and left rear bumper edge but don’t list a price? Guess they think that’s unimportant, or maybe they don’t want to sully their “hands of distinction” with filthy lucre! What is it with sellers who don’t list the price anyway?
I have never bought a second hand car off a dealers lot if there was no price on the windscreen as a friendly dealer once told me that the price was adjusted either up or down the moment they had sized up the probable monthly income of the buyer!
I had a client years ago who told me about his experiences early in life as a used car salesman. He hated every minute of it. First, get the keys to the vehicle that the customers drove to the dealership, under the guise of, “let me take it around back so that we can appraise its value as a trade in”, and then “misplace” the keys to keep the people hostage. Second, invite you and your wife to discuss the matter alone in their office (“honey, if they could just get the payments a bit lower”) while you get them a cup of coffee (while you listen to their entire conversation in another office). Three, sell to people who obviously can’t afford the car, as the down payment covers the dealer’s wholesale purchase price of the car. All payments are then profit, and, if you repossess the vehicle, even better- you get to do it all over again- sometimes multiple times on the same vehicle. After the third time, sell it at auction. There were more grim details, but these are the ones that I remember.
Knowing these things, when I have purchased a new or late model used car from a dealer, I arrive either prequalified for the loan or have cash. I say that this is my absolute “out the door” price (reasonable, but low market value) and that they have one opportunity to sell the vehicle or I am leaving. Once we get past the initial BS, (“I’d get fired if I sold it for that. Oh, we’re in it for more than that, blah, blah, blah”) they either agree or not. I have gotten up and left if needed. Several times, I have gotten a call enroute home saying, “I talked to the manager. Come back, we’ll do the deal.”
John Eder, you are listing every cliche ever told about used car sales, you really didn´t miss a one. From my experience , dealing with buyers for 30 plus years, you are the type of guy who enters a show room 10 minutes before closing after a gruelling saturday and keeps the entire crew for 2 hours while haggling over 50 bucks, afterward telling everyone how badly you were treated and how dishonest the dealer was. Incidentally, the guy who told you all those cliches, he didn´t cut the mustard and was blown out, guaranteed..You know what? Buyers are liars..
Very cool! Lane Motor Museum is fantastic…pay the extra money for the basement tour. I’m planning a second visit for spring or summer.
Basement tour? WHAT? I missed that. That place is incredible. Now I’ll go back this summer and take that basement tour too!
I used to follow Group B class race cars.
Although there were few survivors,
I read that Citroën destroyed their Group B cars after the class was banned.
I don’t haggle ($50.00? Please…). I offer a fair price based on market research, and, if they don’t want to do the deal at that price, no loss. I move on to another dealer. One time after attempting a purchase at several dealers in a large metro area, I stopped in a mom and pop Chrysler dealership in a small town while on the road. Not only did I get a substantially lower price, but the salesman (the owner) threw in a vintage porcelain “Authorized Chrysler Plymouth Service” sign. I have successfully purchased several new and used vehicles this way. I am always respectful (I was in emergency vehicle sales for decades myself). I don’t show up ten minutes before closing and attempt to grind them down- it’s a simple, straightforward business transaction- that’s it.
No offense was intended, but some dealers are perhaps not as ethical as others. My client, whose veracity I have absolutely no reason to doubt, left that job (ie: quit) because he got tired of lying and treating customers as prey. He recently retired as the head of a large transit agency after a long and successful career.
I had my own brief experience with this. On a lark, I interviewed for a sales job with a fledgling electric vehicle manufacturer years ago. They were trying to sell technology to the public that they hadn’t even created yet (no, it wasn’t Tesla). When I questioned how to explain that to prospective purchasers, the “sales director” repeatedly said, “tell them anything that will convince them to leave a deposit TODAY.” I got up and left. They failed shortly thereafter.
As Citroens go, IMHO, this is the best looking car since the DS/ID model. I consider it damned unforgivable that Citroens were never offered here in the USA.
Oh.
My.
GOD!!!
An honest to goodness BX4TC… right here… in the U.S.!!! I almost spit coffee out my mouth all over the keyboard! I own an 83′ Renault 5 Turbo 2 with direct ties to both Group 4 and Group B but even that is positively plentiful compared to a BX4TC. And while this was not the most successful car to be campaigned back in it’s era, it is irresistibly odd, interesting and almost… cool.