Citroën CX Pallas

Gerald Heusingveld gave excellent Citroën CX extended midlife update: Three anniversaries

De Citroën CX will celebrate its golden jubilee in 2024. Gerald Heusingveld's 25 Pallas IE is turning 40 and has also been in his possession for 25 years. What should have been a midlife crisis, the owner recently overcame with a series of medical interventions to keep the still quite energetic fastback sedan attractive. That didn't even get that horribly out of hand.

By: Aart van der Haagen

What few hobby restorers dare to do, Gerald Heusingveld did: set a target period to complete the job, in this case a year. “I calculated generously, and ended up spending about 25 man-hours on it from 2023 January 500.” Not hindered by any restoration experience, by the way. “I was good at demolishing. Well, dismantling. Fortunately, when necessary, I could fall back on Peter Rijken, Frank Pluym's classic car mechanic, at whose garage I was allowed to occupy a bridge. For example, the two of us hung the doors, which I had taken from the old stock of the now defunct Citroville, together with a bonnet. He also removed the surface rust from this used sheet metal. He hardly had to weld; only a small spot next to the left front wheel arch and in the tailgate. Apart from that, my Pallas was really rock-solid.”

3D printing

There was still enough left for Heusingveld to get his hands dirty. “Cleaning the entire body using an air gun and thinner. Also all sorts of ‘small’ jobs, such as transferring the window mechanisms to the new doors. The operation of the windows now works via relays, just like the lighting. This way the switches no longer burn out.” If you like polishing, you can have fun on the stainless steel bumpers and window frames of a CX and also grab the tin Pallas hubcaps, the latter of which were meticulously dented out by Peter Rijken. The warehouse of the Citroën CX Club Nederland. “Someone even got to work for me on 3D printing the rubber sleeves in which the upper suspension pins of the wheel flaps at the rear wheels fit, plus a cap that is attached to the bonnet rod and should prevent rattling.” To his slight surprise, Heusingveld was able to simply order the right fabric for the furniture from CX-Basis in Karlsruhe. “I then requested a quote from four upholstery companies and was completely shocked by the prices.” It turned out to be a stroke of luck after all when four motivated Ukrainians with a lot of experience stepped forward to do the job.

Panacea

You shouldn't touch something that works, as an old techie's wisdom teaches us. That's why the 2,5-liter injection engine and the automatic three-speed gearbox with their 125.000 kilometers of experience remained closed. "I did replace the entire fuel line from the tank, as well as the injectors and the TDC sensors." Thanks to regular maintenance in the past, the suspension could remain untouched, although Heusingveld did not economize on new spring spheres, a supply sphere, a brake accumulator, return hoses and pipes. "A revised brake control also had to be installed, because it leaked like crazy the first time it was started. Incidentally, Renard Automobiles in Beneden-Leeuwen replaced the green LHM with blue hydraulic fluid from agricultural machinery. This contaminates and ages less quickly and reduces the chance of leaks." All in all, the completely repainted CX Pallas IE Automatic can go for years to come since its recent midlife update.

If you want to read the complete article, including restoration photos and other pictures, buy the December edition of AMK at the newsstand, because it is available there until December 24.