Well its been a busy week, what with the normal things and getting ready for the NEC this weekend gone.
I had been using the XM a little at the start or last week, someone phoned to ask if they could come and view the car on Tuesday. So after a short trip out with the XM I got back and checked its levels etc. I took off the coolant cap and its water pressured out of the reservoir. Very disappointingly it appears that the headgasket has gone. It has not shown any previous symptoms and has never used any coolant in our ownership. Start the car up now with the cap removed and the coolant soon rises, pushing water out and bubbling. These things happen I guess and the 2.1TD is not unknown for this failing. So its now for sale at a much reduced price. I am hoping it will sell as is, if not it'll be beached into a garage to have the work carried out. It'll then be for sale yet again. I am just very glad its gone with us and not with a new owner.
So then, on with my trip to the NEC.
My Activa was destined to be on the stand, which meant having the car at the NEC for Thursday afternoon. Unfortunately I couldn't start my journey down country until around 3.00pm and by that time, the traffic was getting very busy. I had made arrangements to hire a car to travel between the NEC and the hotel for the three days. This worked out at about £50 for the 3 days and so similar to driving to Birmingham and back in another one of our cars. I took my dad with me for the three days so we could have done that, however it saved my dad having to drive.
My first port of call was Birmingham International Airport to collect the hired shoebox. Once collected we headed over to the NEC to find the right hall and door to the CCC stand. I got there at about 7.00, just in time to help with the finishing of the display and parking of the cars. I did get asked to help out the Wheeler Dealer lot to lift a Morris Minor body from the back of a Sprinter van! We left just as we got kicked out, at 10.00pm. Then it was off to the hotel, one I had not used before but was very pleasantly surprised. It was a Best Western, and very nice it was too. Quite up-market, a massive complex including small stand alone rooms/buildings for longer stays and larger building for the hotel. It was like a little village. There was a pool and a large golf course too, the kind of place where for evening meal you can't sit down without the waiter pulling out the chair for you

Anyway, that made the stay very enjoyable, much better than the usual Travel Inn which I have used there in the past, which are basic to say the least. Not a great deal in it price wise either and the cooked breakfasts were excellent.
I aimed to get to the show early each day, otherwise there was an hour or so queue just to get parked in the car parks. Our exhibitor pass allows early entry too, which was a bit of a bonus. The Citroen Car Club stand was smaller than previous years, it did allow comfortable room for 5 cars, which were: H-Van Fire truck, 2cv Bamboo, GSA Special and a very nicely, almost newly built DS, oh, and the Xantia Activa of course! Unfortunately there is no choice as to where the stand is located. This year we were right in a corner, a little out of the way, next to the Wheeler Dealers Live Stage. The CCC stand backed onto the Traction Owners Club stand, which was next to the 2cvGB club and also the BXclub.
The show as a whole was superb, 10 halls of just about every car worth seeing and some which were not!

Everything from a Yugo cabrio to a £2.5 Million Ferrari and everything in between, including Montegos, Jag XJ220s and Rolls Phantoms, everything! There was a good auto-jumble selling cleaning products, tools, brochures, models, number plates etc. The Live stage was quite entertaining, seeing the Practical Classics lot build up the Morris Minor Pick-up over the weekend and interviews with varying celebrities, including Sir Sterling Moss.
I spent some of the days wandering about, taking in bits at a time and other parts of the day on the CCC stand talking to interested people. It was great to hear people enthused about the Xantia and Citroens of the 90's in general. I had quite a few long discussions about Xantias, other Citroens and got asked quite a few technical questions - Which I was able to answer!
The Activa got a lot of comments, it got its photo taken many times and quite a few people came and asked me about it. I also got talking to a few other Xantia owners, two of which had Activas. Hopefully more people know what an Activa is now!
My rental car was in the shape of a Chevrolet Spark (I didn't need anything lavish but the rental place obviously wanted to treat me ...) 1.0+. Well, I did only rent the cheapest car as it was to do so few miles and for just two people. Upon arrival to the airport to collect the car we were threatened with an upgrade to a Corsa. However someone brought the keys to a Spark in just at that very moment, an instant downgrade again! On the plus side I hate Corsas, very dull things. So this was a chance to try another cheap, basic and hopefully a small car with a bit of character - I have a lot of time for small, cheap cars. its why I like the C1 so much and have a liking for 2cvs etc. Motoring but back to basics. As it turned out, this Spark had air con, central locking and a very decent stereo. To my surprise there was no clock and there was a constant orange light on the dash to warn of the passenger airbag being active! Other than that, it was a reasonable little car, compared to the C1 there is slightly less road noise, a slightly bigger boot and a better ride. But its not as fun to drive. The 1.0 engine is very gutless and slow, despite having the same power as the C1. Its also a 4 pot and lacks the character of the C1s 3pot. The interior was ok, a bit shiny and cheap but not bad, though I would have liked the blue dash lighting to be dimmer for night driving and there didn't seem to be an adjustment. There was decent space inside, the steering was nice and accurate, the car felt solid over bumps and rode quite well for a small car. Overall it was a very acceptable car and I would recomment one! It did 70 miles with me all in, so not many. Looks aside!
On the Sunday morning it was time to hand back my Chevy to the airport. This was easy, as there is a monorail which links the airport to the train station and the NEC halls are within inside walking distance of that.
Over the few days, many pictures were taken, the Xantias boot was filled full of things from the auto-jumble and a very good time was had. At closing time on Sunday all the exhibitors sit in their car and beep the horns to signal the close. After the the stands are quickly stripped and the cars driven out of the halls. I was following a fleet of Bristols, which did make quite a nice noise but were just not going fast enough! My trip home was a brisk one, dry and clear roads and an Activa which needed its legs stretching
Overall, an excellent few days away
The Activa did 400 faultles miles over the weekend
