European Autocare Penrith to Close soon

UFO

UFO

Citroën Tragic
Moderator
VIP Paid Subscriber
Fellow Frogger
Joined
Aug 1, 2001
Messages
10,210
Location
Gerringong, NSW, Australia
The news is slowly filtering out, and I have it confirmed, that European Autocare in Batt St Penrith (western Sydney) is closing in a few weeks time. Denton is taking a well deserved retirement. I understand the site will be up for sale.

Where this leave NSW Citroenistes that depend on his knowledge and skills I do not know.
 
What will happen to the collection? Who else would want it all?
 
In Adelaide there is Leith Hughes at Aldgate Exhaust and Service - he did his apprenticeship on Ds at Chateau Moteur.
I work on DS, GS, CX, SM, 2CV
Chris Bennett does some work on 2CVs
Stuart in Perth
Ian Steele
There must be others around the country

Agreed, though - Denton has always been a crucial presence in the Citroen sphere!
 
Paris Motors in Richmond are still going and have opened a workshop in Geelong as well. Swedish Prestige maintain a few DS and CX. Evans Classic Cars has worked on a few older Citroens. There's a few others around VIC that aren't coming to mind just now.
 
DS familiar mechanics are a dying breed in Sydney. Jason H was mentioned. Another problem we have is that both Denton and Jason are located on the outermost edges of a very large city.

There are only a handful of places I'd take a modern Cit to.
 
seasink said:
DS familiar mechanics are a dying breed in Sydney. Jason H was mentioned. Another problem we have is that both Denton and Jason are located on the outermost edges of a very large city.

There are only a handful of places I'd take a modern Cit to.
Click to expand...
Further to that Jason is booked MONTHS in advance.
 
A direct quote from the Citroën Owners Australia facebook page:

About 5x GS gearboxes at European Autocares scap metal bin. Lots of other parts looking for a good home. Dentons Penrith shop is shutting doors in 7 weeks. He doesn’t have a lot of time to talk as he’s on a tight timeline, but is happy for these parts to find a good home. No collection Friday and weekends.

European Autocare.jpg
​
 
Is anybody doing a forensic . Would kill for a gs break drivers rear door i see there and happy to compensate for effort . I am in perth !!
also late model cx 5 speed box that works .
Just looking at the photos brings a tear to my eye all should be stacked and racked for a rainy day
 
It's about 60 km west of the city. Possibly the largest assembly of stripped down Cits in the country. If you have a mate in western Sydney, get him to visit.

batt st 2.png
batt st.png
 
UFO said:
The news is slowly filtering out, and I have it confirmed, that European Autocare in Batt St Penrith (western Sydney) is closing in a few weeks time. Denton is taking a well deserved retirement. I understand the site will be up for sale.

Where this leave NSW Citroenistes that depend on his knowledge and skills I do not know.
Click to expand...
OH dear !!!
 
Very sad. Denton was of great assistance in getting my old BX16V back on the road. A top notch guy.
 
seasink said:
DS familiar mechanics are a dying breed in Sydney. Jason H was mentioned. Another problem we have is that both Denton and Jason are located on the outermost edges of a very large city.

There are only a handful of places I'd take a modern Cit to.
Click to expand...
Jason Hantos is no longer based around Hornsby. I think his mobile service is busy with Citroen all over the state.
At least with a mobile service he can do work on broken down or partly dismantled cars! Has been a big help to me.
 
UPDATE



Hi,

I’ve been over at European Autocare at Penrith the last few days, helping Denton work on my car there. Here is an update on his workshop.

As mentioned in previous posts, Denton will be closing at the end of the April. The site has been sold and he needs to clear out all the wrecks and workshop by then.

As Denton is on his own now, with no mechanics assisting, he is currently not taking on new jobs such as repairs, servicing. He is also only available on Mon, Tue, Wed & Thu. Closed on Friday and weekends. He is working on a couple of customer cars there, as well as organising the cleanup of the vehicles and the site. So he is extremely busy at present and unable to take calls or answer simple enquiries. Sydneysiders are welcome to visit the yard but if you are after parts, bring your own tools and remove them yourself. Bring a trolley or friend to help with heavier items. But take note that Denton is extremely busy and really unable help too much.

Pretty well everything outside is available with most cars in various states of deterioration. There are currently between 30-40 cars on site, with about half being ID/D/DS cars and the remainder later models. The cars in the front and back are accessible by foot, with the weeds having been trimmed down it appears. But at present most are inaccessible to tow or tilt trucks. As they are slowly cleared out, the inaccessible cars would become more accessible.

The ID/D/DS cars are all wrecks and are non runners and mostly not even to able to be pushed/rolled manually. The large majority of these cars are missing axles or laying directly on the ground. Most are suffering severe rust and anything plastic, fabric has perished or gone brittle. All the vehicles are not accident damaged as such, but probably broke down and were too expensive to repair in the past. A lot of the body panels are intact and not damaged or bent, but after 30 years of hot summers, cold winters and rain, these panels are rusty to various degrees. In my opinion none of the ID/D/DS cars would make suitable project cars, they are literally too far gone. A lot of the glass (front, back, sides) are still there and not broken. Lots of fenders still there, some removed and hanging up under storage. Heaps of rims with/without tyres, but I don’t think there is any good rubber left. If any wrecks were wanted you would have to organise with Denton on gaining access to remove it. The interiors are also filled with junk and rubbish which makes the inside inaccessible.

As for the remaining vehicles there are later models (80’s and later) Most of these are also non runners and missing axles, wheels making them difficult to be pushed around.

I noted the following cars….

  • 3 x GS wagons – mostly too far gone but certainly some parts still intact.
  • CX sedan – looks totally gone and rusted body shell. Also full of junk making the interior inaccessible.
  • C4s – a couple of the first shape C4, looks to be intact but with parts already missing. Certainly not driveable.
  • 2CV roofs, There are 4 x 2CV roofs available. Although under cover, they are all in poor condition with the vinyl roofs torn, ripped and holes. All the metal parts and rear glass were intact and still there. The rear glasses all were intact and not broken. They’ll be scrapped if no interest.
  • Berlingo van – the first shape but with the larger headlights. Not much salvageable on it, Missing engine and everything in the engine bay gone. Still had intact sliding door on LHS, as well as RHS barn door (the smaller one of the 2 rear doors. Possibly some interior trim and dashboard parts still there.
  • A couple of C5’s series 1.
  • 2 x BX sedans as well as 2 Xantia sedans. These cars looked quite good with a lot of interior trims still there. Not sure on the engine side, but I think it would be safe to assume that any good parts have gone.
That’s sums up the cars available.

Please note there are no 2CVs, Xsaras, Tractions or Light 15s, CXs, H vans, C2 or C3s, later model C4s or C5s, C6s.

There a couple of DS Safaris inside, but both are customer cars and not for sale. Same for the good looking CX and yellow DS and the 2CVs parked in front of the workshop. These are customer cars waiting for work to be completed and not available either.

As for the workshop interior, the single blue electric hoist is not for sale. All the tools (spanners, electric tools etc) are also not available.

There is a large heavy duty lathe and drill press on a metal stand. The lathe has gone but the drill press still available. (see photos).Some of the consumables such as oil/fuel filters, fan belts are available. An unknown quantity of LHM and LDS hydraulic oil is also available, but I don’t know how much and what size containers/bottles they are in.

Denton mentioned after the workshop contents have been removed, any shelving & tables would probable be available, otherwise going to the tip. There are various metal and wooden shelving, as well as some heavy duty metal tables and workbenches. Outside there are a couple of standard sized shipping containers (used for storage). And a single axle trailer. I guess both of these would be available if so desired. The trailer has a single rear axle with unusable tyres and would need a prime mover to retrieve it (it’s a big trailer and unable to be towed by a small truck or 4WD)

That’s all I can think of. Any enquiries or offers for any of the wrecks or parts can be made by SMS or text to Dentons mobile number (0433 190 133). Please make the messages simple and clears. Denton will try and reply in the evening. It’s most unlikely that he will answer the phone during the day as he is too busy and trying to finalise everything. Remember the end of April is the last day at this stage.

I’ll attach some photos which will show the state of the cars so you can see what is there. Having a few issues cause the files are too large, so will just post the update as is

Glenn
 
A software system called imagemagick can size reduce and manipulate huge numbers of jpg files at once. Available for Windows, but operates on the command line. Convert is the program to use. Eg, for a single image- convert -quality 50 image1.jpg image2.jpg (adjust the quality % as needed).

All the common GUI viewers provided with computers can do the same, one image at a time. Use the save command with a new file name.
 
ARCHRIVAL said:
...Would kill for a gs break drivers rear door i see there and happy to compensate for effort . I am in perth...
Click to expand...

Archrival – if you get desperate, I believe the bottom section of a GS Sedan door is the same as the Break. You just need the Break top window frame welded and glass to suit (hypothetically)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top