When I was a kid I've been taken in one of those - by the police. All painted black with some white stripes. I wasnt alone in the truck, they use to arrest people by the half-a-dozen back in the day (drunks, wanderers, brawlers, etc). They'd also release everybody after a while at a street corner with a big kick in the but.
I’ve seen one of these my entire life - parked around a residential neighborhood in Seattle. It’s certainly different and exciting.
Citroens are very rare to see in the states but always fun to spot. They’re usually vintage models. One funny part of traveling in Europe is seeing modern Citroen models.
Comedians in Cars getting Coffee had an episode with a Citroen.
In Europe these retro Citroen vans are used as mobile hipster food and coffee shops.
I also saw one retro American School bus here (very rare in Europe) selling overpriced American street food, mainly hotdogs and burgers. The retro van plus the server having a top-knot man-bun add an automatic 20% value to your burger.
Either way, it seems these old busses have found a second life in the posh mobile catering industry.
It is perhaps noteworthy in this context that a lot of the new world and old world car companies such as Citroën are now part of Netherland based Stellantis.[1] So in a way a Jeep is now a Dutch car.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus: “Airbus' headquarters are registered in Leiden, Netherlands, but daily management is conducted from the company's main office, located in Blagnac, near Toulouse, France.”
Eh, Jeep was an Italian car (FCA, the result of Fiat buying Chrysler's remains) and is now a Franco-Italian car (FCA and PSA(Citroen , Peugeot, Opel) merged to form Stellantis, registered in the Netherlands, like Airbus, for the taxes and neutrality) manufactured in the US for the American market.
Neutrality as in there's no bias to any of the countries of the originally merged companies.
If Stellantis were incorporated in France, apart from the higher taxes, there'd be an obvious bias towards the former PSA in France over Fiat in Italy.
>Neutrality as in there's no bias to any of the countries of the originally merged companies.
Who cares about that anyway? Multinational corporations have no national allegiance anyway. They only care about profit and shareholder returns. They set up offices wherever the get the best deals, as in lowest taxes and cheapest labor.
Austria would have also been a "neutral" country in this case. Why didn't they HQ there and instead chose the NL? Let me see .. checks note .. yeah it's just the much lower corporate taxes and nothing else.
> Who cares about that anyway? Multinational corporations have no national allegiance anyway
You obviously haven't considered the fact that both Italy and France are highly protective of their industries. Italy's PM was recently publicly complaining about Stellantis not putting enough of their manufacturing in Italy.
I know. I used to work for them. They already have offices in Italy and in France. But ask yourself why didn't they HQ there and instead in NL that has no automotive industry?
I'm sure the lowest corporate taxes in the EU have nothing to do with that.
There used to lots of specialty vehicle manufacturers till maybe the early ‘60s. Milk delivery, parts delivery, etc. Now they all pretty much have the same form regardless of role.
Over the years Citroen have designed some of the most beautiful vehicles ever - the DS being the most obvious, but for me the SM is the pinnacle of car design, just stunning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citroën_SM
They were in the doldrums for 20 years but seen to be fighting back to their old design-driven ethos. The new Ami is a cute design that perhaps only Honda would have attempted:
I learned to drive in a CX Break, a 5m beast of a car. Two and a half turns of the wheel from left to right, self-centering. Brake pedal went from zero to fully engaged in one cm. And the suspension was the absolute best. Never again drove anything like it.
All these are much more conventional, though. They scream luxury or expensive sport car, but none of them has the character of the SM or its space age aesthetics. I don’t really like it, but I have to admit that it has something special.
Meh. Porsche is the worst "interesting design" offender imo, with just marginal iterative improvements over time with nothing truly ambitious. Porsche has never had to really rethink their designs because they do evolution, not revolution. One can argue that that's how you design something great (the GT3 RS is quite a car...) but I still find it kind of boring. And in the world of toy cars, boring is the worst adjective. The porschephiles may downvote all they like :)
The hydropneumatic suspension was a bold move, and is still an engineering marvel. The CX has a better ride than a lot of current cars. Meanwhile the 2024 mustang Mach E was so inept at controlling its weight that my wife got nauseous riding in it. Maybe we don't pay attention to ideas that came before us at the wrong time.
I think really wild engineering decisions are underrated. As an enthusiast, it's a shame that the car industry seems to have gotten more averse to crazy design decisions over time.
Most all the mid size vans look alike here in the states. I guess that's why I think the H Van looks so appealing. We own a Chrysler Pacifica to haul the grands around in and it's a fantastic car.
As a side note, the stigma on the mini-van is unwarranted, they are very utilitarian and, unless the snow is too deep(8 inches or higher), gets around better than my truck.
Not to mention that all the new "small" trucks force you to get a giant four-door cab, which results in a puny bed. I guess the manufacturers have determined that everyone who wants a small truck is a poser.
>It was a bold move, to say the least. But Barbora Holická and Lucie Engová were not afraid. The two Czech friends decided to take on the challenge of the Dakar Classic, but they also had to pick a vehicle. A 2CV was far from the obvious choice to tackle the Saudi desert, but their decision to start their project by buying the car was based on a sound analysis: "I usually compete in the Czech championship and always in a Citroën", explains Barbora. "So my first thought was to drive a ZX in the Dakar, but it was too expensive, so I came up with the idea of the 2CV, which everyone loves."
>The "Tin Snail" certainly offers incredible bang for buck in terms of charisma, but it looks like a fish out of water in a rally raid and, especially, in the dunes. As a result, they had to come up with a technical plan and make some modifications...
I'm surprised a ZX was more expensive than a 2CV. Over here in Belgium you can get a ZX for 500 bucks no problem, whereas the 2CV is a coveted classic that sells for multiple thousands.
Every time I have to cross a speed bump I miss my old ZX. At the time I could not understand why people felt like they had to decelerate so much. Then I got a modern car with firm suspension and my back did not like the first speed bump I encountered.
I miss mine too, same thing goes for the seats. Modern car seats are so stiff, I'm sure it's a safety thing but I miss the good old cloth sofas the ZX had.
I would've driven it into the ground but low emission zones happened and it became more and more of a hassle to drive unfortunately.
Well either she said it as a joke meaning the ZX Rally Raid which won 4 times the Dakar Rally, either she meant the CX which was also raced in the Dakar in the early years.
it's always mildly funny how much engine power has increased over the years. my bottom-of-the-line SUV gets 184 BHP, these shipped with 35-50 BHP depending on model lol
Passenger car engines are usually rated in peak power now --- and rarely need to output that number --- whereas they used to be continuous and run closer to their maximum power rating.
In Britain at least, taxes were levied on engine horsepower which at various times were calculated by piston stroke or cylinder diameter. Hence many long-stroke narrow cylinder engine designs.
There are a few companies doing electric versions of this car. Both conversions/restoration and completely new ones. Looks like a lot of fun to drive and as the article suggests, they are popular for using as street food cars. There's something about the design of these things that is just hugely appealing.
Like the Cybertruck only 70 years earlier - after WW2 there were lot of leftover stuff to be repurposed or a severe shortage of stuff that made for these utilitarian designs at the time.
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