A new section on the site, Passionnément Citroën gives you the floor to tell us about your passion for Citroën in a free speech on the subject that interests you. Whether it's a test drive of a new or old Citroën, or your passion for the brand, Paroles de Citroëniste is your space. Today, Bernard tells us about his passion for the brand that has accompanied him since childhood, a moving and captivating story that shows the full force of the passion for Citroën.
"Hello to all the readers of Passionately Citroën, today I have the great pleasure of sharing with you my passion for Citroën (the brand and the man) through anecdotes and favourites.
Let's start with an anecdote told to me by my parents when I was not yet one year old, in a pram placed on the back seat of the 2CV, we were going on holiday when a beautiful storm broke out on the road, large puddles had formed and while rolling by surprise in a flooded passage, the pram and us in it (I have a twin sister) were watered, the floor of the 2CV had holes, certainly attacked by rust. I still have a picture of that 2CV in my head, my father must have been at the wheel and I see that big steering wheel and the small dial of the speedometer in the left corner of the dashboard.
It was in 1965 or 66 that I discovered the AMI 6 Break, I was spending a few days with my grandparents when my parents and my sisters came to pick me up, it must have been winter because it was already dark, I remember being frustrated at being the last to discover this car.
So many memories with this Ami 6 that I enjoyed throwing it in all directions, grabbing the rear light protection tube on the bumper, sometimes my father would let me start it and often on Saturday afternoons the rear bench would serve as a lounge for us to watch television and for picnics we would pull out the two benches!
It was in 1971 that my father bought a Comfort GS, as we had a grocery store the GS was at my grandparents house and we drove during the week with the very practical break to pick up the goods later with the arrival of the supermarkets it had to be converted, my grandfather took over the AMI 6 but every Sunday my sisters and I spent a few hours, I sat at the wheel in the garage imagining that we were on the road.
One day, much later, my grandfather called me and we both went out in the AMI 6 on the dirt roads that were almost passable, he stopped and told me to take my place, that's how, several Sundays in a row, I took my first driving lessons in the AMI 6, I had a pain in my heart when the car was destroyed in the 80s, but it was too badly attacked by corrosion to put it back on the road.
Let's go back to 1971, my father was hesitating between an Opel Kadett, less expensive, and the GS, fortunately he made the right choice and that's where the passion was ignited, for the child that I went from the AMI 6 to the GS was huge, a car that lived, we waited for it to go up when starting and then, we had colour television, that's what we called the rotating tachometer, whose each colour suggested the change of speed and/or the distance braking was listed under speed, too bad it disappeared later. From then on, every time I went to the dealership, I collected the advertising leaflets, which I still have, and I started writing to Citroën's public relations department to get the big posters that were stuck on the windows of the dealerships, And then, every 3 months, I received the double chevron publication, of which I only miss the first 2 or 3 issues. All this has led me to have today more than 350 Citroën miniatures, of course, from 1/18th to 3 inches, not to mention a lot of promotional items collected during the launch of new vehicles!
An anecdote that I think will make some people drool! In the early 70's I was a kid and we lived in the same street as the parents of Pierre Mauroy, Prime Minister and Mayor of Lille, he had a brother-in-law who was a doctor in Paris, if I remember correctly, who came every 15 days with... an M35! I never failed to go round it 2/3 times, you mean a proto! That was the only chance to see one!
The only time I broke with Citroën for a few months was when I got my driving licence, when I took back the Fiat 127 on which my sister had learnt to drive, needless to say I treated her badly to get rid of it quickly! Luckily, one day the mechanic told us: "The engine mounts are dead, we can't drive it anymore!" There was no need to argue, it was a GS and nothing else I wanted, so I bought a GSX, with my first savings from student work, I personalised it with the means at hand, I had cut out the profiles of the Citroëns of the time and the release dates from black tape and decorated the boot with them, the same with the word Style stuck on the rear pillar!
A little anecdote before I continue: one day my sister, who had become independent, came to see me very happy and said to me: "My answer was clear: "I'd be happy to fix a Citroën for you, but I won't touch a Renault!"I swear to you, the following week the 4L was sold and I had a 2 CV to freshen up. I painted it Charleston style, but in shiny brown and beige, it was called Café Crème!
Back from the army and after a few months of work, I found a GSX3 that I had completely transformed, metallic red paint, a first at the time, body coloured bumpers, another first, inside I had redone everything in white skai, electric blue carpet and at the rear two full seats identical to those at the front, centre console modified to accommodate an equaliser amplifier and K7 player! The GSX3 is one of the cars I often regretted having sold, but the BX had arrived on the roads and winked at me a lot, so I drove a BX 19TRD, which of course I personalised with the smoothing of the bumpers in body colour and double headlights! I loved this dashboard like no other, the controls were right at my fingertips! She was 8 years old when my agent told me that the front cradle was rotten, Citroën easily covered 80% of the bill.
A little anecdote, the BX is the only Citroën that has left me stranded on the side of the road, I wanted a mark on the gauge needle to know when it was urgent to refuel and so I ran out of diesel a few kilometres from my house and the guy who stopped to help me was the painter who had painted my GS and the bumpers and hubcaps of my BX.
In 1993 came the Xantia and later the estate version. I had a saloon for a year or two and very quickly an exclusive HDI 110 bhp estate on which I installed an automatic door locking system (when shifting into first gear), a reversing radar and cruise control. adaptive, which I kept, skipping the C5 1 which I didn't like!
At the time, I was carpooling with two colleagues, one with a large BMW and the other with a Toyota, and the first swapped his BMW for a Xantia automatic and the second swapped his Toyota for a C5 1.
It was the C5 Tourer that replaced my Xantia, the rumours about the faulty clutch made me part with it quickly, but I can say that it was the most comfortable, the least noisy and the one with the best seat adjustments, I had to get used to something other than the fixed hub steering wheel!
With the kids grown up, I went back to the C4 II, an excellent car but not enough Citroën DNA for me. It only cost me two tyres in 90,000km. It was replaced by a pleasure car, the C3III, whose interior Hype Colorado made me totally fall in love, I found it comfortable until the C4 III arrived in my garage, you really have to try this C4 to understand, many people told me they found it beautiful, even Audi customers! I don't understand the criticism that the dashboard is too small, as the head-up display is more than adequate.
As a second car we had a LN, a saxo diesel, a C3 plural, a C3 I hdi and currently a C3 110hp which has had its belt replaced and the red roof paint is peeling.
My son has a redesigned end of the DS adventure!
My daughter has had a C3 II, a C4 Picasso I and currently a large C4 Picasso II.
The GSX3 and the C3 Cabrio are the ones I regret the most.
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