Portugal in a hurry...

From the Autocar edition dated 3rd May 1973 - an article about touring in Portugal and about the Portuguese launch of the GS 1220 where journalists were invited to participate in a two-day tour using much of route and many of the special stages of the TAP rally which was due to take place a couple of weeks later.

Top left: Portuguese secondary roads are often unmetalled or poorly surfaced; dust can be a problem in traffic

Bottom left: TAP Rally - another sort of Citroën, a DS, negotiates a stage near Lousã. Romãozinho’s DS23 finished third in this year’s rally

Above: The Citroën driving exercise included tracks like this, which was deemed too rough to be included as a TAP stage

Below: Ox carts are standard agricultural transport in northern Portugal. One overtakes the GS 1220 convoy - at rest for a change - in the country inland north of Viana do Castelo

The Portuguese-built GS in 1973 was required to contain a minimum of 20% local content so they differed from their French counterparts in areas such as seats, trim, paintowrk, batteries and tyres. Portuguese GSs were fitted with either locally made Firestone or Mabor radials instead of Michelins.