The 12th International Citroën Car Clubs Meeting, Amherst Mass. USA

a personal account by
Tony Stokoe

Saturday morning was bright and blisteringly hot and Brodie and I headed off to inspect the assembled ranks of cars around the lake whilst ‘the girls’ set out in the Sable d’Ormobile to do touristy things. The sun beat down, the Citroëns gleamed – apart from the Tracbar Tractions which proudly showed off 4,000 miles worth of grime and a bewildering array of stickers and rally plaques – and I bumped into a glowing Adrian Chapman who cursed the fact that even factor 15 wasn’t working in this weather and his girlfriend would kill him (a rather drastic solution to sun burn…)

At a welcome shady spot, under a couple of large pine trees, was to be found a little corner of England. Manny Mottashaw had laid out a buffet lunch on a large table carefully accessorised in red, white and blue and had posted up notices in the main arena inviting Brits and ‘Colonials’ to attend. Excellent! This proved an invaluable meeting point for friends to rendezvous and allowed me to meet several people I would have otherwise missed. As a marker Manny and Derek had erected a large CCC flag and a Union Flag adorned Mr.Mottashaw’s Rolls Royce Camargue (what, no Citroën?)

Seeing one of these 70’s behemoths in the metal reminded me how indebted Pininfarina was to Gerry Anderson for the styling cues. I half expected to see Lady Penelope luxuriating in the back seat.

Anyway, enough of my asides, what did we actually see on site? In date order:

• Three or four good examples of RWD Citroëns including a beautiful B2 Laundaulet taxi, perfectly detailed and finished in pale blue with faux basket weave paintwork. Also two very nice torpedo body cars, a type A and a maroon B2.

• Lots of gorgeous Tractions, including many excellent roadsters. I noticed two 15/6s from the UK. Marcus Lascance and family were in their lovely Burgundy small boot Slough car – for sale at $15,000 – and Alec and Carol Bilney attended in their characterful 15/6 Commeciale, which must be unique. A couple of cars from Scotland, including one very well done DIY roadster which the owner told me he fabricated just using photographs of the real thing as a guide. Well done sir! Of the other roadsters on view, there were one or two replicas, one with a very spacious rear seat incorporated into what appeared to be a standard length, two door body. Clever stuff. Apart from the handful of examples from the UK and the ‘nutters’, the majority of cars were from Quebec and the standard of these cars was extremely high a credit to their French speaking owners.

• 2CVs. Lots and lots, plus a sprinkling of A series derivatives. The star prize I thought should go to a perfectly standard early ‘80s 2CV6. The French owner had meticulously written the entire book of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's ‘The Little Prince’ in indelible black marker over every steel panel. French on one side of the car, English on the other. Small children were kept entertained for hours.

• Panhards – two lonely examples. A very nice BT24 and Dyna Z convertible (or was it an early PL17?), sporting Tigre specification.

• Ds – many USA spec later models, with exposed USA spec. headlights, which look good on close inspection. About 6 decapotables including two matching cars in deep red metallic. No Chapron specials that I could see however. Many of the saloons (sedans) were fitted with ‘Kool Air’ air-conditioning, a neater dashboard fitting to the a/c we normally see over here, but only workable on left hand drive cars as a large fan sits in the passenger side above the footwell. Apart from Nick Price’s lovely car, my favourite was a totally original ’66 DS21 from Maryland finished in off-white, with a perfect red velour interior, something we rarely find here.

• SMs. The USA was the second biggest market for the SM, narrowly beaten by Italy in the sales figures, so I had expected there to be lots of example on view. There were certainly many more than we see at a SeMantics gathering, however they were still very much outnumbered by Ds and TAs. As most of those sold into the ‘States went to the west coast, some 3-4,000 miles away I suppose it was optimistic to expect a bigger turn out. Still, those that attended were virtually all in good order and finished to a high standard. Again, no Chapron options, but when did you last see an Opera or a Mylord, other than at a dedicated SM event?

• The CX was never officially sold in America, other than as a grey import marketed by CX Automotive, called the CXA. As a result it has something of a cult following and is a prized possession amongst American Citroën-istes, with high values to match. Many have been privately imported and there was a good selection including some immaculate early cars, even an early diesel model finished in a wonderful period burnt orange colour (or should I say color?).

• Finally, the XM. Yes XMs in the ‘States. Like the CX, never sold there but prized for its rarity, there were quite a few examples in attendance. Like the CX, these cars create a lot of interest in the ‘States and their stepped rear body profile and unique rear light treatment looks strangely American in style when you see one of them on the road.