I have had a fascination with French cars lately, a condition I attribute to visiting the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum in Pinellas Park, Florida. They have a wonderful collection of antique automobiles with one of the best collections of French cars from the steam era through the 70s that I’ve seen in the lower 48. Hell, I went out and bought a Peugeot 505 Estate after visiting the fine folks there, and I’m equally captivated by the likes of this 1979 Citroen CX Pallas, listed here on eBay in California for $7,900 with the option to submit a best offer. Incredibly, all of the hydraulics are said to still function and it has just 55,000 original miles.
I can’t explain why I am digging French cars as of late, other than they are incredibly smartly packaged machines. Despite looking a bit odd to some onlookers, the engineering behind them was quite advanced, and I’ve said to a few colleagues that my 505 makes me think of a French Mercedes-Benz W124 – it has that same quality of being overbuilt and luxurious, without being too complicated. Now, certainly, Citroens are different what with their fascination with hydraulic suspensions and unconventional styling, but there was still an emphasis on quality. I’ve come to realize many of the French brands were so maligned here in the states simply because their dealer networks dried up seemingly overnight, making parts and service availability a nightmare, and likely enhancing their reputation as being unreliable.
Now, to some extent, I can get that. I’m not likely going to hold onto my 505 all that long, largely due to the fact that my life seemingly only gets more complicated with time, and having a car with a limited network of specialists to support it adds a layer of complexity I don’t need. That being said, I have found wonderful resources in the way of parts providers and mechanics through a robust Facebook group dedicated to Peugeot owners, and I’m sure the same network exists for the Citroen crowd. This car looks to be in very good shape despite being a project, perhaps indicating it was loved at one time before its owner passed away or the car became too fiddly to repair for a non-enthusiast owner. That being said, I doubt highly someone owned this car by accident; you don’t just “happen” upon owning a Citroen or a Peugeot these days.
While the interior is clean and the bodywork down below is fairly tidy, this corrosion by the sunroof is worrisome. There’s a lot going on here, and it appears the rust isn’t limited to the sunroof panel. And even if it was, where do you find a replacement panel? I suspect you can get one from overseas, but that’s a bridge too far for many “casual” owners of oddballs like these. You really have to be committed to owning a French car these days, both in terms of finding the resources necessary to keep it alive and hunting down the spare parts that grow more elusive by the day. Still, they’re a crowd-pleaser when you see them, so saving his Citroen will likely be quite rewarding when all is said and done.
I’m trying to warm up to the CX because they can be had for reasonable money and you still get the quirkiness of a classic Citroen. I just want a DS as they are just downright quirky beautiful.
Looks like they couldn’t get the sunroof to stop leaking, so just Bondo’d it over? If only they’d realized sliding sunroofs aren’t typically meant to be fully water-tight. Any water that gets past the edge seal is supposed to drip into gutters around the opening that drain into tubes running down the pillars. If it leaks, that typically means one or more drain tubes are blocked with debris and just need to be rodded out with a long wire.
Yep – had a ’78 Mark V with the same problem … would leak on a hard left turn so rodded out the drain tubes and everything worked fine …
Anyone else watch the last “Grand Tour” episode … dedicated to the French automobile? Not their best … but had its moments
Nice looking car. I’ve heard of the Citroen CX. For some reason, these never sold here in the USA. I’ll bet I can guess why they didn’t. They never had a good service network here in the USA. It takes a specialized group of mechanics and technicians able, and willing to work on all that make the car work, and to have such people and parts all over the country, I’ll bet that gets expensive. It’s a damn shame.
Citroens were imported here up to about ’72 or so. They had to exit because the variable-height suspension meant the headlights couldn’t meet US DOT minimum-height regs.
There was an outfit called CXA that later privately imported and Federalized some CXs and later XMs; they did retrofit US-market headlights, not sure how they got around the headlight-height regs or if that rule got relaxed by then.
I owned a CX when I lived in France. Nice car that you could actually take off road but just running the suspension to its maximum set up. Service on it was easy and the fuel economy was decent. H oh Weber it’s just not the same as a DS sedan
These are amazing cars! Drive one and it makes other cars seem so crude! I have a DS and a CX project. Parts are readily available for both!
Located in:
Inglewood, California
Car’s roasted.
I’m glad to read about someone else’s fascination with French cars. I remember the Renault Dauphines when they first started importing them and I wanted one so badly, but I was a kid and my dad had seen doors and wheels fly off of them while moving so he wasn’t going to get one. I ended up buying a brand new ’85 Renault Alliance, one of the most maligned French cars ever, but I did my own maintenance and mine was still working perfectly while most of them were in the junkyard. I loved that car and loved driving it. Wished I had the convertible one, though. My driver’s door did try to fly off a couple of times. LOL