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Citroen Outpost: 1978 GS Break

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If you’re looking for Citroen parts and project cars, it’s safe to say you should head to Toms River, New Jersey. This 1978 Citroen GS Break here on eBay is one of several projects and parts cars the seller says is available from their stockpile, as they’re entering a clean-out phase to clear out old inventory. Although this particular example is rough, it could be a good source for spares or an ambitious restoration project given the opening bid is $500 and there’s no reserve. 

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This wagon is clearly in rough condition, and the seller doesn’t try to hide this fact. I suspect it has been repainted and the bodywork is rough overall, but at least the desirable glass headlights are still intact. Curious thing about the location of this Citroen specialist: based in Toms River, New Jersey is a Citroen specialist known as Eurocar Imports. They were featured in a New York Times article as one of the premier Citroen restoration shops in the U.S. Does anyone else think it’s the same place? Based on their business profile, I can’t help but wonder why they’re casting this one aside given they’ll restore cars from the frame up. The article does mention the shop sustained damage during Hurricane Sandy, and those headlights look like they took on water.

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If it is the same shop, this seems like a great place to buy a project from. However, even if it isn’t, I’ve always found this part of New Jersey to be intriguing for its collection of automotive brand oddities. As a child, we used to drive my brother back and forth to school in Baltimore, and there were always clusters of shops  that seemed designed to service automotive marques that had left the U.S. – Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Citroen and others were brands I would see represented by old-school lighted signs on top of  service stations that used to be a lot busier. There’s even a former Fiat dealer that has a stockpile of parts-pillaged X1/9’s that it used to keep customer cars on the road after the company left the U.S. market in the early 90s.

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Image courtesy of www.forum-auto.com

So, back to this Citroen: could it be resurrected? With enough time and money, and I’d personally want to create a retro-cool delivery van like this one here. However, parts shopping will be tough and I imagine you’d be going back to the seller time and again for their assistance in finding odds and ends. In fact, maybe that’s their goal: sell the car and then offer to restore and rebuild it for the next owner. This car is a labryinth of hydraulically-operated systems and a complex self-leveling suspension, so it will certainly be a labor of love to bring it back to life. But given you’ll have direct access to a specialist if you purchase it, your life could be made easier if you use this rare estate for anything more than a parts car.

Comments

  1. Avatar George

    It makes the 2CV sitting next to it look like a big car.

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    • Avatar Puhnto

      It even makes the 4CV on the left look big, and they’re tiny!

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  2. Avatar Roger Owen

    Love the 2cv ‘ripple bonnet’ sitting next to the GS, looks exactly like the 1957 one I had many years ago.

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  3. Avatar RayT

    Never gave much thought to the GS — except for the brief run of prototype rotary-engine cars based on the GS — but the Renault 4CV sitting on its left certainly grabbed my attention!

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  4. Avatar angliagt

    That panel truck……er car looks totally cool!

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  5. Avatar Robert Stoll

    I had several GS. They were excellent cars, very comfortable especially for ziguezague roads in bad shape. Contrary to the later citros, this suspension isn’t very complex. From Europe, parts are no problem whatsoever.

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  6. Avatar FA

    Fellow enthusiasts: As an avid Citroen owner, I implore anyone who may like to join our happy family of Citroenuts to PLEASE BE VERY CAUTIOUS OF OR (OR BETTER STILL) AVOID THIS SELLER!

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    • Avatar Keith

      FA, is this the guy who used to have a few of those Citroen H vans for sale on CL a year or so ago?

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    • Avatar MAM

      FA, I am thinking about having them restore my ’57 2CV, can you please substantiate your comments? I have met The proprietor in person and found him to be quite a gentleman.

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  7. Avatar Joe

    FA Why? Please tell us of your experience. Thanks.

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  8. Avatar MikeH

    As a Citroen owner, I, too, would be interested as to why this seller needs to be avoided. Is this the same outfit that does the Citroen H vans? Also, there is something wrong with that picture. The GS is not that small. It looks like it is a foot shorter than the 2CV next to it. Badly photoshopped?

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  9. Avatar Roger Owen

    If it is photoshopped – they are in the wrong job! I think it’s just a combination of wide angle lens distortion and the fact that the GS has sunk to a new ‘low’.

    Like 0

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