1980 Citroen is his dream car!

THE OLD CAR DETECTIVE

Bill Sherk

Douglas Ogle of Brighton, Ontario, visited France in the 1970s and rented a Citroen 2CV to get around and fell in love with it. Forty-five years later in Canada, he bought one.

It was a big hit at the local cruise night until the pandemic arrived.

My older brother John and I were in France in 1962 and we saw cars like Doug’s Citroen everywhere. We were told it was “the French farmers’ beast of burden.”

A French engineer named Andre Citroen began building cars bearing his name in 1919, after working on munitions during World War One. His cars sold quickly because of the low price and high reliability. He was the champion of mass production in France in the 1920s based on the American pattern.

In 1934 Citroen wanted to bring out a new model but the development costs bankrupted Mr. Citroen and his company was taken over by Michelin.

Doug Ogle enjoys the sun roof in his 1980 Citroen.

After World War Two, the amazing 2CV was a big hit at the 1949 Paris Auto Show with front-wheel-drive and its air-cooled engine. In 1955, Citroen brought out its beautifully streamlined DS 19 now famous the world over.

I had a ride in a Citroen DS 19 in Toronto about 50 years ago. It was owned by Arnold Korne (Arnold, are you reading this?) and I thought the single-spoke steering wheel was ultra-cool. It was the ultimate in streamlining and gives you a less obstructed view of your gauges on the dashboard. Doug Ogle’s Citroen also has this feature.

And do you know the origin of the word “dashboard”? It goes back to the days of the horse and buggy, with a vertical board in front of driver and passenger. Roads were muddy and the mud thrown up by the hooves of the horse were dashed against that board instead of hitting the people in the buggy.

I’m always looking for stories. Email billtsherk@sympatico.ca