Man o’ Man – where to even begin on this one!
Dennis and his wife, Kathy rolled in to the February Eurosunday at Sharif’s, in their astonishing 1969 Citroen ID21F “Break” (pronounced Brekk) wagon. Dennis bought the car four years ago and restored it all himself, except for the paint, from the frame up, going through every nut and bolt. The paint was done by Proctor, in Newcastle. The upholstery is original, which is AMAZING. I know because he insisted that if I “was going to do his story, I would have to completely experience the car.” Without a word of a lie, I have never sat on anything, furniture, car seats, pillows, etc., as comfortable as that driver’s seat. It was like sitting on a cloud. The seats have coil springs. As previously mentioned, the seats and upholstery are original; meaning the seats have never even been built up. There is 2 inches of foam padding under the carpeting throughout the car (except for the back jump seat area) for comfort, as well as for noise reduction. Keep in mind, this is a 1969!
The car works entirely on hydraulics. The brake is the round button on the floor (not a pedal). It boasts a 4 cylinder, 2 litre hemi original motor, 5-speed transmission (on the column). It has front disc brakes, however the discs are not on the wheels, but on the tranny. The Citroen sedan version has the same low drag as a Porsche 914.
The steering wheel is built with just the one arm so that the instrument panel is completely visible-without any obstruction. Each side of the base of the arm will bend in the event of a front end collision, and the natural position of the arm is to the left so that, again, in the case of any front end collision the driver’s chest would be protected from any impact. Instead, if anything, the impact would be to the driver’s left side.
The wagon has two rear jump seats that fold nicely away into the floor for allowing room for any hauling of materials; and by the way, the car will handle up to 3/4 ton of weight. Because of the hydraulics, the vehicle automatically adjusts to variances of weight. You could actually drive with safely and effectively on 3 good tires if you had to. Basically, the car can be turned into an off-road vehicle. The rear license plate housing also folds up to allow for visibility of the plate should one need to extent the tailgate down while hauling longer loads in the back. As evidenced by the photos, visibility in this wagon is like driving in a fishbowl.
I have been pretty happy with what I have as far as vehicles go – I have my dream car, and nothing else has really impressed me, but I have to say that talking to Dennis and sitting in his wagon, this was the first time I have seen a car and thought and declared, “I want one.” What a treat to see this car. I’m so glad I didn’t miss it last Sunday. Carol
