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March 5-7, Warkworth | Citroen National Rally
Marque of pride
Warkworth will be graced with the presence of up to 100 vehicles sporting the iconic double chevron badge early next month, as the Auckland Citroën Club hosts a national rally of enthusiasts of the endearing French voiture.
At the request of the Citroën Car Club of NZ (CCCNZ), the Auckland club will gather around 140 guests from March 5-7 for a programme of social and car-centred events, including a ‘pride of ownership’ display at Point Wells Reserve on Wednesday from 10am to 12pm – open to the public – and the CCCNZ’s annual meeting, at the Vintage Car Club clubrooms on Satellite Station Road the following day.
Also on the Thursday, a prizegiving will be held at the Bridgehouse Restaurant. On the Wednesday and Thursday nights, Citroëns of all models and ages will be parked at the Warkworth Wharf where locals are encouraged to visit and admire them, under the watchful eye of the Warkworth Lions.
Attendees at the “Réunir à Mahurangi” are expected from all six Citroën clubs across New Zealand – Auckland, Taranaki, Waikato, Hawke’s Bay, Wellington and Canterbury.
The organisers deliberately planned a midweek rally to avoid weekend traffic. The timeslot also falls shortly after the Auckland Brit and Euro Classic Car Show in Pakuranga on Sunday, March 3, allowing visiting participants to attend both.
As an added bonus, immediately after the rally, an optional “Further North Tour” will begin in Matakana on Friday, a six-day, five-night jaunt to Whangārei, Russell, Karikari peninsula and back down along the Kauri Coast.
Warkworth, with its heritage buildings and scenic wharf, is an ideal setting for the historical cars. Citroën enthusiast Pete Sinton, one of the organisers, voiced confidence that people in Warkworth and the surrounding area would take the opportunity to see the models parked near the river.
“It’s a great opportunity for Warkworth – come out in the evening, take a stroll and view these amazing, quirky cars,” he said.
Pete also expressed the hope that a successful rally would pave the way for other car clubs to follow suit, making Warkworth a destination of choice for future events celebrating notable marques.
FREE VIEWING
Come and see the cars on the Warkworth Wharf, on Wednesday and Thursday (March 6 & 7) from 5.30pm onwards
Proud survivor
Of the five Citroëns they own, Pete Sinton and Jenny Price of Sandspit are particularly proud of their 1940 Light 15. BJ 7390 was built in the early stages of World War II, coming off the assembly line in Slough, England shortly before the factory converted to war production. The chassis number indicates that it was probably the last run of this particular model.
Pete says the war in the Atlantic was raging, so it was fortunate that the ship transporting it managed to evade German U-boats and Japanese submarines and reached New Zealand at all.
The first registered owner of the new car – then painted burgundy inside and out – was Annie Hook of Shortland Street, who owned it from 1941 to 1966, during which time it covered 78,000 kms.
Among its subsequent owners was Jim Crook of Hawkes Bay, who began restoring the car, and repainted it black. Due to ill-health he couldn’t finish the restoration, but with the help of the Citroën Club of Auckland, Dave Jones of Clarks Beach and Phil Cotter of Pūhoi, the work was completed.
“The car was driveable when it was transported to Auckland, but only just,” Pete says.
Over the next 15 months, work was done on the gearbox, brakes, wheel bearings, universal joints, radiator, petrol tank and gear linkage. New Michelin tyres and repainted rims completed the transformation.
Pete’s first long trip in the car was to the Hundertwasser Arts Centre in Whangārei. “The car handled it easily at 90-100 km/h. The quirky Citroën gear change through the dash is tricky and slow. I am still getting used to it, but for an 83-year-old car, it is a great cruiser.
“It’s a rare and special car – a real survivor,” Pete says. “The elegant French design still turns heads today.”
Classic car’s colourful history
The much-loved Citroën has always been a bit quirky, as its colourful history attests.
Within two years of the launch of the first model in the immediate aftermath of World War I, the four-cylinder Type A began to appear on the streets of Paris as a popular option for taxi drivers. In its second year of production, 20,000 Type As were built.
The Type C2 arrived in 1922 – a two-seater Torpedo with top speed of 60 km/h, available in a choice of one colour, lemon yellow. There’s talk that two students travelled 17,000 kms around Australia over a period of five months in one, reporting not a single engine problem.
The Type C3 in 1923 featured a longer wheelbase, allowing for a third occupant – a passenger seated in the rear middle who had to put his or her feet between the two front seats. It was named the Trèfle (“clover leaf”), although due to the shape of its rear, it also rejoiced in the name Cul de Poule, which means hen’s bottom.
Some progressive crash test advertising featured at the Paris Auto Show in 1934, this time courtesy of the groundbreaking front-wheel drive Traction Avant, an early adopter of rack and pinion steering.
Citroën screened a publicity film showing a Traction Avant being pushed over the edge of an eight-metre high cliff, landing on its nose, bouncing, and then settling on its wheels. Two men examined the doors – all opened and closed without problem – before jumping in and driving it away.
During World War II, auto production largely stopped. But Citroëns did not disappear, with both Nazi occupiers and their foes in the French resistance putting them to use during the war years.
Following the war, Citroën unveiled the beloved 2CV, or Deux Chevaux (“two horses”, signifying two taxable horsepower). It quickly became a bestselling “people’s car” – the French equivalent of the German Volkswagen, but without the early Nazi taint.
The 2CV featured in the 1975 film The Return Of The Pink Panther, in which Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau drives a van model which crashes into a swimming pool when its brakes fail.
Six years later, the 2CV had a more promising movie outing, in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.
Roger Moore borrows a ride in a bright yellow model from Bond girl Carole Bouquet after his Lotus Esprit blows itself up. In the ensuing car chase – by gun-toting villains driving Peugeots – the 2CV rolls more than once but survives, outsmarts the bad guys, and emerges, crumpled but victorious. In a franchise renowned for spectacular, high-end autos, the 2CV remains the unlikeliest 007 car ever.
Around nine million 2CVs and derivative models were produced between 1948 and 1990, when the last one rolled off the assembly line.
Citroën bettered even the 2CV – in the eyes of some enthusiasts, at least – with the unveiling in 1955 of the DS, distinctively-shaped and famous for its hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension system. With a French pronunciation that approximates déesse, which means “goddess”, the DS was the first production car to sport modern disc brakes.
After Charles de Gaulle became president in 1959, he chose the DS as his state car. In one of numerous failed assassination attempts, le Général and his wife were ambushed in 1962 by machinegun-toting assailants, who opened fire on his chauffeur-driven DS. Some commentators attributed their survival to the DS’ unique suspension system, which enabled it to adapt to changing surface conditions and remain level.
In 1999, the DS was placed third in the Car of the Century awards, which honoured the most influential cars of the 20th century, from an initial list of 700 candidates. (The first two places went to the Model T Ford and the Mini.)
Alongside de Gaulle, other famous and infamous personalities who favoured the DS and later Citroën models (such as the SM and CX Prestige) included English author Graham Greene, Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts and musician Carlos Santana. For some reason, they also appealed to a clutch of dictators, among them Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, East Germany’s Erich Honecker and Ugandan despot Idi Amin.
