Citroen Reviews

I've owned and restored 9 DS models and have been around a hundred or so more. As much as I know about the models, this book has doubled my knowledge with one purchase. If you are a serious Citroeniste, you absolutely must have this book on your shelf.

The book includes good photos, many details and is inspirational to look through. Every single development of the car through it's lifetime appears to be covered. A must for the DS/ID owner setting out to restore a specimen of these highly individual and sophisticated vehicles. Written in a language understandable even for a non-technical mind as Yours truly.

You need look no further for an outstanding guide to the history, mechanics, and pedigree of what must surely be the most original car ever engineered - the Citroen DS. I would recommend this guide without hesitation to anyone either interested in the car in the abstract, or actually intending to undertake a restoration. The illustrations are thoughtful, helpful, and (in the case of exterior shots) almost romantically posed; the language is clear throughout; Reynolds does an impeccable job of making the book useful to the non-gearhead enthusiast. My only complaint is that the book is such drool-inducing & lethally glossy DS porn that I fear it will make the experience of non-ownership all but unbearable for fans, and so further increase the competition for those few magnificent cars still available.

For those with even a passing interest in Citroen cars or the company's founder this book will prove educational and fascinating. The Citroen car, though scarce in the US, is always reverred by automotive journalists, when they are forced to write about the cars. For instance, Autoweek Magazine's inclusion of Citroens in their greatest cars of the century issue. Okay the book, it is well written unlike so many auto books; entertaining, full of interesting info about Andre Citroen's unlikely role as auto entrepreneur, and Paris and France. Mostly, you will be very impressed by the relatively unknown (in USA) Citroen company's major contributions to automotive engineering and efforts in World War II. If you consider yourself knowledgable of cars, include this book and you never refer to a Citroen as an ugly car again. I read this book at the library and probably will buy my own copy.

engenering car citroen G

pi

This is my choice over the similar book by John Reynolds, owing to its better writing. The other book definitely has better pictures, and probably more details like fabric swatches for the various years, but this one delves deeper into the story behind the car, telling tales of the people responsible. And uncovers some interesting facts from deep within the Citroen archives and interviews with the principals. It also benefits from the long professional automotive journalist career of its author, as the writing is very polished.

Americans won't find much on our tiny market, but may enjoy deciphering the British colloquialisms scattered throughout. Like "If Hotchkiss had not bottled out, the ...could have not only anticipated the DS but beaten it hollow."

Sammy is nearly 13 and travels downtown to Grand Street with his Uncle Sol and Aunt Rivka to buy a suit for his coming Bar Mitzvah celebration. There he finds in Mr. Levy's shop a pin-striped suit he loves.

Sammy can't wait to get back home, where his friends are playing baseball, but Uncle Sol delays the return.

They stop to visit the sofer, or scribe, who is painstakingly copying Hebrew on tiny parchment scrolls that will go into Sammy's tefillin, prayer phylacteries. Inside the little wooden boxes he will bind to his head and arm will be scrolls containing portions of Jewish sacred texts that Sammy would wear to pray.

Sammy can't believe how small and perfect the Hebrew lettering is, or the quill pen, taken from a kosher bird, the sofer used to write. The scribe counts the words in the Torah, to pass to each new generation, Uncle Sol explains.

When Sammy wears his tefillin on his Bar Mitzvah, it suddenly all makes sense. They bind him together in prayer with all the generations that came before, making him feel that his Torah study will count, too.

This book gives a fun introduction to ideas surrouning Jewish coming of age.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

The 2CV is chronicled and detailed from its design brief to the last model to roll off the assembly line in 1990. The title of this book implies that the history of the 2CV is an ongoing saga and of course it is, in fact we will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 2CV next year. The conception and birth of the 2CV was not an easy delivery. The gestation period was delayed by the advent of World War II, and the Citroen designers used this period to perfect a design that was being rushed for the 1939 Paris Auto Salon. Citroen 2CV documents the design considerations that were part of the 2CVs development and led to the birth of a 2CV, in 1948, that was quite a bit different from the 2CV that would have appeared at the 1939 Salon. The further evolution of the 2CV is detailed with model changes and special versions explained. The 2CVs family relations; the Sahara, The Mehari, and the Vans are presented along with the AMI-6 & AMI-8 and the Dyane. The Parentage of the 2CV is explored with an excellent chapter on Pierre-Jules Boulanger, André Lefebvre, Flamino Bertoni, and Walter Becchia. If you do not now recognize this names, you most certainly will from now on. The 2CV in the UK is well presented with great photos of the 2CV pick-up that was used by the Royal Marines and the most unlikely 2CV of all, the Bijou, a British attempt at an up-market 2CV. We next get a quick look at the 2CVs adventures, 2 CV advertising and to put the 2CV in context, its contemporary competitors Fiat, Simca, Renault and VW. The book concludes with a look at the last days of the 2CV production line. Citroen 2CV will be enjoyed by all. Review from Citroen Quarterly Vol 15#4, Oct 1997

Overall, I found the *Original Citroen DS : Restorer's Guide to All DS and ID Models 1955-75* more congenial to my tastes and focus, but I'd buy this one too. The overlap between the two is considerable, but they are complementary and both of high utility to those who love, as I do, the Deesse.