We know that we sometimes march to the beat of a different drummer around here, and that we dig vans. So it should be no surprise that we dig this Citroen HY Van and want it badly. Sure it makes about 50 horsepower and is wrong wheel drive. And we know that chicks will NOT want to ride in it. We don’t give a damn! When our friend Scott Payton from Route2Media sent us this thing we were immediately thinking this could be the coolest camera car ever! Damn Scott. Now we have yet another vehicle that we ultimately want. How long is the list now? Oh about a kajillion.
It turns out that our cool little Citroen HY Van is a pretty collectable deal. They were built from 1947 to 1981 so their should be tons of them around, but they were mostly work trucks so a lot of them got thrashed. Now they are used for everything from deliveries, to camper vans, to farm trucks, but the big thing is their following in Europe. Guys love these things and with good reason.
Because they are wrong wheel drive, the wheelbase can be just about any length without huge manufacturing costs, and it keeps the rear floor flat. So you do see them in different lengths and different body configurations. We dig this little short one because it opens up everywhere and has a generator etc. It was brought into the US in the ’70s, converted to propane, and has been here ever since. A recent restoration to the tune of $30,000 plus was performed on this thing, and it’s being sold by the third owner. This could be the official BangShift.com LIVE Broadcast machine!!!
Anyway, we know we are retarded, and we apologize, but something about this little bastard just spoke to us. We just dig the utilitarian factor, and the fact that a 4 year old could have designed the looks.
The worst part about this whole thing is that right this second it is parked approximately 15 miles from where I sit. Yep, easy drive over to look at it. Have no money. Would still love to drive it to say I did. Want it bad. Oh I’m rambling. Daphne will never let me leave the house. Oooohhh It’s a write off if we put BangShift down the side right? Hmmmmmmm To see the full Ebay Listing, click here.
Editor’s Note: Scott just told us he read about this thing on Bring A Trailer this morning so we want to give credit where credit is due.
Damn why does this happen to me. The video at the bottom of the blog item isn’t helping either. It’s funny in a few spots, but the best starts at 2:15 in the video. You can so imagine that it would be me and Brian making that mistake.
50 horsepower?
That kinda keeps it off highways and Interstates, doesn’t it?
i like how its spedo goes up to 110 mph. 50hp must mean something diffrent over there.
I’m assuming the speedo is metric. 110 KPH = 68 MPH. And the red “danger” area starting at 100 KPH translates to about 60 MPH.
Now i think about it you have to be right forgott the used KPH over there thanks for the correct
I love vans and I love the odd, but, it’s to strange and way to much money. Considering what one could get from the big three dating back to the 50’s, with if not some real HP, then at least some amount of reliability and repair-ability.
And hell, if you want something that looks home made, build it!
realistically the HY van is a highway nightmare – the noise, the heat, fumes and complete lack of insulation – it is the least luxurious car in the world – but i love driving around in my old friend, Francoise.