Gallery: look at these cool old Citroens

Citroen stopped selling cars in the good ol’ US of A more than 40 years go, but there’s still a lot of love for them over there. Take the Mullin Automotive Museum’s (relatively) new exhibition. They say it’s the biggest Citroen exhibition ever held in the US (the Mullin is in Oxnard, California), with 46 cars on display. Some of them are exceptionally rare, and many are quite excellent. Click through the gallery for a few of our favourites.

The first Citroen, and the first mass-produced European car. Production totaled 24,000 between 1919 and 1921, with around 100 built each day. The engine’s a 1.3-litre inline four, and the gearbox a three-speed manual. The top speed? A heady 40mph. This one still wears its original plates, and only took 30mins to get running when it was pulled out of a barn in 2010, not having run since 1966.

The Traction Avant was a big deal, mostly because it was the first proper, mass-produced front-wheel drive car, and because it had a monocoque-type chassis rather than a body-on-frame. This was a big deal, in the Thirties. But this is no ordinary Traction Avant. It’s an 11B Coupe, one of four built in 1938 and 15 in total. Very smart.

No ordinary 2CV. The Sahara had twin 425cc engines, one for each axle giving four-wheel drive. 649 were made and only 25 are known to still exist.

Yep, a DS Estate. Brits will know it as the Safari. Not the most popular of DS variants, but one of our faves. Had two number plates on the back, so there’d still be one visible if you were driving along with something big sticking out the open boot.

An experimental prototype with a single-rotor wankel engine and hydropneumatic suspension. 267 were built, and given to customers to test. When Citroen pulled the plug, it gave drivers the option to keep their cars or return them. Returned cars were destroyed. Fewer than 50 are thought to exist today.

A big GT, with a Maserati V6 and trademark squishy Citroen suspension. Front track was wider than the rear, interestingly. Also the last car Citroen ever sold in the US.

A super-luxe version of the DS. First with the self-leveling headlight, which would later be made available on the normal DS. Even had a more elaborate bonnet release catch than the standard car, such was the LUXURY.

Replacement for the DS, and the last car created before Citroen merged with Peugeot and formed PSA. Not the icon the DS was, but clever nonetheless.

After years of tedium, a return to madness. Fancy suspension and a concave rear window made it interesting. Pity few bought them. Can’t be many in the US…