Menu
Aug
25
Citroën CX 22 TRS
2019.08 | Photoshop Chop | Tuning
Growing up at the French border gave me the opportunity to enjoy the weird and quirky French cars. At a very young age, I was fascinated by the sheer elegance of the big Citroën cars parked in the lowest position of the hydropneumatic suspension. Seeing them sink into or rise from their “sleep” position always was the icing on the cake and put a smile on my face. These days now, air suspension setups are the norm, but for me it will always be a reminder of days long gone, when the French engineers’ ingeniuity and driving comfort was more important than the bean counters interference in vehicle development. This photoshop depicts a dream of my younger self: being able to actually drive the Citroën CX in the low position and fit larger multipiece wheels. Ça c’est une voiture très belle.
Sep
15
“Eat. Sleep. Surf.”
Great idea, but before embarking on an adventure and just doing what the sticker says, you have to build a go-anywhere vehicle that will take you even to the most remote of beaches. Let’s suppose your funds are limited and you have to make do with whatever base vehicle you find in your area. If it happens to be a FIAT Ducato Mk1 or Peugeot J5 with Dangel 4×4, you’re a lucky chap. Provided the rust has not eliminated most of the metal, it is a fairly good base to start with. Build a lift-kit, add overfenders, source some nice wheels and appropriate BF Goodrich rubber, build a camper interior that suits your needs, load up the surfboard and drive to the beach. Should you have forgotten to stop at the supermarket, it’s just surfing and sleeping for you and you’ll have to ask fellow campers for something to eat. 😉
P.S.: The trim-line stickers are losely based on the original stickers of the Ducato 4×4.
Sep
12
Hot Rod Magazine Drag Week is an event where street/strip cars are driven 1.000+ miles on public roads during a trip that includes four dragstrips and five races in five days. The coverage of the various drag week cars I have seen over the last years inspired me to create a dragster that would be a lot of fun to take there, race it and enjoy the road trip. It is based on a Citroën DS 21 Pallas, which has been converted to a tube chassis and equipped with a V8 engine and a solid rear axle. There is no exact specification yet, so you can dream about whichever engine and transmission combo you’d love to drop into this chassis. I kept the look of the Citroen DS classic, with period-correct wheels, rollcage design and graphics. The scallops are just simple lines without fill color, to keep the somewhat subdued appearance and match the factory tinted windows. The fenders are obviously radiused, as the builders would have done back in the 1970’s.
Because the participants are only allowed to use the tools they carry with them on the road trip, most people utilize a trailer to have more room for spares, generators and power tools. Some even carry welders. Instead of renting a U-Haul, I created a matching trailer. Gotta keep the style consistent, right? All the sponsor Stickers go on the trailer, to keep the car looking as clean and uncluttered as possible. Please feel free to give feedback, I appreciate all comments.
Jan
21
Let’s start the new year with modifying a design icon, shall we? As far as I know, nobody ever built a two-door wagon version of the Citroën DS. This is very unfortunate, because a shooting break of La Déesse would be more than awesome. Ever since seeing these fantastic automobiles in France as a young boy, I thought the roof line of the DS Break doesn’t really flow with the overall shape and lines of the car. Please, somebody with the funds and skills on hand, build this! Rest assured – it would certainly win a few prizes at a concours d’elegance in the future or fetch a high price at an auction.
Nov
25
Let’s suppose you are a Citroën enthusiast who, at some point in his life, wondered why the French automaker never bothered to produce a two-door Coupé version of the BX series. Well, dare I say it wouldn’t have looked ugly at all! The straight lines of the body actually are very inviting to try different styles, in my humble opinion. A shortened wheelbase, deleting the rear doors, adding a period correct set of alloy wheels and changing a few little things here and there make for a nice concept of what the Citroën BX Coupé could have looked like. Et voilà, mesdames et messieurs, c’est fini!
Mar
30
Citroën has built many cars that have been well ahead of the game. However, they never built a CX Shooting Break with gullwing doors. But hey, they could have – and nobody would have been surprised at all. 😉
Oct
02
It seems like I can’t stay away from modifying Citroën Ami pictures. Every now and then somebody sends me a picture of an Ami, asking if I could do “my magic” with it. So here it goes, the 7th iteration of the same idea. Oh, and there is even a beautiful French model on the hood of the (weird as always) vehicle. 🙂
Aug
24
The design of the Citroën BX is actually based on the Volvo Tundra Concept by Bertone. Volvo rejected the design and Bertone recycled it when developing the BX for Citroën. The BX is an interesting car, but a little bland. The image of a base level BX driving on a typical French alley inspired me to give the car a much cleaner and more futuristic look. Would’ve been cool if they had actually built it like that, wouldn’t it?
Aug
22
Oui messieurs! Yet another one of those magic (and rather weird) vehicles from Citroën. Nobody ever figured out what the French engineers might have been smoking back then. 😉
Jul
28
There are so many pictures of the Citroën Ami 6 and Ami 8 that inspire me. It’s basically the same idea every time, but the effect is still stunning. So, here comes another iteration of the theme I call “C’est magique”: the Ami 6 Break towing a period-correct caravan.
May
27
Bien sûr! La Citroën Ami Super 6 – C’est magique!
Yet another one of the weird French cars without rear wheels. Click here to see all of them and wonder what the hell the Citroën engineers have been smoking back then in the swinging sixties. 😉
Feb
27
The Citroën advertisements of the 1970’s have been equally weird as the cars they developed back then. Check it out and enjoy the vivid retro colors. Oh, wait a second. Isn’t there something missing?
Feb
20
Et vous croyez vraiment que ça marche? C‘est incroyable!
Citroën Ami. C’est magique!
Citroën is a company that has always been famous for building genius but sometimes rather weird vehicles. Well, how about a Citroën Ami 6 that doesn’t need rear wheels at all? The French engineers might have come up with something like that in the sixties. And no, I really don’t have an idea what they might have been smoking. 😉
Nov
12
Citroën is a company that has always been famous for building genius but sometimes rather weird vehicles. Well, how about a Citroën Ami 6 that doesn’t need rear wheels at all? The French engineers might have come up with something like that in the sixties. And no, I really don’t have an idea what they might have been smoking. 😉
Nov
09
Would a V8 engine fit into a Citroën HY van? Probably not in real life, but in my phantasy. It would be fun to drive, though. With rear wheel drive, of course. I kept the corrugated metal looks outside as original as possible. Just had to alter the rear fender a little bit to accommodate the more substantial rubber. How about drifting the shed?
Aug
24
Ever since attending the Citroën 2CV meeting in Lit-et-Mixe (France) in May 2009 and seeing all the fantastic conversions, I created a unique 2CV myself. Voilá… after only two years playing with it in Photoshop: I’m proud to present my V8 powered 2CV – classic Hot Rod style. In order to break up the dull grey paintjob, I added wood panels and a bit of rust. Would I drive this thing in real life? You bet!
May
21
What if? Citroën could have built this more muscular version of the SM coupé. With a Maserati engine already aboard, even rear wheel drive could have been an option -but they never even considered it. Therefore you just look at this picture and add everything else with your imagination.
Mar
21
Sometimes a Leader ends up as a Beater. 😉
A friend challenged me to chop a picture of a Citroën Visa Leader within an hour. Well, there’s not really much one can do to improve this little car. Lowering, a mild top chop, a set of wheels and voilá, c’est fini. Well, almost. I will eventually finish it properly…