Sam Glover
Sam takes on a familiar 1982 Citroën GSA Special
Sam buys a familiar Citroën GSA to add to his collection.
Irecently found myself Citroënless for the first time in 15 years. I bought a derelict 1984 CX at the age of 19, then bought a less-derelict 1976 CX at the age of 21 and used it to whoosh between Cirencester and Sunderland, where I was labouring through a design degree for reasons that now escape me. I’ve since had another CX, a Dyane and an Ami 6, with some overlap. Last year, though, I sold my Ami. It’d been waiting for a transaxle rebuild for so long that I concluded it was never going to happen. It wasn’t that fine a specimen, really, having had its personality erased by an unnecessary restoration. Being an unloved Break (estate) rather than a coveted Berline (saloon), I figured that I could always buy a superior one for not-that-much money if ever I felt the need.
This left a Citroën-shaped hole, albeit one loosely filled by an Oltcit, which is a Citroën in design, but not in execution. Filling this hole was an exciting question of ‘what’ rather an ‘if’. All Citroëns designed before Peugeot’s watering-down campaign in the Eighties – and some after it – are attractive propositions. I’d be powerless to resist if a reasonably-priced and unadulterated DS or ID fell into my lap. Another CX would be a wonderful thing to zoom around in. The 2CV and its subspecies are works of genius and provide motoring pleasure that belie their modest specification. An M35, Birotor and Bijou are in my ‘holy grail’ category.
The two cars on my realistic shortlist, however, are/were a Traction Avant and a GSA. The former is a wonderful car in every respect that provides more Citroën-per-pound than a DS. The latter is, to my eye, the ultimate showcase of Citroën’s postwar brilliance, bringing together hydropneumatic suspension, an air-cooled boxer engine and Robert Opron styling. It’s a strong contender, in fact, for the title of ‘best car made by anyone ever’. The GSA brings a proportionally-beneficial hatchback facelift and an Eighties sci-fi dashboard to the party.
Allure of azure… and brown
I satisfied my urges with occasional bouts of window-shopping on leboncoin.fr and various other dirty websites. Then, I happened to be peering over the shoulder of Practical Classics Citroën attaché James Walshe as he received an email from Classic & Sports Car features editor Greg Macleman.
Greg asked James if he knew of anyone that might wish to buy David Evans’s GSA Special. I advised James to tell Greg that he did.
Long-serving Classic & Sports Car sub-editor David Evans sadly passed away in 2018. David was a gentleman of the highest order and he played a role in encouraging me to start messing around with funny old cars and writing about it. I remember sharing his excitement when he bought the GSA in 2007 and I enjoyed his updates over the years, both in the magazine and, on occasion, in real life.
The GSA therefore came with much positive emotional baggage. It was also exactly the colour combination I’d have chosen new: Bleu Lagune with a brown interior. Nevertheless, I went to have a look at it with a view to talking myself out of buying it.
David had kept the GSA in constant use for more than 100,000 miles and, when I’d last set eyes on it, it’d been fraying badly at the edges. Ever-increasing quantities of gaffer tape, I remembered, had been applied for each MOT. I braced myself for a gruesome spectacle as Greg hauled open to door to his lockup, where the car had been festering in probate. Unbeknown to me, however, David had commissioned respected Citroën specialist The Chevronic Centre to carry out a welding crusade and a respray in 2016. It was 1000-times better than anticipated. Buying it was, thus, unavoidable.
Picking up the baton
The GSA started readily, reared up on its magical spheres and wafted onto my trailer. Back home, I found it to be in an uncommonly good state of service – a tribute to David’s attentiveness and Chevronics’s workmanship. A thick pile of invoices attested a wealth of intelligent maintenance, including a recent cambelt, spheres, a brake rebuild, a clutch kit and crankshaft oil seals.
Poking a screwdriver through a rusty rear trailing arm was the only bad news of significance. I’ll follow David’s example and take prompt action.