Offered by Brightwells | Leominster, U.K. | October 21, 2023
Photo – Brightwells
The Lomax Motor Company was a kit car manufacturer out of the U.K. that produced this, the 224, which is actually based on the French Citroen 2CV. The first Lomaxes went on sale in 1982. Apparently you can still get one. This one is called a “1977” because that’s the year of the 2CV it is based around.
The 224 (two cylinders, two seats, four wheels) carries over the 602cc flat-twin from the Citroen, and it was rated at 35 horsepower. There were also 223 (three-wheeled) and 424 (four-cylinder) models.
This one has been parked for a decade and has remained with the family of the person who completed the build. It will sell at no reserve, and you can find out more about it here.
Offered by Historics Auctioneers | Ascot Racecourse, U.K. | May 27, 2023
Photo – Historics Auctioneers
The CX was Citroen’s replacement for the pretty-hard-to-top DS. It featured styling that was definitely evolutionary, and the thing remained on sale from 1975 through 1991. They built over 1.1 million units in that span.
Various engines were offered across a variety of trim levels. Most were four-door fastback sedans (some with a long-wheelbase chassis), while station wagons were also available. The 2400 GTi debuted in 1977 with power from a fuel-injected 2.4-liter inline-four that made about 125 horsepower. Don’t let the GTi name fool you. This was not a hot hatch.
But it did have hydro-pneumatic self-leveling suspension along with a very weird interior design (single-spoke steering wheel, no steering column stalks). This car has 36,000 miles as well as an estimate of $29,000-$35,000. Click here for more info.
Update: Sold, but Historics is being LAME and won’t tell anyone for how much.
Offered by Osenat | Fontainebleau, France | March 27, 2023
Photo – Osenat
There are some really cool cars in Osenat’s lineup for this auction. The one we were most excited about is terribly photographed, so we can’t feature it. Instead, we bring you this. The BX was Citroen’s large family car from 1982 through 1994.
They took the BX rallying in Group B, and to do so required homologating it for road use. So they developed the 4TC, which was a much more extreme version of the ho-hum BX sedan. Ultimately, the BX Group B car was not very good. Citroen sold less than 100 road versions.
Power is provided by a turbocharged 2.1-liter inline-four that made just under 200 horsepower. It’s for four-wheel drive, a five-speed manual gearbox from the Citroen SM, and a hydropneumatic suspension. Osenat notes that only 38 of these cars are known to exist. This one has an estimate of $75,000-$85,000. Click here for more info.
Offered by Aguttes | Sochaux, France | October 23, 2022
Photo – Aguttes
A rally raid is a long-distance off-road race that lasts for days on end. Think the Paris-Dakar Rally, for starters. It’s something Europeans like to compete in. The French seemingly especially so. Citroen actually won the Rally Raid constructor’s championship from 1993-1997 before withdrawing from the sport. They won the Paris-Dakar rally five times in the 1990s.
The ZX was a small car built by Citroen between 1991 and 1998 as either a four-door sedan, a wagon, or a hatchback. This Rallye Raid Evo 5 has pretty much nothing in common with that car aside from the name. It’s a purpose-built off-road race car. The first ZX Rallye Raid debuted in 1990. They were powered by a turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-four mounted behind the driver and good for 330 horsepower.
The Evo 5 was built for the 1995 season and featured suspension refinements over earlier cars and also was outfitted with four (!) spare tires. This example is one of five Evo 5 examples produced, but it actually started out as a 1993 Evo 2. It’s competition history includes:
1993 Rally Atlas – 4th (with Pierre Lartigue and Michel Perin), as Evo 2
1993 Rallye de Pharoans – 1st (with Lartigue and Perin), as Evo 2
1994 Paris-Dakar Rally – 2nd (with Hubert Auriol and Gilles Picard), as Evo 3
1994 Rally Atlas – 1st (with Lartigue and Perin), as Evo 3
This was actually the prototype for the Evo 5, so it never competed as such, although the four Evo 5s that followed won every race they entered.
This is a pretty cool opportunity to acquire a type of car that rarely changes hands – and directly from the manufacturer. It has a pre-sale estimate of $195,000-$292,000. Click here for more info.
Offered by Osenat | Fontainebleau, France | March 28, 2022
Photo – Osenat
The Bijou is a small French coupe built by Citroen in England for the British market. It’s actually a 2CV underneath, but the 2CV wasn’t selling well there, so they decided to give it a makeover.
But part of the problem is that it was still a 2CV. The 425cc flat-twin made 12 horsepower. It still had the wonky long-travel suspension. The body is plastic, which kept the weight down (way, or weigh, down). It was actually styled by the same guy who did the Lotus Elite. So you know, sporting cred. But it didn’t work.
Only 209 were built: all right-hand drive. Production also spanned from 1959 through 1964. So they were leaving the factory at quite a leisurely pace. Apparently about 40 are still road-registered in the U.K. This one should fetch between $10,000-$16,000. Click here for more info.
Offered by Aguttes | Aulnay-sous-Bois, France | September 19, 2021
Photo – Aguttes
The first generation Berlingo was produced by Citroen between 1996 and 2008. What we have here is no ordinary Berlingo, but instead it’s yet another bizarre creation from Sbarro Espera, Franco Sbarro’s design school.
It has three axles (plus a trailer) and six inward-facing bucket seats in what was previously the cargo area. The engine is an inline-four, but I have no idea what the displacement is or if its gas or diesel. Aguttes says to expect to do a mechanical overhaul, as the car has been in the reserve collection of Peugeot’s museum for quite some time.
Aguttes also compares it to the Mercedes-AMG G-Class 6×6, which is kind of funny. This is definitely rarer than one of those. And a lot cheaper too. The pre-sale estimate is $7,000-$12,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by Aguttes | Sochaux, France | September 20, 2020
Photo – Aguttes
At first, I thought that, after PSA’s acquisition of Opel, the company was shedding itself of part of its heritage collection. Brightwells is selling off part of Vauxhall’s heritage collection, and now we have this sale of Citroen and Peugeot prototypes and old cars, all from Peugeot’sMuseee de l’Aventure. That collection houses over 450 vehicles, with just 130 on display. So it appears that they are just thinning the herd.
We’ve actually featured one of Sbarro’s Berlingo-based creations before. This is another. Whatever is under the hood is not stated, but it’s almost certainly an inline-four of between 1.4 and 2.0 liters in displacement.
This prototype is described as a leisure vehicle for windsurfers. Which is a very specific demographic. The interior is bizarre, it has no roof, and it has no doors. Remember when companies made concept cars with no relevant production details? This car carries a pre-sale estimate of $16,500-$21,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
We shifting gears a little bit now. From here out, our monthly auction rundowns will only cover auctions from which we actually featured cars. Sorry all others, I don’t have the time. Life is busy. That also means it will be a straight-shot chronologically (well, based on when the results are published anyway). Previous rundowns used to be broken up a little bit, as we’d only feature one result from any particular auction house per highlight post. Not anymore!
We start this time around with Bonhams in Goodwood, where the top seller, by some margin, was the Williams F1 car we featured. It sold for $3,385,271, while the other F1 car – the Toyota roller – brought $86,416. Rounding it out was the Lister Storm for $583,311. Most Interesting goes to this 1956 Cooper T39 that sold for $151,228. Click here for more results.
Photo – Bonhams
Next up is Brightwells’ Leominster Classic & Vintage sale. This 1961 Jaguar XK150S coupe was the top sale at $134,401.
Historics held a sale at Brooklands in July, and this 1981 Porsche 911 Turbo took top sale honors, selling for $114,822.
Photo – Historics Auctioneers
All three of our feature cars sold, with the Jensen bringing the most: $84,016. The Bristol 411 sold for $49,708, and the Healey $22,404. Click here for complete results.
Aguttes’ all-Citroen sale saw the Coupe Concorde we featured fail to find a new home. The Citela concept car we featured a while back also failed to sell here. Top money went to this 1968 Citroen DS 21 Cabriolet for $238,579.
Photo – Aguttes
Two other previously-featured concept cars did manage to sell here. The Eco 2000 SA 109 went for $1,137 and the Tubyk $7,156 – both way down from what they brought not all that long ago at a different sale. More results are available here.
Finally, we have Silverstone Auctions. Fresh feature cars in this sale consisted of the Renault 5 Turbo 2, which sold for $100,258. The top sale was $1,030,431 for this 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL.
Photo – Silverstone Auctions
A previously-featured AC Aceca sold here for $167,096. Final results are available here and here.
Offered by Aguttes | La Ferte-Vidame, France | July 21, 2019
Photo – Aguttes
The DS is one of a few extremely iconic models produced by Citroen since their founding in 1919. It was produced for 20 years – from 1955 through 1975. Many different models were available, including four-door sedans, Safari wagons, and a much rarer two-door convertible.
What the factory never produced was a two-door coupe. Henri Chapron was a French coachbuilder who was also responsible (and built for Citroen) the “factory” convertible variant of the DS. He also experimented with a few two-doors with fixed roofs for special customers and offered a couple of different variations. This is the “Concorde” coupe – one of just six built.
Based on the DS19, it is powered by an 83 horsepower, 1.9-liter inline-four. When new, this car cost almost three times the base price for a four-door DS19, which probably helps explain why only six were built. It should bring between $115,000-$170,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
1939 Citroen Traction Avant 11BL Cabriolet by Clabot
Offered by Artcurial | Paris, France | February 8, 2019
Photo – Artcurial
The Traction Avant was one of a few cars produced worldwide that saw a pre-war introduction and continued post-war success. Part of that probably had to do with the financial state of France after WWII and the associated engineering costs for developing a new vehicle. It’s kind of crazy that a car designed for 1934 was still being sold in a Western country in 1957.
There were a number of variants and also a number of coachbuilt models. The 11CV model went on sale in 1934 and can be further divided into two sub-models. This is an example of the 11BL, which meant that it is powered by the 11CV 1.9-liter inline-four but rides on the 7CV chassis.
This car is one of three Cabriolets bodied by Robert Clabot, and if the design looks vaugely Saoutchik-like, that’s because Clabot was once employed by Jacques Saoutchik. This flamboyant example of a common French car should bring between $285,000-$400,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
