Citroën specialist Chevronics toasted its 25th anniversary with an open day at its Hitchin premises on 18 March. CCC stalwart Chris Salter brought the GSA X1 that he bought off the first owner in ’97 but took off the road because of a problem in 2000. “And it stayed in the garage for 12 years,” he said, “but it was back on the road for the International Citroën Car Clubs Rally in Harrogate in 2012.” Furthest travelled was Mario Looijer, who had driven his lovely ’72 D Spécial over from near Utrecht in The Netherlands. “It’s not quite as it seems, though,” as he pointed out. “It has a DS23 engine and a five-speed gearbox so it goes well.”
It wasn’t all Citroëns, though. Incorrigible car restorer John Bradshaw brought the Simca 1100 GLS that Salter had spotted in an eBay auction four years ago. “We both noticed it,” Bradshaw explained, “and thought ‘that needs buying’. It came with two – rotten – wings that had been under a load of stuff and were crushed.” Steve Cole’s wonderfully original ’71 Renault 10 was “something of a barnfind” about 21/2 years ago: “It’s a late-model 1300 that had just 14,000 miles on the clock.”