Tag Archives: Opron

Five Speed Hatchback – Citroen GSA Spécial

It took Citroën 14 years to fill the gap between their bargain basement 2CV/Dyane/Ami range and their up market DS range.

Citroen GSA Special , Castle Combe,

During this time Citroën engineers had explored options, including a bubble car and rotary powered vehicles before opting for a range of small flat four cylinder air cooled engines from 1015 cc / 62 cui 54 hp to 1299 / 79 cui 66hp that were to power the front wheels of four door fastback, 5 door estate / wagon, 3 door service van bodies styled by Robert Opron with independent hydropneumatic suspension.

Citroen GSA Special , Castle Combe,

The advanced design of the GS appealed to the same journalists who had voted it’s immediate competitor, the Renault 16, European Car Of The Year in 1966 and the 94 mph GS was given the same award after it’s launch in 1970.

Citroen GSA Special , Castle Combe,

In 1974 Citroën declared bankrupcy in part due to the late introduction of the GS and the development cost of the DS replacement the CX, but the company survived after Michelin handed control over to Peugeot.

Citroen GSA Special , Castle Combe,

The GS was face lifted to GSA specifications, with 5 door hatchback and 5 speed transmission options, in 1979 with the top speed now being quoted as 102 mph.

Of the 576,757 GSA models built between 1979 and 1986 5,500 were reported to have been exported to East Germany, where Communist Party Leader Erich Honecker was a fan of the marque.

Today’s featured GSA Spécial, seen at Castle Combe last year was first registered in the UK on the 30th of April 1982.

Thanks for joining me on this Five Speed Hatchback edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psychoontyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I will be visiting Brands Hatch. Don’t forget to come back now.

Almost Factory Catalogued Convertible – Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d’Usine

From 1961 Citroën commissioned Henri Chapron to build the DS19 Usine (factory) Convertible’s to order for distribution through the Citroën dealer network.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

The Usine unlike the earlier Chapron devised La Croisette Decapotable was based on Flaminio Bertoni’s drawings for a DS Cabriolet.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

As might be expected from the most expensive model in the DS range the Cabriolet d’Usine was kept up to date with all the latest DS face lifts which in 1968 included a reworked nose by Robert Opron who would go on to style on the Citorën SM and CX models.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

The DS third face lift by Opron included a pair of headlights in the front wing/fender cluster that swiveled up to 80° with the steering to improve the drivers vision when cornering.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

The swiveling headlight feature was pioneered on the 1935 Tatra T77a and copied by the 1948 MY Tucker 48, which never went into full scale production, both of which had a third central headlight that swiveled with the steering.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

This car is officially registered as having been built in 1969 when just 47 DS21 variants, with the original DS type hydraulically operated transmission and DS21 M with conventional manual clutch operated transmission were built.

Citroën DS20 Cabriolet d'Usine, Classic Motor Show, NEC, Birmingham

With a motor officially registered as 1985cc / 121 cui this model would be a DS20 Cabriolet d’Usine meaning either a clerical error as by 1969 only DS21 Cabriolet d’Usine’s with 2,175cc / 132 cui motors were built or this vehicle is no longer powered by it’s original motor, there never having been a factory catalogued DS20 Cabriolet d’Usine so far as I know.

Thanks for joining me on this “Almost Factory Catalogued Convertible” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be visiting the revival of the Chateau Impney Hill Climb. Don’t forget to come back now !

” Il Mostro ” ahead of it’s time ? – Alfa Romeo SZ & RZ

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The Alfa Romeo SZ designed, in just 19 months, by Robert Opron, responsible for the equally alien Citroen SM, and Antonio Castellana with a little input from Zagato amongst others was dubbed The Monster when it was launched in 1990, one either loves or hates its ‘back street speed shop’ styling.

The Sprint Zagato was powered by a 210 hp 2,959 cc / 180 cui alloy V6, good for a 150 mph and matched to a superb chassis thanks to the work of Giorgio Pianta who fine tuned the Alfa Romeo 75 chassis inherited from the Group A / IMSA racing programme.

Unfortunately the SZ was launched in the middle of a world recession making it very difficult to sell the 998 Rosso Alfa coloured vehicles. It is believed that there were an additional 38 prototypes and pre production models, many of which are thought to have been scrapped.

Sales of the SZ were boosted by a ‘one model’ SZ Trophy racing series for which participants were offered a 25% discount on the purchase price of an SZ.

Despite the difficulty selling the SZ when production ceased in 1991 the roadster RZ version of the composite plastic bodied SZ was put into production and went on sale in 1992.

Like the SZ the RZ has a hydraulic lifting mechanism activated by a button which allows the ride height to be raised by 50 mm / 2 inches in order to negotiate bumps in the road surface.

The RZ proved even more difficult to sell than the SZ so production was abandoned after just 278 of the planned 350 were completed, in light of the success of the BMW Z series sports cars perhaps the SZ and RZ were just half a decade ahead of their time.

With thanks to E van der Beek and A.Ritzinger for additional information.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s back street racer edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you’ll join me again tomorrow on Ferrari Friday for a look at 3 flat 12 racers. Don’t forget to come back now !