A chance to buy a bucket list car has seen me make a decision I think I may regret.....
Offered for sale my ultra chic 1972 Citroen Ami 8.
An amazing survivor, this original UK supplied car was bought new in December 1972 by a Mr Reed of Somerset and remained with him until his death in 2011. Mr Reed clearly loved and cared for this car and its plain to see much money and work had been lavished on it in his tenure, including mechanical and extensive body work to include a full respray in the original Citroen Verte Argente (silver green) metallic. The second owner, an eccentric serial collector from whom I bought the car, purchased the Citroen from Mr Reed's estate, principally as it still wore his valuable private number plate. He removed and sold the number, added the car to his collection and used it sparingly for a couple of years as a toy for attending shows and pootling to the pub. Eventually his eye was turned by more recent acquisitions in his collection and the Citroen found itself unused.
I found the car by chance in 2018 when visiting the second owner after responding to a cryptic advert to view and purchase a Scimitar from his collection. Spying the little Citroen in a corner I was immediately drawn to the quirky little gem, all the more so when the vendor allowed me to look over it and I realised just how unmolested and other worldly it was. Despite a lifelong interest in classics, I'd never even seen one of these little 2CV based delights before and I was immediately smitten - it was just so achingly cool! However, it was not for sale and the characterful vendor could not be swayed.....
I couldn't get the little green Citroen out of my mind and over the next few months built a rapport with the vendor that eventually solicited one chance to buy it - the vendor named a price and I had just one chance to accept. He later told me that if I had baulked or countered, all further offers would have been declined and he would have left baby in the corner..... For once, lady luck had smiled upon me!
With the car now mine I was able to inspect in greater detail and found it was certainly as good as I had hoped it might be. The recorded mileage is a paltry 33,500, reported as original by my vendor, though there is no history (all the prior documentation was lost in the clearance of Mr Reed's estate) and I haven't been able to verify this. I set about returning the car to the road and undertook whatever recommissioning was necessary (the fuel had gone stale where it had remained unused) before presenting for an MoT, which it passed first time with flying colours. Since then I have been using it for high days and fun trips and it has been absolutely excellent! The ride is just staggeringly good - 2CV underpinnings (they share the same chassis) offer the typically Citroen-esque magic carpet experience, while the diminutive 602cc air cooled flat twin thrums away out front. As with the 2CV, gear changing is done by dash mounted 'umbrella stick' and there is a similar purity of function and simplicity of design with the other minimal controls. Any prior 2CV owner will instantly feel at home.
There are no known issues with the car, it always starts on the button and runs like a clock, with brakes, clutch, steering, suspension etc. all performing as expected and remaining as factory standard. Even the heater works. Fuel delivery has been updated with a modern electric pump supplanting the original mechanical version purely for ease of starting and storage. It still wears a set of correct Michelin X tyres, though they show their age. The body wears a degree of patina. It's of very lightweight thin steel construction, meaning there are numerous little dinks and dents, with mildly weathered paintwork showing numerous blemishes under close scrutiny, but the overall impression is still very presentable, as you can see in the photos.
The interior is excellent, with the black vinyl seats in great order, the dash and headlining all good and everything as it should be - it even smells right. There are winding windows in the front doors, with sliding windows in the back, a cavernous boot and the interior has the typical Citroen ergonomics allowing a full family of four to be carried in comfort - you can even whip out the rear seat with the swipe of a lever to provide an impromptu sofa for a mid-journey picnic if you wish - very Citroen!
It pains me to offer this for sale, as I knew it was the chance of a lifetime when I bought it, but the opportunity to tick one of the biggest wants off my bucket list has produced a quandary ..... I can't keep both this and the object of my childhood desire...
This little Citroen is on the button and ready for immediate use. It's a perfect classic car, being wonderfully simple, cheap to keep, economical to run and fantastically stylish, garnering universal praise wherever it goes. It's also about as practical as you can get - four door, four seat, with a huge boot, yet diminutive in size, tax, MoT and ULEZ exempt and ideal for zipping around town.... I'm really going to miss it
As usual, I'll give the RR community first dibs before advertising more widely - drop me a PM if you want to know more....
Location:- Newbury
Price:- SOLD
Offered for sale my ultra chic 1972 Citroen Ami 8.
An amazing survivor, this original UK supplied car was bought new in December 1972 by a Mr Reed of Somerset and remained with him until his death in 2011. Mr Reed clearly loved and cared for this car and its plain to see much money and work had been lavished on it in his tenure, including mechanical and extensive body work to include a full respray in the original Citroen Verte Argente (silver green) metallic. The second owner, an eccentric serial collector from whom I bought the car, purchased the Citroen from Mr Reed's estate, principally as it still wore his valuable private number plate. He removed and sold the number, added the car to his collection and used it sparingly for a couple of years as a toy for attending shows and pootling to the pub. Eventually his eye was turned by more recent acquisitions in his collection and the Citroen found itself unused.
I found the car by chance in 2018 when visiting the second owner after responding to a cryptic advert to view and purchase a Scimitar from his collection. Spying the little Citroen in a corner I was immediately drawn to the quirky little gem, all the more so when the vendor allowed me to look over it and I realised just how unmolested and other worldly it was. Despite a lifelong interest in classics, I'd never even seen one of these little 2CV based delights before and I was immediately smitten - it was just so achingly cool! However, it was not for sale and the characterful vendor could not be swayed.....
I couldn't get the little green Citroen out of my mind and over the next few months built a rapport with the vendor that eventually solicited one chance to buy it - the vendor named a price and I had just one chance to accept. He later told me that if I had baulked or countered, all further offers would have been declined and he would have left baby in the corner..... For once, lady luck had smiled upon me!
With the car now mine I was able to inspect in greater detail and found it was certainly as good as I had hoped it might be. The recorded mileage is a paltry 33,500, reported as original by my vendor, though there is no history (all the prior documentation was lost in the clearance of Mr Reed's estate) and I haven't been able to verify this. I set about returning the car to the road and undertook whatever recommissioning was necessary (the fuel had gone stale where it had remained unused) before presenting for an MoT, which it passed first time with flying colours. Since then I have been using it for high days and fun trips and it has been absolutely excellent! The ride is just staggeringly good - 2CV underpinnings (they share the same chassis) offer the typically Citroen-esque magic carpet experience, while the diminutive 602cc air cooled flat twin thrums away out front. As with the 2CV, gear changing is done by dash mounted 'umbrella stick' and there is a similar purity of function and simplicity of design with the other minimal controls. Any prior 2CV owner will instantly feel at home.
There are no known issues with the car, it always starts on the button and runs like a clock, with brakes, clutch, steering, suspension etc. all performing as expected and remaining as factory standard. Even the heater works. Fuel delivery has been updated with a modern electric pump supplanting the original mechanical version purely for ease of starting and storage. It still wears a set of correct Michelin X tyres, though they show their age. The body wears a degree of patina. It's of very lightweight thin steel construction, meaning there are numerous little dinks and dents, with mildly weathered paintwork showing numerous blemishes under close scrutiny, but the overall impression is still very presentable, as you can see in the photos.
The interior is excellent, with the black vinyl seats in great order, the dash and headlining all good and everything as it should be - it even smells right. There are winding windows in the front doors, with sliding windows in the back, a cavernous boot and the interior has the typical Citroen ergonomics allowing a full family of four to be carried in comfort - you can even whip out the rear seat with the swipe of a lever to provide an impromptu sofa for a mid-journey picnic if you wish - very Citroen!
It pains me to offer this for sale, as I knew it was the chance of a lifetime when I bought it, but the opportunity to tick one of the biggest wants off my bucket list has produced a quandary ..... I can't keep both this and the object of my childhood desire...
This little Citroen is on the button and ready for immediate use. It's a perfect classic car, being wonderfully simple, cheap to keep, economical to run and fantastically stylish, garnering universal praise wherever it goes. It's also about as practical as you can get - four door, four seat, with a huge boot, yet diminutive in size, tax, MoT and ULEZ exempt and ideal for zipping around town.... I'm really going to miss it
As usual, I'll give the RR community first dibs before advertising more widely - drop me a PM if you want to know more....Location:- Newbury
Price:- SOLD
