Last year, at the urging of my friends in the Lake Shore Region of the LCOC, I attended the Geneva Concours for the first time. And that’s Geneva, IL, not Switzerland. Convenient to St. Charles, IL and other upscale Chicago outer ‘burbs.
I bought a 1972 Citroen DS21 Pallas for $600, circa 1991. It was in rough shape.
One peculiarity I was not prepared for was that the car's design was a monocoque body that was rather flimsy, supported by frame rails that were made up of several layers of FOLDED SHEET METAL. As in, take a wide piece of sheet metal, probably about 9 feet wide, and make a right-angle bend in the first three or four inches, and then make another right-angle bend, and another. I assume that they squirted goop between the layers after the first "box section" was completed. Of course, once a little water works its way in, rust has its way. IIRC, at that time, replacement frame rails were $4,000 the pair, plus shipping. I could not get the motor to turn, so it looked like the motor would have to come out.
So, I advertised the car for parts, and a couple came down from New Hampshire and bought it for the bordello-quality interior, which was in good shape. They had an ID19, so they could just replace their vinyl interior with the leather interior. That was the only time I ever made money selling a collector car!
I think I saw that 540K at the Oak Brook Mall Father’s Day car show years ago. That’s a great show as it’s curated. If you get there really early you can see the rare cars backed out of their trailers and driven into the mall.
I was actually invited to sit in two different cars after the owners told me “you’re the first person today who knows what my car is”. One was an Intermeccanica Italia and the other was a pre-A Porsche.
that bentley is wonderful
still hate the targa top porsches though
To paraphrase the late, great Mitch Hedberg: I used to think Targas were ugly. I still do, but I used to, to. Adore that Citroën.
I bought a 1972 Citroen DS21 Pallas for $600, circa 1991. It was in rough shape.
One peculiarity I was not prepared for was that the car's design was a monocoque body that was rather flimsy, supported by frame rails that were made up of several layers of FOLDED SHEET METAL. As in, take a wide piece of sheet metal, probably about 9 feet wide, and make a right-angle bend in the first three or four inches, and then make another right-angle bend, and another. I assume that they squirted goop between the layers after the first "box section" was completed. Of course, once a little water works its way in, rust has its way. IIRC, at that time, replacement frame rails were $4,000 the pair, plus shipping. I could not get the motor to turn, so it looked like the motor would have to come out.
So, I advertised the car for parts, and a couple came down from New Hampshire and bought it for the bordello-quality interior, which was in good shape. They had an ID19, so they could just replace their vinyl interior with the leather interior. That was the only time I ever made money selling a collector car!
I would certainly not kick that 2nd gen Riv out of my driveway..
I think I saw that 540K at the Oak Brook Mall Father’s Day car show years ago. That’s a great show as it’s curated. If you get there really early you can see the rare cars backed out of their trailers and driven into the mall.
I was actually invited to sit in two different cars after the owners told me “you’re the first person today who knows what my car is”. One was an Intermeccanica Italia and the other was a pre-A Porsche.
Loved the 540K and Silver Wraith.
That blue LaSalle is nice... and since the Rolls is 1958, this means it has the optional four-speed Hydra-Matic, made by Rolls themselves.
That's actually a '29 Cadillac. :)
I like that Tommy Klocks got his arrival time right this year.
I have a thing for gullwing Mercs. The 300SL would have been the star of the show for me. Lovely cars everywhere you look, though!
The 540K is gorgeous. You'd think it shared the Riviera's layout due to the lack of a transmission tunnel and 3 foot long shift arm.
That 540K...wow! And I liked the Riviera too....