By Shant Jaltorossian
My love for all things Citroën should come as no surprise to you. I, being the masochist that I am, love to peruse Craigslist for all things French and bizarre, and happened to run across this.
If you’re an eccentric bohemian who finds Volkswagens to be far too mainstream, this just may be the perfect counterculture van for you. The “H-Van” is very difficult to find on this side of the Atlantic, especially in this nice a condition.
This may be the absinthe talking, but I imagine myself living in such a fine steed down by a river, painting abstract portraits and nibbling on Gruyère in spare time. Or maybe selling escargot at the farmers market.
The ad:
1968 Citroen H Van. Completely restored. Immaculate condition. Extremely Rare. Makes a one of a kind food truck.
[Link: Craigslist]
Jeff Glucker
Plus if you ever get into an accident, it looks like you can buy replacement body panels at Home Depot.
Crumple zones? Who needs crumple zones? In the Citroën H-Van, you are the crumple zone.
You see sheds like that in cow pastures all the time. Usually, they don't have wheels, though.
The thing looks likes a pig.
Pigs find Truffles.
Truffles are famously French
Citroen is a French company.
This is a Citroen.
And the circle is complete.
Extremely Rare. Makes a one of a kind food truck.
Nope. I ate at a Citroen H-Van food truck just this past Saturday.
mmmmmmmm Argentinian hot pockets of goodness in a French shed at my doorstep. That was a great Saturday.
Man. I have got to figure a way to get to Seconds Saturday soon.
Dulce de leche filled churros. Great, indeed.
I always thought an H-Van food truck would be a great idea, maybe selling experimental macarons or something. I'm not sure if I'm disappointed or pleased someone beat me to it.
I think you should be pleased. It makes for an awesome food truck. Besides, they're still super rare and you'd still have a pretty unique food truck…
Or Crepes. Then you call it the Crepe'd Crusader. Actually no, I'm doing that, I thought of it first…back off man!
That, that is…C'est magnifique!
If you're interested in opening a Toronto franchise, you have my attention.
Dude…we will be the next big thing.
[youtube ZDqXbk_ThH0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDqXbk_ThH0 youtube]
I didn't realize you were also there. What were you driving?
I was actually on bicycle, since my Jeep is in the middle of some repairs. (That aren't going well… I don't want to talk about it…) I had a camelback with a bike helmet attached. What was your mode of transportation?
If it weren't enormous, it would be the first minivan, 'cus it's got FWD. Nice van to drive if you're not in a hurry. And thousands of them are still food trucks in Europe
If Citroen could somehow recover their design mojo we might see one of these. Or not, since the concept vehicle has hydractive suspension it is clearly not for production.The diesel-electric drivetrain made it through to reality though so we live in hope.. http://www.topspeed.com/cars/citroen/2011-citroen…
<img src="http://img2.netcarshow.com/Citroen-Tubik_Concept_2011_800x600_wallpaper_01.jpg"width="600">
<img src="http://s1.cdn.autoevolution.com/images/news/gallery/frankfurt-2011-citroen-tubik-concept-live-photos_6.jpg"width="600">
<img src="http://cars-database.com/data_images/gallery/03/citroen-tubik/citroen-tubik-03.jpg"width="600">
<img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/09/citroen-tubik-concept-54.jpg"width="600">
<img src="http://img2.netcarshow.com/Citroen-Tubik_Concept_2011_800x600_wallpaper_06.jpg"width="600">
It belongs in a French horror film.
The front wheel drive gives the van a very low floor making for better face to face communication. They aren't that huge in the standard length though so it would be tough to squeeze lots of kitchen hardware in there.
I've wanted to run one as a mobile bar for festivals and outdoor events,, serve French wines, belgian beers and crazy cocktails.
If you're near the corner of Fillmore & Filbert in San Francisco, have a seat:
<img src="http://assets.inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/02/san-francisco-parklet-7.jpg">
<img src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/931888/thumbs/o-SAN-FRANCISCO-PARKLET-facebook.jpg" width="600">
It's still there, at least as of last week. <a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/01/park-designed-look-car/4357/” target=”_blank”>http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/01/park-designed-look-car/4357/
I haven't been up that way since the museum moved to Pier 15. I noticed this thing last year but don't have a camera phone.
Never noticed the broom before, nice touch. There should be a Lantern Rouge as well.
I didn't have mine with me, so those are stolen shamelessly via Google Image Search. Credit due to whoever's got the watermark, I suppose.
Google Street View's images of that intersection date back to before this "parklet" was installed.
Actually, see these people if you want one… http://www.citroenimportservices.com/category/cit…
I'm friends with the owner of this coffee shop and van. Both are really awesome. He said maybe he'd let me drive it one day. Maybe.
<img src="http://www.coffeeshopmanager.com/Portals/193413/images/bellatazza%20cart.jpg" width="600">