I think I’ve discovered a first in the Citroën Ami press pack. From start to finish, from top to bottom, the only use of the word ‘car’ comes in the sentence starting ‘Ami isn’t a car’. I’ll forgive the omission of the definite article, but whether the Ami can be forgiven for being ‘not a car’ is what we’re shivering on the side of a damp Welsh hill to find out.
I say ‘we’, because of course Dan is here too, accompanied by a low, grumbling refrain which appears to be ranking this situation less favourably to our last, involving over 1600bhp of McLarens on a sun-soaked mountain pass. Well, the only reason we don’t have two cars today is that the Ami is not a car – or so we must keep telling ourselves. But we do have one proper car here, with twice as many seats, a flatter engine and fully 50 per cent more pedals than either McLaren. This is because I’ve brought my 1958 Citroën 2CV along to race the Ami.
It would be interesting to discover if it is legal to race on public roads if neither car is capable of breaking the speed limit, but there’s actually a bit of legitimate context to be added here too. When it was designed before the outbreak of the Second World War, the 2CV’s intended role was to be an utilitarian rural vehicle, as at home in a field as on the road. Possibly more so.
