The Citroen H-Van

Remember the TV ads where Chrysler acted as if they invented the front wheel drive van?

Well, back in 1947, Citroën introduced a front wheel drive, no nonsense van that lived on in it's basic form with very few changes until 1981. Built in factories in France and Belgium the 473,289 Citroen H vans were sold mostly in either France, Belgium, or the Netherlands.

It gets a little confusing but the Citroën H-Van was typically sold as the HY. Ones with less of a load capacity were known as HX vans and there were also H Series vans with higher load capacity known as HZ and HW vans. There were also some that were sold as the model 1600, which also doubled as the weight carrying capacity; in this case 1600kg.

Pierre Franchiset is credited with the overall design of the Citroën H Van. Probably it's most notable feature is the introduction of the "Yoda" pinless hinge. This is formed by the use of two opposing curls in two panels that intersect and form the hinge.This hinge design was also used in the 2CV and it's A-Series van.

The H van employed a unitized body and was extremely light for the amount of payload it would handle. Because of its front wheel drive, its flat low rear floor became incredibly popular to get in and out of for deliveries.

The engine was set in front of the transmission, instead of behind it, like the Traction Avant. Thus it turned in the opposite direction.

When the H-Van first was introduced, it was equipped with the all cast iron, 1911cc, reverse turning Traction Avant gasoline engine. In 1963 Citroen gave it an alloy cylinder head. Citroën also offered a smaller 1628 cc engine that same year, along with a diesel engine made by Perkins. In 1965 a diesel engine made by Indenor came along, a 2068 cc. Most all of the Citroen H-vans had a three speed transmission.

Inspired by the World War II German Junkers bombers, the Citroen H van used corrugation in the panels to provide both strength and lightness. Because of the H Van's excellent use of space, the cab minus the rear body was often sent out to many different body specialists to have everything from wooden horse bodies called "Betaillaire" on them to longer bodies that could be extended for market stall use.

The Citroën H-Van was widely sought after for it's utilitarian use during the 34 years it was made. Today many of the remaining examples have been converted into campers and are prized among their owners.

With it's early unitized body design, the Citroën H-Van had problems with corrosion in some of the key areas of it's floor, around the spare tire and fuel tank compartments to name two. This makes finding a good fairly rust free example difficult today. The best types can usually be found in fire department or police examples that were kept clean and garaged during their lifetimes.

In any event, the Citroen H-Van is a wonderfully unique and innovative design, that was admired for its compact space utility during it's day, and its wonderful Industrial design today.