Why do Classic Citroens and Alfas have such a bad name?

[PaulKanters]

I just sold a lovely restored Citroen DS to a customer recently and while I was looking for a good car here in Ireland, I couldn't help noticing the totally bad name these cars have over here.
In the rest of Europe Classic Citroens, Alfa Romeo's and Lancia's have a massive following and are considered very desirable, but here nobody seems to be interested in them except for the real diehard enthousiast!

I just can't understand why they have such a bad name as compared to other Classics :)


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Paul Kanters
Nothing beats Classic Motoring! welcome.to/classiccarsireland (http://welcome.to/classiccarsireland)
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[Eirik]

I think quality and parts pricing/availability has something to do with it. Also, some are very complex machines. Anybody can restore a Volvo Amazon, but most will be challenged by a DS.

[PaulKanters]

You could be right, but what about Classic Jaguars. They are not very easy to work on and spare part are fairly pricy too. However, there is a great following for those cars.

And yes Eirik! Volvo Amazons. Why don't I see more of these cars on Irish roads. They are superbly practical every day cars, but still you rarely see them around!!!

It's a strange country ;)

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Paul Kanters
Nothing beats Classic Motoring! welcome.to/classiccarsireland (http://welcome.to/classiccarsireland)
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[BeCos]

I dont think Ireland in General has much of a classic car following. I think the reason for this is there is still a genration of people who percieve cars as a neccesity rather than a luxury, therefore things need to be cheap to run trouble free and completely lacking in character or anything else that would make them desirable to an enthusiast.
Also many people dont have time or space to tend to a car that needs regular attention no matter how minute. In relation to Citroens and Alfa Romeos, I think they gained their reputation in the late 60's/early 70's as mechanically complex or fragile and rust buckets respectively.
Irish people dont forget when they've been let down too quickly. Still there does seem to be a rejuvenated interest in cars in general, judging by new cars sales. this promts people to look for alternatives.Most classic cars that developed bad reputations have been developed by their respective specialists and such problems ahave been overcome and the cars are now reliable dependable daily drivers. I think,and hope, we will see many more classic cars on these shores over the next few years.

[Alfa Romeo]

The reply from BeCos could not have put it better - I would just add that I think Irish people have a very poor standard of taste in cars in general - I mean the top three selling cars in Ireland at the moment are the

1. Ford Focus
2. Toyota Corrolla
3. Toyota Avensis

Makes me want to vomit. I own three Alfa's (two of them classics) so am considered quite mad - the only Citroen I really ever wanted was a nice high spec CX but those are impossible to find at least in right hand drive:sleep:

[528i]

Rot In Pieces

[shaggy]

I heard that in the 70s and 80s Alfas,Lancias,Fiats and other italian cars were shipped here sitting on the decks of cargo vessels uncovered and unprotected. By the time they got to Ireland they had a nice layer of salt on them ready to kick into action . Combine that with Irelands notoriously bad weather and it's not surprising they got such a bad name for rot and rust. Models transported overland to mainland Europe would have fared better without a 2 week salt battering to start their life / death.

[528i]

Werent Lancia forced to withdraw from exceptionally inclement climates [like the UK] altogether siting corrosive & reliability issues associated with the excessive rain, wtf?

apparently one lawyer emerged from his home during the early eighties to find his 3-day old lancia dedra.ie had rusted into a neat little heap on his doorstep overnight...

[Alfa Romeo]

Well it was not just Italian cars that rusted at the time. I recall a guy at work with of all things a Mk 1 Golf and it was like a sieve with all over rust. The VW beetle wings rusted pretty quickly too.

Of course we all remember those Datsun 120Y's and Corrolla KE30's that rusted just as quickly as any Italian job.

There is always an exception to the rule though - cue entry of my Alfasud 1.5Ti

This little baby has virtually no rust (it was wax oiled when new) and I never take it out of the garage - just in case 8-)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/Alfasudcrazy/72_1.jpg

[03Dnotforme]

I think that the average Irish car buyer has the misconception that classic cars are for eccentrics or mechanics and that they require huge amounts of time to maintain. (A conspiracy theorist might point out that this belief is very much in the interest of the motor industry who make millions out of people who are too scared to buy second-hand, let alone classic. Anyhoo..)

Alfas and to a lesser extent Citroens do have a reputation for being troublesome (even new ones) so I guess they fall into the worst-of-both-worlds category.

[tpcurley]

It interesting to note that certain areas of the country would have a big following to a marquee, ie. Ford in Cork the obvious one and for citroen believe it or not was East Offaly, seemingly it was down to a local garage owner thinking they were great over bog roads etc when everything else had suspension similar to a cart. To this day Citroen/ Peugeot are still in favour down there..

As for complex engineering ever try changing a starter motor in a DS ??? Love the car but I'll stick to my BMW 2002.

[larsen_huw]

Well looking at this from an English point of view (not really that different!):


1. They rust like it's going out of fashion.

2. Russian Roulette with the electrics.

3. Laughable build quality when new - let alone 20+ years down the line.

4. Overly complex - the whole point (in my eyes) of owning a classic is that you can look after it yourself and not need to entrust it to a garage.

Having said all that (looking particularly at the first 3 points) my Ford Capri does tick quite a few of those boxes! :)

[cooper1.3i]

In Spain they have also a bad name. Sometimes is not true, but unfortunately that's what most part of the people think.

Saludos.