–By Eric Fantin– Some of us at the MN Citroën Club have been sifting through a massive amount of Citroën parts from one of our club members on behalf of his estate.
One member has absorbed all the 2CV parts (and cars). He has subsequently brought one car to life and sold it to a new member of our club. We are now tackling the SM parts and cars.
The whole lot of SM parts was purchased by another member of our MN club. The cars are now gone and some parts have been distributed. In particular the 5 speed transmission of the SM. It is also used for some Lotus models although in a different configuration, but none the less we were happy to offer the parts as they will be used and not wasted.
The scope of parts is immense! The NOS parts were usually purchased at a minimum in triplicate. There were also some good used parts: body, engine, hydraulic, trim, interior, etc. The storage area was like going into a Citroën dealer’s parts department in the late 70’s!!
The plan is to keep what is usable. For example, the European spec turning headlights or the extremely rare optional Michelin resin wheels. We’ll sell the extra products so they can be used for other SMs in the US.
Some parts might ended going back to some European SM owners. The aforementioned resin wheels (9 of them) and a complete set of wheels and tires which are the correct V rated Michelin XVS. They are still new with the factory sticker on them. Of course the tires are 30 years old but new old stock tires?? Amazing!
Some of these parts will be installed on my friend’s SM. One will be the turning headlight with the glass covers to replace the ugly US spec fixed ones. It is quite a complex system to install but it will be worth the work. Will hopefully find the time to do another write up on that project.
Eric can be reached a straigh8@gmail.com