1971 Citroen SM

Status
Not open for further replies.
FordBroncoVWJeta

FordBroncoVWJeta

Joined
Apr 16, 2016
Messages
1,985
Location
Kansas
Okay so tonight I was deer hunting. I was on some WIHA (Walk in Hunting Area) in rual Kansas. So anyway I find this car, and im trying to figure out what it is. The hood was open ( no engine) and I see a tag that says CITROEN with some other writing. I know citroen is French but did they even sell them here in 71? Wouldn't this car be worth some money? Never even seen a citroen unless on Top Gear.

Got this Kansas Monster (lol) from a whole 15 foot away!
 
Last edited:
I live @60 miles away from one of the best known Citroen specialists in the US; if my wife hadn't limited my wheels on the ground I'd have an SM. An incredible car.
 
If it is a Citroen SM for sure there are places in the US that is all they work on and Im sure are always looking for cars, Citroen was here until the seventies and then left.
 
Citroen pulled out around '76, maybe a year earlier.
An SM was a high-performance Citroen, but most models were technologically advanced
but not especially reliable overall.
Wiring insulation wasn't very good.

But, the basic 4 cyls would last 300,000 miles
in an era when American cars were done by 100,000.
 
Sometime in 1975 I walked into the Porsche dealer in Omaha. On the floor, besides a couple of Porsches was a Citroen SM and a Ferrari Daytona. Both were stated to be 1973 models and had belonged to Vida Blue, a famous baseball pitcher of the time. They wanted $10,500 for the SM and, wait for it, $13,500 for the Daytona. Why, nobody in their right mind would spend so much. That would be ridiculous......

So I went up the street to the Mercedes dealer and looked at a driveable but needing paint and love car that was also ridiculously priced! I mean, who would pay $5,000 for a rusty pile of bolts 300SL Gullwing? Boy, I sure was smart that day and I saved a lot of money.....
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: DeepFriar
Sometime in 1975 I walked into the Porsche dealer in Omaha. On the floor, besides a couple of Porsches was a Citroen SM and a Ferrari Daytona. Both were stated to be 1973 models and had belonged to Vida Blue, a famous baseball pitcher of the time. They wanted $10,500 for the SM and, wait for it, $13,500 for the Daytona. Why, nobody in their right mind would spend so much. That would be ridiculous......

So I went up the street to the Mercedes dealer and looked at a driveable but needing paint and love car that was also ridiculously priced! I mean, who would pay $5,000 for a rusty pile of bolts 300SL Gullwing? Boy, I sure was smart that day and I saved a lot of money.....

I think we've all made that mistake. I passed up a '65 Shelby Mustang GT 350 supposedly once owned by Carroll Shelby's secretary, for $15,000.

Worse than that I'm pretty certain it was BRG and original paint. GT 350s were all supposed to have been white with blue stripes. Seems Carroll's secretary was a Canadian. I've never attempted to verify that story but if it's true that would make it 1 of 1.
 
How about the day I went to a body shop in East San Jose to pick up some pieces that had been painted and the owner said "wanna look at this?" So he pulls back a tarp and there is an Auburn Boat Tailed Speedster Blower model in white. All there, interior, gauges, everything - just no paint. They'd just finished dolly blocking it and rough sanding it prior to priming when they were called by the owner who had gone bankrupt...

They said I could have it for $1,800 and they'd do the lien sale (circa 1971 or so). I scrounged from all my friends and relatives and could not raise the Nut ...
frown.gif
That one is burned into my brain as clear as yesterday ...

Or, when I was working as a lot boy for Los Gatos Imports in the late '60's and "Had" to drive a 1960 Ferrari 250GT 2+2 (Red - V12) to the other lot. I could have bought that car for $10K. At a $1.30/hr, that was going to take some time ... But what is it worth today
frown.gif


There have just been too many that got away ...

And your SM, had a Maserati V8 motor. That's why the engine is gone. But that would be fine with a something else under the hood. Citroen's are prolly THE plushest riding cars out there. Better than RR, Bentley, Packard, you name it. How bad is the body and interior?

Take some pics and flash it up on Hemmings.com Someone will buy it just for spare body panels
smile.gif


Nice deer
smile.gif
 
Last edited:
BrocLuno the body wasn't rusty. looked like the windows all in tact. Interior was pretty much gone. Drivers window was rolled down. How much trouble do you think I could get it if I went out there and stole the car? I mean I highly doubt anyone would care if it left. I highly doubt anyone knows what it even is.
 
I believe the SM was a V6, maybe the same engine from the Maserati Merak, little brother to the Bora.
 
Drove a DS once. The saying goes "The French copy nobody in their designs and......nobody copies the French."

They're goofy , different and very ...well...French.
 
Originally Posted By: FordBroncoVWJeta
BrocLuno the body wasn't rusty. looked like the windows all in tact. Interior was pretty much gone. Drivers window was rolled down. How much trouble do you think I could get it if I went out there and stole the car? I mean I highly doubt anyone would care if it left. I highly doubt anyone knows what it even is.


Tow it back to your property and then do a lien sale for "work done and owed". You know, change some tailight bulbs and get it up on blocks. Once you have a lien title, flip it on Hemmings, unless you want a really interesting project car
laugh.gif
 
Around here, just park it out back, throw a tarp over it, wait a few months, then fill out the paperwork for an abandoned car. I think, $50 fee then another $50 for a title.

I have several abandoned cars out back.
 
Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
Originally Posted By: FordBroncoVWJeta
BrocLuno the body wasn't rusty. looked like the windows all in tact. Interior was pretty much gone. Drivers window was rolled down. How much trouble do you think I could get it if I went out there and stole the car? I mean I highly doubt anyone would care if it left. I highly doubt anyone knows what it even is.


Tow it back to your property and then do a lien sale for "work done and owed". You know, change some tailight bulbs and get it up on blocks. Once you have a lien title, flip it on Hemmings, unless you want a really interesting project car
laugh.gif



Not sure why anyone would promote stealing. It doesn't matter that no one would realize it's gone, it's not yours. I remember back in college I thought the same thing.

I found a book in the library that was an autobiography about a boxer from the early 1900's and was signed by the boxer himself. Last time the book was checked out before me was back in the 70's and I found this book in 2006. According to some boxing enthuasists online the book was worth $400. I tried buying it off of the University and they wouldn't sell it. Being a broke college student I figured I would check it out again and pay the lost book fee of $40 and resell it. I never did because it wasn't mine and $400 is pocket change compared to what I have now.

Record the VIN and find out who the owner of the car is and offer to buy it cheap. If then they realize what it is and want some real money for it then decide if you have enough upside when you flip it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

A
Can't find the key, but the key is IN the car.
Replies
18
Views
550
atikovi
N
Hit a deer on the way to work
2 3
Replies
47
Views
3K
The Critic
Graham Piccinini
2003 Lexus GS300
2
Replies
39
Views
3K
Graham Piccinini
W
Put my money where my mouth is and finally bought an Armada!
2 3 4
Replies
62
Views
6K
fdcg27
dishdude
2023 Buick Envision rental review
Replies
15
Views
5K
JGmazda
Back
Top