In 2024 the Citroën Car Club is celebrated its 75th anniversary
The Citroën Car Club was founded on the 4th February 1949 by John Beresford-Layton, whose inspiration came whilst he was peacefully fishing in a rowing boat off the South Devon coast. After discussing the idea with several friends, who were also running pre-war Tractions, an advert was placed in The Autocar.
Now, 75 years later, the current membership does not differ much from those founder members in that they appreciate the design, technology and history that have gone into their cars and the Club provides the social opportunities of regular meetings and events.
In the 21st century, the Club covers all Citroën and Panhard models with members in many countries across Europe and beyond.
From the very beginning the club received the support of Citroën Cars Ltd, as they were then known. The leading Citroën agents on the south coast, John Poxon of Worthing Motors and Brian Lawrence of Criterion Motors at Southampton were founder members and John was the club’s technical officer for many years. The enthusiasts regularly met in a pub in Dorking to compare notes about their extraordinary cars. They chose Dorking because it was handy for London and the south coast.
From these humble beginnings the Club membership had risen to 102 by mid-1949, and by early 1950 there were 150 members, 40 of whom were overseas members residing in such far flung places as Mauritius, Ceylon, Iceland, Iraq, Egypt, Australia and South Africa. Such was the circulation of The Autocar. By mid-1951 the Club had 243 members.
The CCC was probably the first ‘foreign’ one-make car club in the UK, but it was not the first Citroën club, as surprisingly there is firm evidence of a Citroën car club in Japan in 1926.
The first issue of the Citroënian was published in the summer of 1949 and remained, more or less a quarterly publication until June 1953, when the first monthly issue appeared, with the front cover commemorating the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and it has remained a monthly magazine of high quality until today. Before the Citroënian became a monthly magazine it was supplemented by a Newsletter called the Dipstick giving mainly maintenance tips.
In the early years of the Club the only Citroëns available to members were the Light 15, Big 15, Big 6 and a few pre-1934 rear-wheel drive models, and the magazine contained a strong emphasis on the maintenance and repair of these cars. There was also a considerable interest in the competitive side of motoring in the form of Night Trials and Road Rallies, which members entered with some success and a lot of enthusiasm. There was, of course, less in the way of restrictions for such events in those days, and there was even an article in the magazine by a doctor member advocating the use of Benzedrine to keep you awake on night rallies!
The introduction of the 2CV to the UK was announced at the 1953 Motor Show at Earls Court in October, but unfortunately created more interest than sales and, although it did have its admirers among the perhaps more eccentric Club members, it did not really compete with the Traction Avant.
The DS19 was announced at the 1955 Motor Show and although the ‘D’ is now one of the strengths of the Club, in 1955 it came near to bringing about the demise of the Club. At the time the Light 15 was selling for £971.00 and the DS19 was introduced at £1,630.00, which put it beyond the financial reach of many a Traction owner, and created a huge gap between the DS19 and the 2CV at £557. Therefore, quite a number of members did not make the transition from the Traction Avant to the ‘D’ and were at least temporarily lost to the marque, but clearly a sufficient number did and the Club survived this period. The coming of the cheaper ID19 in 1958 was too late to have much effect on the situation.
The 1960’s saw a gradual resurgence of the Club. D Models were coming on to the second hand market at more affordable prices. At this time it was common for owners to carry out their own maintenance and repairs and the technical assistance and advice provided by the club was invaluable. It was still a challenge for the enthusiast to tackle the intricacies of the hydraulics. A trail of red fluid was an indicator that a D had passed by.
The first Regional Section of the Club had been formed in 1955 in Scotland, but only seems to have lasted a few months. The Northern Section was formed in July 1962 and must qualify as the oldest of the current Sections, and throughout its history has remained the most consistently supported.
April 1963 saw the first of the weekday evening social and technical meetings in central London, which were successfully held at various venues until the 1980s when attendance fell off due to a variety of reasons. In September of the same year the first Annual Summer Rally was held at Beaulieu, which was to set the pattern for all future rallies.
The club has been through many changes over the decades, but one thing remains constant – our coverage of EVERY Citroën ever built. The heart of the club’s 72-page high-quality A4 monthly magazine, the Citroënian, remains the model columns – enthusiastic columns who provide a clearing-house for information on their cars, from the earliest rear-wheel-drive to today’s range. That’s backed up by reports from the regional sections on events, and a range of well-researched and written articles covering other aspects of the Citroën world. Amongst our club members, we have highly regarded photographers and writers – and access to Citroën’s own vast archive – but the magazine welcomes input from everybody.
