In 2019 the Citroën Car Club celebrated its 70th 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, 70 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 2019 the Club covers all Citroën and Panhard models with members in America, Australia, Belgium, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand and The Netherlands.
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. Increasing the engine size from 375cc to 425cc in October 1954 had little affect. The car was to be revitalised in the 1970s as a classless style icon.
