75 Years of Citroën in the U.K. 

Published by CITROExpert 

By John Reynolds 

Every once in a while, a new book appears which astounds the reader, either because of the sheer quality of the illustrations or the writing of the author. Even more rarely a books appears that combines both good writing and lavish illustrations. It is no coincidence that in recent years, two books have appeared that are both beautifully illustrated and well written. It is no coincidence that both should be written by John Reynolds. The first was his wonderful work, "The Restorer's Guide to the Citroën DS". The second is "From A to X ~ 75 Years of Citroën in the U.K." 

John Reynolds is a life long Citroën enthusiast with over 35 years of experience of the marque, having owned or driven almost every type of Citroën car, ancient and modern. He made his first visit to Citroën's British premises at Slough as long ago as 1964 to collect a spare part for his first car, a Traction Avant - in those far-off days the company's replacement parts warehouse was open to the general public! 

He began his writing career as an automotive writer as an advertising copywriter producing marketing material for numerous manufacturers including Citroën but he now writes as a motoring journalist exclusively. As a journalist, he has contributed to a wide variety of British, French and Dutch car magazines including Classic Car, Classic & Sportscar, Retroviseur, Automobilia, Citroexpert and the Daily Telegraph Motoring Review. As an author, he has published three other books on Citroën subjects, a study of the technical evolution of the DS (mentioned above), a life story of the 2CV and a biography of the company's founder, André Citroën.

Today, over twenty five years since manufacturing ceased there, the story of Citroën's factory at Slough (in its heyday, one of the largest car assembly plants in the United Kingdom) is little appreciated by Citroën enthusiasts in both Britain, France and the Netherlands alike - and virtually unknown by the wider motorbook readership around the world. This carefully researched and lavishly illustrated book, the first officially sponsored account of Citroën's right-hand-drive vehicles, should set the record straight!

In examining the first seventy five years of Automobiles Citroën's presence in Great Britain, this book reviews the history of Citroën Cars Ltd. and Citroën UK Ltd. at Slough, recalling the vehicles built at the Slough Works between 1926 and 1966 and all those subsequently imported from France from 1966 onwards until the present day.
 

For the benefit of readers unfamiliar with the marque, it begins with a short account of the founding of the Citroën firm in France and discusses the earliest imports of Citroën vehicles into the UK by the first concessionaires, Gaston Ltd. It then goes on to examine the complete span of activities that took place at the Slough factory between its opening in February 1926 and its closure in February 1966 - exactly forty years to the day - during which time it assembled vehicles to supply Citroën's export markets throughout the entire British Commonwealth as well as the home market in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Finally it records the Citroën models imported into the UK from Citroën's continental factories between 1996 and 1998 and gives a full account of the activities of Citroën UK Ltd. up to the present day.

Pre-war, post-war and even wartime vehicle production is fully illustrated by over 200 archive pictures (many previously unpublished) together with contemporary advertising and publicity material and also by a new series of full colour pictures showing some of the very best surviving historic cars photographed by the leading motoring photographer, Neill Bruce. 

The complete span of right-hand-drive vehicles featured and illustrated includes, among others, the conventional pre-war rear-wheel-drive models, the Light Fifteen and Six Cylinder Traction Avant, the 2CV and the Bijou, the DS and ID models and the Citroën M, the GS and GSA, together with the full range of Citroën's recent and contemporary products.