Monday, March 24, 2014

Citroën Méhari (with berets)

The Méhari is a utility car and off-roader avant la lettre produced by  Citroën. Citroën  produced 144,953 Méharis between the car's launch in May 1968 and 1988 when production ceased.
 The Méhari was based on the Citroën Dyane 6, and had a body made of ABS plastic with a soft-top. It also employed the 602 cc flat twin gasoline engine shared with the 2CV6 and Citroën Ami. A four-wheel drive version of the Méhari was produced from 1980 to 1983 and had excellent off-road qualities, due to the lightness of the vehicle (the standard Méhari weighs just 570 kg (1,260 lb)) and the interconnected fully independent long-travel 2CV suspension used by all of the Citroën 'A-Series' vehicles.
The French Army used Méharis  and the vehicle was also in service with the Irish Defence Forces in the late 1970’s.
The Méhari was sold in the United States for one year, 1970, where the vehicle was classified as a truck. As trucks had far more lenient National Highway Traffic Safety Administration safety standards than passenger cars in the US, the Méhari did not have seat belts. Only 214 Méharis were sold in 1970. One was featured in a brief scene with Charlton Heston in the 1971 film The Omega Man.

No comments:

Post a Comment