“I hope David is feeling better after COVID. I hope that Torchinsky is on the mend. You & the Autopians write in a way that makes us readers feel like friends,” reads the incredibly kind email from a reader named Lorine. “Like David, I live in the Los Angeles area. (I was out of town for the Auto Show.). I pass by The Citadel Outlets on the 5 Freeway in Commerce… the building used to be a tire factory and it has quite distinctive architecture,” the email continues before getting to an extremely serious and pressing issue.
That pressing issue has to do with the car on that sign you see above. “Lots of foreign tourists like to shop at the outlets,” Lorine continues, before asking: “Lately there has been an image of a vintage car with text in an Asian language. Whenever I see the electronic billboard, I think of Torchinsky. Too bad we can’t see the taillights. Why would this image resonate with its target audience? What car could this be? Thought you might get a kick out of it.”
Thank you, Lorine! This is a great spot, in part, because it’s deeply, deeply bizarre.
The sign is Chinese, and it reads: “”Free parking, exit the highway now,” and the car is an original 1960s-1970s Citroën Ami — a very not-Chinese and a very French car.
I’ll let our currently-in-the-workshop Jason Torchinsky talk a bit about the Ami, since I miss reading his beautiful voice:
I’ll admit that I’ve always loved the Citroën Ami’s design, despite knowing that, objectively, the front end is really, really awkward-looking. Some may say “ugly,” but I won’t. It’s too interesting to be ugly, to compellingly weird. It introduced rectangular headlamps, but then surrounded them with oval bezels, and draped everything with that strange, languid arc of a hoodline, like the hood was fabric, held up by the headlight pods. It’s so strange.
The grille is awkward and small, the indicators are set into a strange linear, chrome-bordered recess that feels like part of something else, and the hardware for the bumper doesn’t look like automotive hardware; the bumper looks like it’s made from bathroom grab handle railings, or something.
And yet, despite all this, somehow I like that weird, grumpy face. It has real charm behind it, a peculiar sort of fussy, weird charm, like an annoying friend that would do anything if it makes things more fun, even if they won’t shut up or not make weird noises when they chew.
I love it. It’s a front-engine, front-wheel drive, underpowered but wonderfully practical machine that came as a van, a wagon, or a saloon/sedan, also called the “Berline.” It’s the sedan that gets all the love, because the Z-shaped roof is to this day one of the great automotive design-wonders of the world — so much so that in 2021, Stellantis (which is part of a huge company that includes Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Fiat, Citroen, and a bunch of other brands) felt compelled to send out a press release commemorating the vehicle’s 60 year-anniversary and especially giving love to the Berline.
Here’s part of Stellantis’ press release that discusses the iconic roof:
CITROËN AMI 6, A UNIQUE LOOK WITH ITS Z-SHAPED ROOF
After designing the Traction Avant, the 2 CV and the DS with the Citroën design team, Flaminio Bertoni was asked to create the lines of a middle-range car, known as the AM Project. Ami 6 was the result of this; his masterpiece, as he confided to his friends and family. Since here, for the first time, the designer could express himself fully and alone without interference from anyone else imposing the style of the car. For Ami 6, he had the bold idea of the inverted rear window which remains clear when it rains, also preserving a respectably-sized trunk with traditional opening, and spaciousness in the rear seats, while retaining reduced outer dimensions. The dual-cylinder 602 cm3 engine was extrapolated from that of the 2 CV, In addition to its front end with refined lines set with wide rectangular headlights (a first at that time), its bonnet sloping in the middle, its pagoda-style roof and sides highlighted with embossed lines, Ami 6 displayed a strong character, even a “baroque style” in the words of some observers! Ami 6 was not content with being just an aesthetic success. It was also innovative in terms of marketing, presenting itself in advertising documents as the “second vehicle ideal for the lady of the household”.
The interior of Ami 6 was inspired directly by that of the DS, a gold standard in the field. From its single-spoke steering wheel and door handles to its controls and seats, everything suggested top-of-the-range Citroën.
In terms of road behaviour, everyone applauded the road handling and flexibility of the saloon, inherited from the famous suspensions of the 2 CV. From its creation, in keeping with the Citroën spirit, Ami 6 has been an original and innovative car. Its die-hard fans maintain a particular interest in the Club versions with four headlights and white side trim, sold from September 1967.
The iconic advertising slogan for Ami 6 remained “the least expensive comfort mile in the world”.
The press release includes vintage images of the Ami 6 (as the original Ami was called — an updated Ami 8 came later):
What’s especially cool about the press release is the original 1961 press release from Citroën:
The press release talks about how developing cars inherently involves compromises, but how the AMI represents a beautifully “balanced” machine, with Citroën writing:
The new Citroen (front-wheel drive, 600 cubic-centimeter engine) which will be presented before the summer is called “AMI 6.”
This model is in no way intended to replace the 2CV from which it differs completely in its appearance, its use, its price. The 2CV is the minimum automobile, capable of adapting to the most varicose uses, of traveling on any terrain. The AMI 6 meets other goals: It will offer its user not only the essential, but also more features.
Each type of automobile has its own qualities which correspond to the choice that the manufacturer had to make among often contradictory characteristics: one is fast but not very comfortable, one is luxurious but very expensive. Citroen, with the AMI 6, intends to present to the public a balanced car.
It will be neither a small nor a large car, but a “Large small car”: a small footprint for ample roominess. It will be sufficiently responsive and fast (more than 100 km/h top speed) for low consumption. It will be practical without sacrificing its elegance. Finally, it will be extremely comfortable.
I love the “large small car” phrase in there, because you may recall a similar bit of advertising used by American Motors just over a decade or so later:
The whole “small on the outside, big on the inside” concept has been compelling since the beginning of time, and likely will continue. To be honest, I tell people the same thing when I brag about my BMW i3.
Anyway, back the Stellantis press release, because it’s got some great fun-facts about the Ami:
CITROËN AMI 6, DID YOU KNOW?
- The name Ami 6 comes from a phonetic combination that refers to the name of the Design project (AM vehicle), the title “Miss”, and amici (Italian for friend), probably inspired by its designer, who was himself Italian.
- Yvonne de Gaulle, wife of General de Gaulle, drove an Ami 6. The vehicle inaugurated the Citroën plant in Rennes-La-Janais (France) while it was still under construction on 10 September 1960, a little over a year before its production began on site.
- A rally named “Le Tour de Gaule d’Amisix” was held by Citroën, setting off from Rennes-La-Janais on 19 January 1966, with two standard Ami 6 station wagon models to demonstrate their endurance and road qualities. At the finish line, 23 hours and 11 minutes later and guided by an escort, the team had covered 2,077 km at an average of 89.6 km/h.
- In June 1963, Ami 6 was presented in the United States. The export model adopted four round headlights and reinforced bumpers.
- Production location: Paris (France) from 1961 to 1963, Rennes-La-Janais (France) from 1961 to 1969. With Ami 6, Citroën inaugurated this brand new plant in Brittany, the brand’s first major decentralisation from Paris. Forest (Belgium) from 1961 to 1969. Catila (Argentina): continued production of the Ami 6 station wagon until 1971 (cars shipped in parts to be assembled on site).
- 1,039,384 Ami 6 vehicles produced in total: 483,986 Saloons (April 1961 to March 1969), 551,880 Estates (October 1964 to September 1969), 3,518 Entreprise (two-seater service estate, glazed and panelled versions).
- On the last Ami 6 models, the brightness of the dial could be adjusted with a small knob that controlled a rheostat.
- Today, an Ami 6 vehicle in good driving condition is evaluated at €5,000 and up.
Anyway, thank you Lorine for the email. Next time I drive by the Citadel Outlets in Commerce, California, I’ll keep an eye out for Chinese text strangely surrounding a historic French car.
Whoever chose that vehicle: Nice work! You’re getting noticed.
Top image inset: YouTube/Ragnar Ragnarson
I, too, love the AMI’s objectively weird face.
And i don’t think i’m just being contrarian. Every time i see it, it’s just strikes me as delightful and elicits an automatic smile.
I think my appreciation of the “Z roof” actually is contrarian, though. I like that it’s self-evidently wrong (for my own lack of a better word). It’s a straight-up fuck you to The Establishment (which in this case is people who know what a car’s profile should look like).
And there’s something about it – i think that C/Z pillar, actually – that somehow makes it look like a miniature car, even when there’s a full-size normal lady standing next to it.
Y’know, one of those things that spoiled kids drive around the back yard to pretend they’re driving a real car. “Does your little Tristan care if he runs over his sister and your petunias? Well, neither does the AMI 6! The perfect gift for your ungrateful little shit, now with 60-month financing available to well-qualified buyers!”
I have owned 14 weird old Citroëns (still have the DS21) but never an AMI yet.
Very nice job of Citroën to make kind of a “real car” on the A platform, getting rid of that utilitarian garden shed feeling of being in a 2CV
2CVs were built in Vietnam too, not so far from China, maybe they also made AMIs, IDK, in that case not the strangest of choices.
One my fellow old car aficionados (now known for driving his 1970 VW bus all year all around the country and NEVER washing it, making the “dirt patina” quite unique) once got his hands on a 1015cc flat 4 AMIsuper/GS engine and put it in his very light 2CV, giving it performance not unlike a Porsche 912.
“… I miss reading his beautiful voice.”
Same, David. Get better soon, Torch. Happy New Year, all you amazing Autopians.
l snapped and submitted that photo and email! The car sign had been on display at The Citadel through the holidays. When I first saw it, I did a double take and immediately thought, “What would Torch think? And did he draw it?” Finally, I was the passenger instead of the driver, so I took a quick snap on 12/29 and sent it off to David Tracy.
Today, 12/31, it’s no longer on the display! Don’t brave the LA traffic to see it in person. Glad I caught it and that so many other Autopians have taken an interest in it.
The building is very interesting as well, and it’s easy to research its history online.
Happy New Year!
Oops, a marketing strategy (pardon the sudden cutoff)
???? just from long ago memories of mom wearing what appeared in the style of a French cottage headscarf, the rear roof mimics that exactly, perhaps a marketing
I love this. Reminds me of the random Saab on the downtown Austin parking meter passes.
You know that you have “Utilisation éditoriale uniquement, nous contacter pour toute autre utilisation” in several of the pictures ?
And It means Editorial use only, contact us ( I guess Stellantis nowadays ) for for any other use…
you might want to sort that out before the lawyers at Stelantis wake up from new year drunken slumber.
Now I have to say that the AMI had all the Citröen genes… stuff in it came from the 2CV, the DS, and hinted of the SM, CX and GS.
I never drove one, but I saw many… ( Driving a Visa and an AX, and being passenger in a Visa, a 2CV and a LN was my experience… along with the BXs )
The way the top overhangs the rest of the car is kind of reminiscent of Asian pagoda roofs, to me at least. The line drawing on the sign makes it more noticable or is possibly exaggerated. Maybe the designer thought so too. It fits the aesthetic of the area well despite not being Chinese.
I always thought the Berline was a funky French homage to the Mercury Turnpike Cruisers (with the ‘breezeway’ rear windows) of the late 50s/early 60s, only without the power rear window.
I like the Ami, but I grew up with appreciation for oddball European cars thanks to my father who lived in Europe when these were new. He would regale us with stories of strange Citroens, Peugots, Alfas, Opens – not to mention some of the stuff coming out of the Soviet block countries – though he mostly owned grey market vehicles from Germany (Mercedes, BMWs, and VWs) until the 25 year rule was imposed. Great article!
Question: Will there be an automotive New Year’s resolutions post?
I think it would be interesting to see the Staff’s and the commenters’ automotive New Year’s resolutions.
Okay, just for Torch, here is a rear view of a Citroen Ami 8:
https://www.alamy.com/rear-view-of-a-white-1972-citroen-ami-8-on-display-at-the-2023-british-motor-show-farnborough-image570780164.html?imageid=9E86A1DE-22C8-4A00-A7BF-52FE6CB80271&p=84190&pn=1&searchId=a657e4f421a383352005c310cd4fb20e&searchtype=0
I love it too. It looks like a baby elephant sat on the hood and Citroen just said, “no time to fix it, send it!”
Are we sure these are French ads from the 60s?
I see not one single cigarette
Step 1: Ensure you have all the product squeezed into the “forbidden” part of the tube.
Step 2: Fold the empty tail in half, then in half again, and again — you might, with a very thin tube, get a fourth fold, but at the end of this, the empty part of the tube should be very short and very tightly folded.
Step 3: Hold the folded empty tail with a chip clip or similar device. Steps 2 and 3 are to prevent product returning to the empty tail of the tube during step 4.
Step 4: Hold the tube nozzle between two fingers on your stronger hand, and push your thumb into the flattened part of the tube material.
Out pops an AMI !
The Chinese is Simplified Chinese (typically used by Mainland China and Singapore)
The top say Free Parking
But the bottom gets confusing because it literally translates to Now Driving Out High Speed. I assume they mean high speed road aka highway. But I think it will confused the crap out of our AI overlords; especially when the icon is red in color, it would signify danger or caution?
I personally would take it as permission to go WOT /s
https://translate.google.com/?sl=auto&tl=zh-CN&text=Now+Driving+Out+High+Speed&op=translate
I loved the minimalist small cars of my youth.
My first car was a base model 1990 Chevy Sprint (CDN Géo Métro). Not one single option. Got 52mpg. 55 fire breathing hrsprs. Called it the Sprintorghini . I’d like to find one someday, not completely rusted out if nothing else than nostalgic reasons.
Fwiw “berline” is just the generic term for “sedan” (vs wagon, coupe, etc.) It’s not an Ami-specific name.
That was such a weird little mid century modern tin can.
Alfa Romeo called its four-door saloons “Berlina” in the past.
The Ami 6 is definitely a piece of “I’ll build what I want” like nothing else on the road. I appreciate these but greatly prefer the its successor the GS with its mini CX looks, hydropneumatic suspension and space ship dash.
The Ami always reminded me of a pissed off persian cat about to pounce on something. Pissed off persian cat face…check. Pissed off persian cat’s ass up in the air about to pounce..check. I rest my case
The Citadel Outlets’ architecture is quite impressive and there’s actually a ridiculously obscure tie-in between that building and Citroen.
The building was constructed in 1929 as the largest tire factory west of the Mississippi by Samson Tire and Rubber Co and was quickly purchased by U.S. Rubber (later Uniroyal), who ran the factory until 1978.
Here’s the Citroen tie-in: in the 1930s Michelin bought the then-bankrupt Citroen company and owned it all or in part until the 1970s. In 1990, Michelin purchased Uniroyal Goodrich, which had operated the now-Citadel tire factory in prior decades. So in a very convoluted way, the Citadel Outlets building is related to Citroen through Michelin, making the Ami 6 parking sign weirdly appropriate for the location.
I hope you took notes because this will be on the final exam.
(The factory-now-Citadel is supposedly designed in the style of Neo-Assyrian King Sargon II’s castle from the 700s BC. It looks like it should have been the set of a Cecil B. DeMille movie. Worth a look if you’re in the area.)
Scribbles notes furiously…
[looks over shoulder]
[Covers papers and looks around suspiciously]
OK, that’s amazingly arcane. How the f do you know this.
When I was a kid, we used to take family trips up the 5 (Santa Ana) Freeway to visit relatives in Los Angeles. The Uniroyal building in its Assyrian style was a major landmark – there’s just nothing else that looks like it and, as a bored kid, you notice stuff like that on long drives.
This article mentioned The Citadel Outlets, which made me wonder whatever happened to Uniroyal. When I looked it up and found out Michelin had bought them, I thought I’d share the obscure joy with my fellow Autopian readers. ‘Tis the season and all that.
You are a gem.
Arcanopia!
That is thoroughly awesome.
We did same, on the way south to Disneyland or wherever. The building is a special part of L.A. and a memorial to a once-great manufacturing industry there including auto and aircraft. I was bummed when talk was of demolition and happy they saved it for –something– at least. The L.A. Times followed the whole process.
At one time in its abandoned state, it caught on fire, and we thought it might be razed. So glad that they were able to restore that famous facade.
Wild. Much appreciated. HNY.
The remodeling of the Citadel gave some nods to the heritage. The signs inside have whitewall tires on top.
Yep, I agree with everyone. A really great article. I delayed eating to read it. Lol
Also, Jason’s description is perfect. Weirdly exact about how I see the Ami. I bet a bunch of others feel the same. He has such an amazing ability to identify the subconscious common reactions most of us have, the uncanny valley kind, and then describe them in such vivid and hilarious ways. It’s why we love his writing so very much. Get well Torchy!
Again, nice work David. Two thumbs up.
This……is why I’m a member. Thank you for the image search rabbit hole I just went down. @torch, your analogies are spot-on, as usual.
If there’s a car that looks like it should’ve been designed and produced by communists in China, it’s this one. Although, just because it was built in France, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t built by communists.
It probably was, as the auto factories were (are?) heavily unionized, and the unions through at least the 1980s were openly communist.
The term doesn’t have the stigma it has in the US.
That said, given how friendly some of the US has been to its former arch enemy, maybe being communist will be trendy here soon.