Those of you who know me, likely know one crucial thing about me: I like my French station wagons like I like my romantic partners: filthy, covered in bird shit, and modified in unexpected and exciting ways. That’s probably why I find myself so taken by this Citroën ID Break for sale in Stockholm. These big Citroën wagons are already absolute automotive masterpieces as they are, but this particular one seems to have been carefully and deliberately modified on its dashboard, and while some purists might balk, I think whoever did this actually managed to improve this ID, and kept it all in the Citroën family, too. Let’s take a look.
If you don’t feel like clicking on a Facebook link because you know that when you do, microscopic Mark Zuckerbergs materialize and lay their eggs in your molars and you don’t want that, I have some safe screenshots here:
I should not that I was tipped off about this wonderful wagon by this tweet from everyone’s car-friend Antii:
For sale in Sweden. Never seen that dash on a DS/ID, but it has the correct silhouette in it! Custom or a rarity? https://t.co/oV5k31y5SM pic.twitter.com/Hmo4Lreosh
— Antti ”Diesel-Antti” Kautonen (@julkinen) February 24, 2023
Look at that lovely, filthy thing! Look past all the bird turds and there’s a long, majestic hydropneumatically-suspended station wagon under there. Now, what makes this particular ID so interesting can be seen in the interior pics. Look:
See what I’m excited about? Maybe not, huh. One moment. COMPUTER! Zoom and enhance! NOW!
Okay, that’s a bit better. Look at that instrument cluster! It’s fantastic, right? But here’s the thing – that’s not a normal ID or DS instrument cluster! No, those usually look like this:
It’s cool and all, and pretty quirky with that one-spoke steering wheel, but pretty conventional instrument-wise, with round analog gauges with needles and generally conventional in appearance and operation. Same goes for the car’s various controls, switches, knobs, and so on. But that one in the ad! It’s like a motherflapping spaceship, right?
Well, there’s a reason for that. It’s because that whole instrument cluster is lifted from the very spaceship-like Citroën GSA:
Look what’s going on there! Speedometer and tach are both those amazing little spinning drums under the magnifying lenses, the controls are all on those two little pepper-grinder-shaped side modules, which Citroën called satellites or lunules, and there’s a big screen with all the warning lamps but integrated into a schematic diagram of the car, kind of like those big displays you see on Star Trek spaceships. And that’s the detail that’s really incredible, because whomever did this adaptation – no, upgrade, I’m calling it an upgrade – took the considerable time and effort to make an all-new car side line drawing of the ID Break and integrate it into the instrument cluster!
Holy shit, right? The GSA’s instrument cluster and dash controls feels right at home in the similarly spaceshippic environment of the ID, and seems like the sort of update Citroën might have made to the ID had it not been replaced by other cars. It just works, and I love that someone agreed with this idea so much they went through all this effort to modify this ID accordingly.
I hope some appreciative Swede buys this thing, cleans off all the bird shit, and drives it around with pride, gleefully looking at this incredible dashboard and feeling like they’re the captain of the USS Badass.
Good work, whomever you are.
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I had the opportunity to buy a DS19 (1965) when I was 17, for $2,500. It would have been my first car, but my parents wouldn’t have let me do it at the time. They are worth a fortune now!
This site makes me want to buy all sorts of interesting and unique cars, such as a Honda Element and a Citroen. There are already too many at my house, and not enough time to care for them.
Spicy take:
I’m as big of a wagon fan as there is, but I must say the DS is 100% better looking than the ID. I’ll own one of these someday, but it’ll be a DS for sure.