Dan Trent: Rugged on the Riviera – Citroen Mehari

But the sunshine can do odd things to your judgement. And hence, fresh back from holiday in France, I’m now sitting at my computer looking at adverts for Citroen Meharis. Deluding myself something that looks so effortlessly cool cruising the streets of La Rochelle in the sunshine would have exactly the same allure parked by the canal in Hebden Bridge. Actually, if there is anywhere in the UK you could get away with driving a Mehari without anyone thinking it tragic Hebden Bridge is the place. But I have a nasty feeling a Mehari is very much one of those cars that works in context. But might look a bit wrong out of it.

No matter, a man can dream. And there was plenty of inspiration in the town in which I was staying. Meharis were kind of one of those things I was vaguely aware of up to this point. But I kept seeing this faded green one parked up on my way to the Super U. And it was love. 

It’s hardly a looker in the conventional sense. And even by the standards of French automotive functionalism, it’s brutally basic, the interior looking something like one of those tub-like plastic sledges. With four wheels and a steering wheel. I’d imagine the crash protection is along similar lines as well. Not that you’d attempt going round corners too fast, given that ponderous long-travel suspension. And the very real possibility you’d simply fall out of it. With – at best – around 30bhp there’d be little danger of generating cornering forces that could make that happen, even with a Caterham-like kerb-weight of around half a tonne.

Given I saw quite a few knocking about I reckoned they couldn’t be that rare, estimates putting production at around 150,000 over a 20-year run that ended in 1988. Plenty of bargains to be had a short budget flight away then? Er, no. Because it turns out the hipster cool that’s seen every H Van in the known universe converted into some sort of mobile coffee shop extends to the Mehari. And they’re REALLY expensive.

A couple turned up on my usual starting point of PistonHeads, one being a freshly restored right-hand drive one up for £16,995. I know ugliness is all part of the point but the earlier grille on this car – and the add-on bumpers and kick-plate floor protection – really aren’t very attractive.

Casting the net further it seems there are quite a few for sale in Belgium and Holland. Prices on carandclassic.co.uk seem broadly similar too, most in the mid to high teens. I’d say with a couple of days to spare, 15,000 euros in your back pocket and a trailer to take it home on and you’d be able to view a few and take your pick without straying more than a couple of hours from Calais.

That all sounds far too sensible though. If you’re going to do something daft like spend a five-figure sum on a plastic-bodied 2CV buggy you need to go all-in. Hence my vote would be to book a flight to Milan, head up into the hills near Lake Maggiore and see if this car is as tempting in the reality as it seems in the ad.

It’s a late car with a romantic back story of ownership from new by someone who kept it at their summer villa and used it as a runaround while there. As such it’s done less than 10,000km, though I’m not motivated by that. I’m more into the fact it appears to have a properly faded appearance, the green of the body taking on that bleached hue in contrast to the painted metal parts like the grille. This is one of those cars that looks way, way better with a bit of wear and tear – buying a car like this and seeking to ‘restore’ it to polished perfection is missing the point. And it’s ‘only’ 11,000 euros. Descriptions of holiday romances are often prefixed as ‘doomed’ but in this case, I’d like the chance to prove them all wrong! How much for that one-way ticket to Milan?

Photography courtesy of PistonHeads