Citroën Conservatoire - filming before it closes. Full walkaround - 29 minutes of French car heaven!

[@thomasalbrecht5914]

Having worked with Citroën for 20 years around the turn of the millennium, I have known a lot of these cars and the Conservatoire and its staff back in the day. I tried to support them by dragging quite a number of those cars to Germany to show them at TechnoClassica, the classic car show, between 1998 and 2010, and have heard and retold many of the stories that you hint at in your commentary. It was a time when there was a real buzz around the brand, before the financial crisis of 2008 made a big dent in the sales curve and let to a lot of reorganisation (to which I finally fell victim, but that’s nothing to cry about, looking at what the corporation became later). I was shocked to hear they close it down, but at least officially, it’s not forever, and has more to do with the real estate situation of the ex-Aulnay factory site. Yet having seen the (understandably to a point) ruthless decision making of Stellantis, I can only imagine one good solution, and that’s seeing the collection go to somewhere in France’s less expensive provincial areas. It’s not completely historically correct, since the Citroën brand has always evolved in Paris, but Paris was too expensive even when they were earning good money before the crisis. A particular merit of the Conservatoire is not glossing over the tales of those catastrophic failures that preceded the GS and the CX in the 1960s. Pierre Bercot has a lot to answer for, but whether it’s his fault, is another matter, see the end of my next paragraph. Thank you Ian for this walkthrough, it brought back lots and lots of mostly very good memories, even if the later development gives me a slightly sour aftertaste. I have always been a fan of the brand and have lived the big pressure that the glorious heritage put on those whose day job it was to make and sell new Citroëns to people who always expected the world of every new model, but wanted to buy them at bargain prices. This in itself is probably the essence of the brand, which had its roots in cheap mass production and got its “avant-garde” reputation mostly because Citroën’s long time owners Michelin wanted to keep selling tyres to the competitors of its very own car brand, and did so by deliberately making cars that wouldn’t appeal to the same customers. I believe André Citroën himself only wanted to make cars that could stay in production for longer and thus save money in the long run, but he lost his company at the first attempt, the Traction Avant. Michelin took full advantage of the “mad genius” brand image that resulted from his gamble, both by taking control of the company, and by keeping it out of the way of full on competition with people they sold tyres to.

[@lukemallory7832]

Very interesting read, thanks for taking the time to write it! It's a shame to see all the old car brands disappear..

[@peterriggall8409]

So glad you got there before it closed Ian. Mind blowing. Surely they will not break up this collection. An important part of France’s history.

[@JoeSniffy]

They are erasing everything in France . Absolutly everything must disapear as soon as possible ...

[@JoeSniffy]

American's politics are responsable for all the pilliage. They steal everything from their colonies ... I know you dont like that but that is the truth . I am french unfortunatly and i could give you tens of exemples .

[@Skoda130]

Why does it close? And does it close permanently?

[@TKay-mq8ed]

These are sad times for citroen enthusiasts. Your voice said it all....

[@CauliflowerMcPugg]

A sad but very interesting walkabout. Let's hope this collection gets to live again.

[@mystisith3984]

Thanks for honoring & sharing this wonderful French car patrimoine. Probably the most iconic car brand, for good reasons. There are truly priceless treasures in here & I hope the collection won't be sold & scattered...

[@Carmalarky]

0% boredom. So many interesting cars! 99 minutes would still be heaven. Hope this collection will be shared somewhere else.

[@spicydragon3881]

Thank you for allowing us to take this wonderful tour, through the much storied Citroen history with you. It is truly wonderful to see them all in one place, all of the different quirky and innovative designs. Thank you again for sharing and keeping the spirit of all of these old cars alive.

[@Jam3sA]

I've got a tear 😢 in my eye. Hubnut very melancholic at the end of the video. I sincerely hope that the collection can stay together in a new location

[@nomebear]

An amalgamation of brilliance representing millions of hours of Hautes Ingénieur. I'm excited you were able to video the collection and release it. Thank you many times over from the U.S.

[@anthonystevens8683]

What a wonderful video Ian. I knew Citroen were very experimental but seeing all those prototype was amazing. It's sad times that it's closing its doors. Many thanks for sharing. At least for those of us who cannot be there you have kindly recorded it.

[@multislipful]

Thank you so much - I am in Citröen heaven ! I do hope that these cars all remain together and resurface in another museum one day. Great and hugely worthwhile video. Well done Ian !

[@K_Bizz]

I visited Paris for the first time last year, with a visit to the Conservatoire pretty much top of my to-do list. I was heartbroken to find out that they were only accepting pre-booked tour groups of a minimum size, and am now even more heartbroken to know I'll never get the chance to see the colleciton at all. Terrible shame and I desperately hope the collection survives.

[@HubNut]

Hopefully they will manage to build a proper museum.

[@lutzmaeder6181]

I try to assable all theses cars as models in all scales. lots of them I owne. but most of these cars are not availabal as modesl. Sorry. Lutz Maeder, Germany

[@Isaki138]

This reminds me of Volvo's museum that also closed forever. 2 former creative brands, now dead.

[@LeifDjurfeldt]

yep, that was also a very sad day here in gothemburg :/

[@niklaswejedal463]

But it is replaced by the new "World of Volvo", which will display way more stuff than the old museum had room for - and closer to the center of Gothenburg as well, not way out in the harbour. A big improvement. Will visit some time this summer, I think.

[@MA9494AM]

@@niklaswejedal463 World of Volvo is not a museum in the same way though, it's more of a brand experience center.

[@cambridgemart2075]

One of the factories that built them is still making cars, sadly the tribute to the old cars is just a series of photos,

[@Juergen_K]

Just wanted to say thank you very much for showing this to us before it was closed down. What a place!

[@theroadahead6033]

Thanks Hubnut for the great film👍 Let's hope we see these fabulous Citroëns again soon🙌

[@icascone]

What an amazing museum! It's remarkable how car manufactures are starting to not care about their own legacy!! :(

[@JohnSmith-pl2bk]

The accountants don't car if the brand name sells cars of refrigerators. Bottom line.... that's the only thing that counts.

[@coldwarmotors]

What a collection! Sad to hear it is closing; I hope the cars find good homes...I definitely saw a few I'd like! Cheers from Canada...

[@stephenholland5930]

I can see you in an Ami 6, Scott. 😉

[@davidwardle5]

Talk about kid in a sweet shop! Fantastic film - and plenty of wiper mentions which I always enjoy!

[@scottishcarenthusiastsandtrain]

A fantastic video of so many amazing Citroen's, thanks for taking the time to visit and film.

[@jfv65]

You should visit the Peugeot museum in Sochaux and also the Bugatti museum in Mulhouse. Both in the Elzas region which is lovely for a holiday as well.

[@HubNut]

Both very much on my hit list.

[@jorgefernandez-mv8hu]

Thanks for taking us on this wonderful tour. Such beautiful cars.

[@dungbetel]

What a place! Hope they find a home for all those unique models.

[@allanmollison6971]

Thanks for sharing this Ian, much appreciated 😊👍

[@felipesancho]

Una hermosa colección! Gracias por mostrar!

[@wirdy1]

Thanks for doing this for those of us who will never get to see this collection in person. You excel at this type of video; watching you doing your own fixing, not so much.

[@bimmerwman]

We don't get Citroen here in the U.S. anymore. This company really looks like they have a lot of fun designing their cars.

[@danieltaylor3755]

Incredible video full of breath taking innovations.

[@romac9516]

Amazing little tour, the Projet L is intriguing, it resembles a Peugeot to my eyes

[@daniellee9015]

Absolutely fantastic video ian ❤👍what a beautiful collection I've never seen so many beautiful cars in one place brilliant

[@arieplomp8906]

Realy a shame that they are closing! What an amazing collection ! It appears to be a trend of closing museums! Fiat museum closed, Volvo museum closed! Now Citroën! But thanks for taking us Ian to this wonderful collection! 👍🏻👍🏻🆙

[@lukemallory7832]

This is a great video for posterity. Cheers Ian.

[@misterthegeoff9767]

Makes me laugh that Trevor Fiore changed his surname to sound more exotic and presumably Italian but decided that sticking with the Trevor was just fine.

[@stuarthannay3370]

Was he a relative of Vim Fuego, lead singer of 80's heavy metal band 'Bad News'?

[@2Wheels4Wheels.]

​@@stuarthannay3370*other cleaning products are available

[@dipling.pitzler7650]

He should have gone full throttle with the name to TVR Fiore!

[@cliffthelightning]

Trevor Frost sounds pretty cool actually, its like the movie Due date where that struggling actor changed his name from Ethan Chase too Ethan Tremblay because he thought it sounded more exotic.

[@mossfoster5317]

Man they really have it all. Didn't think half these cars existed anymore let alone the fact you are (were) able to see them. What a terrible shame it's closing

[@ibrarsiddiqi8948]

I love Citroens, the 2cv when i was a schoolboy was bought by social workers and at my age would love one for slower pace of life.

[@mattwalker4034]

Awesome video. How times have changed. The design input on these cars were so unique. Now we everything look so similar and bland

[@gafrers]

Amazing. Thank you for this amazing tour.👏👏💯💯👍👍 The GT.C1 i remember it from an actual paper car magazine. 😍 2CV Cross is Great.

[@BT-pz4ul]

Wonderful!!! Thanks for the video. Love these old Citroën. I miss my 2cv so much.

[@alansmith1770]

Great video Ian glad you enjoyed your visit

[@collinhunter9792]

absolutely bloody amazing. thank you very much, ian. i hope wen all hat is packed up, nothing goes missing and it all survives and gets packed up securely. this needs to last till the end of time.....seriously. i cannot believe it has to close and nowhere for it to go. GEES

[@johanwejedaldesign]

Such a marvellous collection! Only thing I can complain about is the way they are displayed. I wish Citroën gave this treasure trove of cars a better home, in style of, say The World of Volvo, the Porsche museum or the Alfa Romeo Museum to name but a few. Just parking the side by side in a warehouse is a bit sad looking. Still - I NEED to go to this place. Thanks for a great video!

[@gg_vard]

Also love the long car collection videos, your knowledge shines through!

[@chrisbury4635]

Brilliant place that I've always wanted to visit, full of "Real Citroen's" let's pray it's preserved somewhere else 🙏🏻

[@davidhinkson8856]

I was looking forward to a more detailed tour of this museum given your love for this marque. Citroen was truly an innovative company even in more recent times, and again I hope another facility will be opened to house these cars.

[@mennorombouts8479]

Thank you for sharing this amazing and beautifull peace of culture

[@martinneumann7783]

I do agree: this is French car heaven. Thanks for the pictures, Ian. See you soon »»» Martin 🚗⚡️🔥💨🇫🇷

[@GadgetyMV]

The C5 Convertible would have been a really nice glide.

[@Kevin_Hones]

Excellent but sad. A world concentration of the essence of ‘because French’. I hope it does return one day.

[@DrivingSander1970]

Quite an enjoyable tour through history! Thanks Ian. Great video!

[@filiannuzzi5871]

Thank you Ian. Really enjoyed that. 😊

[@Synthematix]

I have always loved citroens styling

[@19892CV]

I love the blue Panhard looking car

[@simonit99]

Great to see this, sad that it is closing

[@waynekerrgoodstyle]

Most of the concept vehicles look amazing too me.

[@Invisibleman7]

Thanks Ian. Too many favourites to mention. BX 4TC though, ooof

[@dougodyssey50]

Oh happy day!! What a perfect video.

[@gg_vard]

What a collection Old Citroens are just lovely Also, based on the FAF project with Mehari-2CV mechanicals was the famous greek car, the NAMCO Pony

[@HubNut]

Indeed. There is a Pony somewhere in the UK.

[@bryanjohnson5597]

Thank you so much! I never dreamed that Citroen had so many vehicles.

[@-DC-]

Absolutely love what Citroen used to be the Collection is amazing and deserves to be shown off proudly 🫶

[@thatcheapguy525]

thanks Ian, so many gems. and thanks for tidying my head on those early Peugeot era Citroens, the Axel and original Ami. really really interesting stuff.

[@bondbug73]

Thanks for the interesting tour Ian. Citroen have designed the most stunning cars. Citroen are more adventurous for off piste than certain German manufacturers who play it safe.

[@bentandre5524]

great tour, thank you

[@vinylrulesok8470]

Citroen are hands down the most interesting car brand and my personal favourite. I owned a GS, my uncle had a DS, my dad had a C5. They made such interesting cars

[@alansharp1528]

A great vid, and a grand tour. Thank you.

[@ForeverNeverwhere1]

I've owned a lot of the car models in that museum, some multiple times. It always seems weird seeing cars I used to own in museums. 57 and 60 2 CV, 84 GS estate ( Cottage) 69 Mahari, HY van, 3 traction 11s ( came with a house), early and late DS including a long door Chapron, ax, 84 and 88 BX, BX sport, , 88 CX estate, Visa, c15, C25 , And finally an SM. And I am a vw nut, not a Citroen one. Surprised not to see a Slough built Bijou though, I once found part of one in a scrap yard in the mid 80s , well, my friend did, he was a 2cv nut, he was almost crying. We spent the day looking in vain for the rest, west Drayton or Heston way I think, so maybe left over parts from the Slough factory.

[@PatrikPakard]

My two favourite car brands : Citroën and Alfa Romeo. They both lost their souls during the last decades. Great video by the way.

[@UPnDOWN]

Gutted I couldn't go down there with you, but luckily I've been before. The crazy thing is there are many more cars in the collection, stored out the back. They get rotated every now and then. I went in 2016 and there are cars missing which I saw (including, I think, the grey Charleston you mention) and there are cars there which I never saw, either.

[@craigyllyn]

You really hit the right note with this one. Very difficult to celebrate and feel sorrow at the same time. But you did. Would be a travesty if it was to be split. Let’s hope they’ll get a new centre. Brilliant stuff. Sir. PS Poppy Kate’s… good call. Went today 👍👍

[@tomoreilly9932]

You've got to love citroen for not just putting out blocks with wheels on, they like to experiment.

[@cornishhh]

A lot to take in there, and you're really showing your Citroen knowledge. I'm pretty sure that shade of green was only used on Slough built cars.

[@tonysargent7787]

another great video has always Ian and Carly miss/mrs hubnut and hublets and hubmutt 👍

[@gefthetalkingmongoose]

I never realised that Citroens had used A / B / C / D prefixes for their models all the way back a hundred years or more. Of course there was also X / Z later - I'd love to see video about their naming scheme(s).

[@michaelwright2986]

I was at car imprinting age at the time of XK140s and DB4s (and one of my contemporaries had a Riley RME), but I've reached an age when the only old car I would find worth the effort would be a DS. They are just so timeless.

[@tristanpage6805]

Great content again

[@lawrence5117]

A fascinating video Ian, thanks. I run a 2009 C1 which I bought new.

[@giuliopedrali4794]

Amazing! The saloon on the cover of this video the Projet L, seems a mix of Citroen and Peugeot, is a CX / 504 but seems also one of the prototype of Renault 20 / 30 : in this prototype there are all the french car makers...

[@iconicshrubbery]

I had just commented it looked like a squashed R20

[@roqueiii645]

Citroen always Citroen

[@micheltebraake7915]

Where one car museum opens, another unfortunately closes. Hopefully this collection will resurface in a beautiful location.

[@2760ade]

The problem is, that collection is absolutely massive! I think they'd need a couple of decent sized aircraft hangars to house it! Wonder what they will do with all the vehicles in the meantime! Hope it does re-emerge at some point though.

[@JDStoneCreations]

Pah, terrible! They don’t have an XM estate 😂 Great whistle stop tour, quick but surprisingly thorough! It is a shame it’s closing (even having only just learnt it exists…). I hope they find a new home that reopens!

[@dominiccook12]

what a collection, sad it will not reappear

[@HubNut]

Hopefully it will in time.

[@pierreinuk]

FAF equals "Facile à Fabriquer" (easy to build)

[@Retroscoop]

Or Facile à Financer...

[@leonvanderlinde5580]

I miss 1 car. The 9/12 seater estate in the DS class.

[@hopkin2006]

They should have opened this museum to the public. Hello from Singapore!

[@nikolaslarson6891]

Brilliant video!

[@LatteLover]

You're doing a real public service with these videos, my friend 👍

[@niklaswejedal463]

Ah, there is some bucket-list stuff right there - hopefully back to be on my bucket-list soon enough and in a better space - this collection deserves the best! I realise I have seen quite a few of the concept cars on various car shows, especially those between 1986-2010. The 2000 Osmose was a favorite (still remember the cheesy song they played at the Citroën-stand at the Mondiale de l'Automoblie Paris to advertise their funky new concept! 😅) and the C-Airdream and Airlounge was amazing too. Activa had a huge impact on 13-year old me back in the day - saw it at the 1998 Mondiale, where they commemorated the centinery of the show. You missed to show the 19-19 concept, but it doesn't matter; I have a 1/43 replica of it right in front of me... Also, as much as I love the classic big Citroëns, I have a weird craving for an Acadiane and a C15... never driven either of them, but they speak to me in a profound way, somehow.

[@humansloth2]

Thank you! 💪🙂👍

[@jennyd255]

Lovely video. I'm in Paris next week so I may even see if I can get in on one of the last few days. Slightly surprised that there weren't more xantias on show, probably my favourite of the three citroens that I have owned.

[@lesklower7281]

Great tour of the Citroen vehicle museum now one thing is l have never seen a 2CV in the tin but l have seen two Citroen H vans one is parked permanently in Darling St Balmain as a Florist and the other was in a company that prints large decals and it was used in a youghurt commercial and those 4 door SMs never new they came in a four door now l know and all Citroens are so unconventional in a good way

[@aston-martin-internationalist]

So gutted this place is closing. Whilst I'm in France next week, I will be nowhere near this! Wish I'd known about it before. Thanks for bringing it alive though! ☺️

[@kaitlyn__L]

The second half of the video, with all the prewar styling, makes me think about Poirot :)

[@PaddyWV]

I remember being in Paris when I was 5 or 6 and being rather scared of the Ami 6's face. I'm glad they made it prettier later on. Both a grandparent and an Uncle had Ami estates.

[@MJ-eo1wk]

The gtc1 was built by Sbarro and his students. The same designer of that 6 wheeled cruise crosser. Theyve done some crazy builds but you have to check out their Picasso build (if you search Sbarro picasso). I remember the picasso and the C1 being in modifying magazines back in the late 00s.

[@paulie-Gualtieri.]

Renault and Peugeot Museums next

[@NenadTrajkovic]

Great video! Citroens produced in Yugoslavia, in Slovenia, in the Cimos factory in Koper are missing...

[@HubNut]

Sadly so. We saw a fine display of them at the Croatia 2CV World Meeting.

[@percyob1]

Wonderful vids, sir. Fair play, Citroen have made some of the most beautiful cars ever made. Shame to hear of the closure of the Conservatoire ;-(

[@johnboxxy3432]

I heard a story that when the DS Citroens where used in rallies they disconnected the linkage that turned the headlights with the steering because the lights faced the wrong way when they cornered on opposite lock .

[@bentullett6068]

Great collection. The Japanese/French Citroën/Peugeot link has been quite a common one in recent years as they have dealt with both Toyota and Mitsubishi to build cars. Last one's i think will be the C1/107's as they are soon to be dropped from the Citroën range. Sad times as I like small thrashy 3 cylinder cars.

[@kromek_jga]

Now You have a big thrashy 3 cylinder cars... Sad that the brand belongs to a very large corporation and is managed by an accountant for whom only numbers and numbers count.

[@DORE848]

Thanks for your video 😮

[@RWBHere]

Such a crying shame that this collection is being closed down. It may never reappear in its full glory.