I came across this brilliant vintage Car And Driver first drive review of a 1976 Citroën CX and felt an instant pang of jealousy. French cars have always had a sort of je ne sais quoi that I adore and that sets them apart from all other cars, but Americans never really bought into it. German cars are precise and over-engineered and Japanese cars tend to be a bit dull but very reliable, but French cars tend to be just plain wacky. For whatever reason, French automakers take big risks with styling, design, and even functionality, but those risks and those idiosyncrasies draw some very devoted fans. Take the Citroën DS for example; when it debuted in the 1950s. Not only did it looked totally different from every other vehicle on the road, it did almost everything different than most other cars on the road. It has a devout group of fans including this writer. Replacing the DS was no small task, but the Citroën CX was up to the challenge.
The CX went on sale in the mid-1970s, which was a miserable time for American cars thanks to the gas crisis. American cars were massive beastly boats, and the companies that produced them were totally caught off guard by the concept of fuel efficiency. As this first drive review clearly reflects, the 1976 Citroën CX is a big departure from the cars Americans were used to driving. But from my understanding, it was a departure from the cars that most folks were accustomed to driving, be they American, British, or otherwise. The interior design looks space-age in comparison to most other cars from the ‘70s, with a weird single-split-spoke steering wheel, funky gauges, and non-traditional control placement. You have to read the review to tell just how unusual the CX was.
The CX was a tough sell for Americans, plus it was a tough sell to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Some regulations kept it from being sold in the U.S. until the early ‘80s when a Dutch businessman started CX Automotive and began importing Americanized CXs in low numbers. When it did reach American shores, it sold for around $30,000, which equates to over $85,000 in today’s money. It was comparably priced to luxury cars like Cadillacs back then, but it faced numerous hurdles to becoming mainstream, never really taking off. There have been some whispers of a few French marques returning to U.S. soil, but we have yet to see those plans materialize. Would bringing the quirky, zany French cars to the United States be a smart business move? Realistically no, but I for one am hoping it happens because we need more wacky, weird, and wonderful cars to break up the monotony.
Click here to read a vintage Car And Driver first drive review of the 1976 Citroën CX.
