Cars with History: Citroën Type H

This model is better known from scale models, posters or even a film than from seeing one on the street, yet it really deserves to be brought back to memory for how unusual this van built after the Second World War was, and because in countries like France or the Netherlands it was quite successful, although in Spain it went more unnoticed.

The history of the Citroën Type H begins in 1947, when production started, and it continued until 1981. After the end of the Second World War, France needed commercial vehicles that also had a good load capacity, and that is where the Type H was born. Over this whole period, almost half a million Type H vans were sold. The name is also curious, because from the H designation, a series of variants of the van came out with more or less cargo space depending on the engine it carried, and it was commonly called Citroën HY; other variants with greater load capacity were named HZ or HW.

Over so many years of production, the mechanical side underwent numerous changes. Initially it used the engine of the legendary Citroën 11 CV (also known as the Traction Avant), and over the years, in 1961, it came with a Perkins diesel engine, and in the following years a four-cylinder Indnor, or engines that it would later share with the Citroën DS. The best feature of this van was the front-mounted engine and front-wheel drive, which left a large rear area that was fully usable and above all the rear was very versatile and adaptable to any use.

Only a few units of the Citroën HY reached Spain, but those that did arrive were assembled at the Vigo (Galicia) factory between 1962 and 1965; in total, 426 units were built, destined exclusively for Correos (the Spanish postal service). Today it is difficult to find a van of this type, except those in the hands of collectors.

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Source | Pieldetoro.net forums, Wikipedia, own data