Meet The Owner – Chris Salter and his Citroën GSA X1

I am the second owner and bought her over 25 years ago. Last year, I took her to Spain via Monte Carlo, and she clocked 100,000 miles just as she drove into Arommanches in Normandy. She is a car that I am certainly not scared to use and a good European tourer. I will never sell her!

It is the autumn of 1982, and you are a suave, sophisticated motorist who cannot wait for Channel 4 to start broadcasting and regards Dire Straits as the epitome of music. Citroen has the ideal car for such a discerning motorist – the GSA X1. Alloy wheels, front and rear spoilers, front fog lamps, a slightly lower final drive ratio and cutting a dash at the local bistro could be all yours for £4,998. Chris Salter, the well-known connoisseur of French cars, owns one of three survivors believed to remain in use: https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/citroen_gsa_xi

Citroën launched the original GS in August 1970, and its hydropneumatic suspension was a first for a car in this class; drivers had a choice of three height settings. There were also inboard disc brakes fore and aft and distinctive two-box styling from Robert Orpon. It became Car of the Year 1971 ahead of the Volkswagen K70 and Citroën’s own SM, and at one stage the GS was the best-selling car in France.

The GS’s styling appeared ideal for a hatchback version, but Citroën's CEO, Pierre Bercot, apparently regarded such bodywork as too utilitarian. It would not be until July 1979 that the company introduced the facelifted GSA with a tailgate, a revised interior and large plastic bumpers. The new version was three inches longer than its predecessor, and Citroën commissioned a splendid Gordon Jackson-voiced commercial to alert ITV viewers to its virtues:

What Car found the GSA Pallas “too eccentric” compared with the Vauxhall Astra, Volkswagen Golf and Volvo 345, but this was a quality the average Citroën buyer praised. As for the X1, the brochure proclaimed it “the most aerodynamically efficient mass-production car in the world” and the 1,299cc OHC engine was capable of 101 mph. A five-speed gearbox was a further sales feature.

Nineteen eighty-two was, of course, also the year of the new BX, but GSA production continued until 1986. It is hard to think of a direct rival to the X1 42 years ago, as it seemed to stand apart from the Golf, the Escort, the Astra, the Talbot Horizon and the Volvo 300. By 1983, British Leyland offered the MG Maestro, but that was a different form of sporting five-door, while the GSA X1 was a boulevard cruiser in miniature.

And it really would have been the ideal car for a motorist with Love over Gold taking pride of place in their album collection.

With thanks to Chris Salter for his time and permission to use the images in this blog.