Rosalie
Pre-war cars rarely appear in this section, but now it’s time again. Today we focus on a Citroën Rosalie that has been transformed into a Hot Rod .
There is no real thing as ‘the Citroën Rosalie’, because in essence we are talking about a whole series of cars. You could get a Citroën Rosalie as an 8 CV, 10 CV or 15 CV to begin with, and then have the choice of a two- or four-door, and with the 10 CV and 15 CV a long or a short version. But there were also versions with hard and soft tops, and there were even delivery versions and cars with an open driver’s section and a closed passenger compartment. Yes, the car market of 1933 looked very different, but there was certainly no shortage of choice.
Those exhausts betray that there is something special in the nose.
Our knowledge of the Rosalie is a bit rusty, but we suspect that we have an 8 CV Berline in front of us here. It could also be a 10 CV. At least, that’s what it once was, the car has been considerably modified. The type designation is not really worth much anymore, because the original power of this Rosalie is miles away from the current power. Instead of a 32 or 36 hp four-cylinder, there is a 218 hp 3.0 V8 here. The M60 B30, an engine that you could order new in the BMW 5-series and 7-series in the 90s. You can bet that this makes this Rosalie a particularly potent senior citizen. To reinforce the subcutaneous upgrade, the car has also been clearly dressed up a bit with more aggressive running boards and sportier wheels underneath. The engine compartment has also been expanded somewhat, presumably to give the V8 enough space.
It has to be your taste, but it is in any case a nice original combination like this. You almost never come across a Rosalie in public, let alone one like this. It happened to Koen Smit, whom we of course thank heartily for sharing the photos. The owner seems to be quite fond of it, because the 92-year-old Citroën has been with its first Dutch owner for 13 years. The car was previously on Belgian registration, it is possible that the conversion only happened here in the Netherlands.
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