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Citroen 1979 GS Pallas

Location: Oakland, California, United States
Make: Citroën
Model: ZX
Year: 1979
Mileage: 72,000
VIN: 67GB3263
Color: beige
Engine size: 1129
Number of cylinders: 4
Fuel: Gasoline
Transmission: 4 speed
Interior color: brown
Vehicle Title: Clear

1979 Citroën ZX Description

Great little car here. I have owned it for 9 years, & I'm only selling because I bought another one in a different color. It was just time for a visual change. I like the model enough to drive one daily. I've owned a few over the years. I buy parts on eBay of France, or check with Western Hemispheres in CA for maintenance items.This one has the higher revving & desirable 112, and a taller ring & pinion from an Oltcit ( That cost me $1700 as I had to buy a whole car in France & pay someone to pull the tranny out & ship it to me. ) Love these little cars but they were not geared for American highways. Stock they were unacceptable. Accordingly 1st is now taller, so it's not a great hillclimb car, but if you live on level freeways it's a delight.
Most everything works, even the clock. I'm a ferrari mechanic ( check out my shop eddinsmoto ) & it has has been my personal ride for years. I have fixed stuff that wasn't right. Exhaust, brakes, clutch, gauges, it's a turn key driver. It's had 5 new spheres, fluid flush, new LHM, new belts, & more while I have had it. Tires basically new also.
Problem areas ?
The drivers window comes unglued from the track every three years.It works now, just don’t roll it up too hard, or you get to glue it again.( Love the French designers sometimes..) The paint is a refin in original color. Starting to go a bit flat on the roof, & a paint crack in the left front fender. Right rear brake squeeks sometimes despite a pad change & caliper overhaul. Rust in bottom of right side doors on the outside skins, but door frames & sills are good. No rust on left doors. Some minor rust in floor, but as GS go, this one is real solid. Some suspension patter over bumps. I replaced the upper A arm taper bearings & tie rods & ball joints are good. Lower A arm bushings starting to age. It has all the paperwork & is on a French title. I bought it from a Guy in Maine who had just driven it around Europe. He said Maine doesn't title old cars so he gave me the French title. Warning: If you live in California you cannot title a 1979 car due to CARB, so don't buy it if you live there.
Overall, a great driver. Not a lot of power, but it glides well on freeways. Always starts. Some smoke on startup if it has been sitting & parked on a hill, but runs clean. Oh, the cheap heater switch on the dash lost it's cable so I turn the heat on under the hood for winter & switch it back for summer. I think that's everything. I'll leave with a quote from LJK Setright on the GS:
In his acclaimed “Drive On – a social history of the motor car” L.J.K. Setright – the undisputed authority on just about every aspect of cars, had this to say about the 1970’s era......
The Citroen GS, of that same year, was no rocket, but it shared with the SM the best steering geometry ever built into a production car. Production was what was amazing about the GS: to mass-produce a car with powered hydraulics for self-levelling, ride height, and braking – not to mention a most elegant air-cooled flat four engine, an immensely strong gearbox, an aerodynamically exceptional body, and detail felicities beyond number – would have been beyond the ability of half the world’s mass-producers, and beyond the comprehension of the other half. If the SM demonstrated systems, the GS demonstrated logic, and if the Fiat 128 has been inadequately acknowledged as the most influential car so far, the Citroen GS deserves the appraisal as one of the most meritorious.Zero castor, zero camber, zero kingpin inclination: with so many corruptive influences removed, any messages conveyed by the steering were likely to be true.
Thanks for looking.

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