zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Culture
/
This Collapsable Citroën HY-Van Is A Solution To A Problem You'll Pretend To Have Just To Own It
This Collapsable Citroën HY-Van Is A Solution To A Problem You'll Pretend To Have Just To Own It-July 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:12:51

Citroën HY-vans are wonderful, charming, garden shed-like workhorses, and while now they tend to be most often seen as twee coffee and food trucks, they have a long history of doing Real Work, and, sometimes, that Real Work required some modifications. Those modifications often made an already flexible and useful vehicle into something even more clever, but this takes it to an entirely new level.

This van, for sale on , was used by the French fire department as a mobile field hospital from 1970 to around 1999 or so, when it was sold to a Spanish company that seemed to want to use it as some kind of vending truck, which is when that pop-open counter area was added.

But, before that, this thing was a hardworking mobile hospital, a job which, as you can imagine, both interior space and easy, rapid maneuverability would be incredibly important. That’s why this particular modification is so perfect and incredible.

The bodywork was done by a company called Filca France, a company known for their novel approach to modifying vans, using technology that seems to have been borrowed from the dresser drawer industry.

Image for article titled This Collapsable Citroën HY-Van Is A Solution To A Problem You'll Pretend To Have Just To Own It

Filca would take Citroën vans, convert them into pickup trucks, then build van-like rear modules that the pickup would slide in and out of. These modules would have an extra axle at the rear that could be locked so the truck part could slide in and out, and the module could be left in place while the truck did other stuff—say if you were setting up a fruit vending stand at a market all day.

It’s sort of like having a truck and trailer, but even better, especially when it comes to driving around in tighter urban environments.

Image for article titled This Collapsable Citroën HY-Van Is A Solution To A Problem You'll Pretend To Have Just To Own It

Look how cool these things are! Look at this version above—you can have this cool little stumpy pickup that slides into a camper/van module or slides out and has its own canvas top for the rear, which has seats in the bed area! I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything like this!

Back to this mobile hospital, though.

Image for article titled This Collapsable Citroën HY-Van Is A Solution To A Problem You'll Pretend To Have Just To Own It

It’s a little different than the usual Filca build becuase the base vehicle isn’t a pickup truck design, but an enclosed van in its own right, and it’s the rear module that kind of sleeves into the front van module in this case, creating a sort of telescoping-like mechanism.

Image for article titled This Collapsable Citroën HY-Van Is A Solution To A Problem You'll Pretend To Have Just To Own It

The result is a van that can have a staggering amount of interior volume when parked, while being a very manageable size when compacted into the driving configuration. Look how much room is in this thing when all expanded:

Image for article titled This Collapsable Citroën HY-Van Is A Solution To A Problem You'll Pretend To Have Just To Own It

That’s a lot of room.

It’s for sale for $45,000, and while it’s still got plenty of patina in the body, all of the mechanicals have been gone over extensively, so it should run well, at least if you can get your brain to wrap around this mirror-universe shift pattern:

Image for article titled This Collapsable Citroën HY-Van Is A Solution To A Problem You'll Pretend To Have Just To Own It

HY-Vans are so unashamedly mechanical and straightforward, which is what I love about them. Every fastener is on display, every seam and support and component is right there for you to inspect and understand.

Image for article titled This Collapsable Citroën HY-Van Is A Solution To A Problem You'll Pretend To Have Just To Own It

It’s one of those rare cars that has so much style as a result of zero attempts to style it at all. It’s a metal expression of French engineering logic, rational and clever and weird all at the same time.

Image for article titled This Collapsable Citroën HY-Van Is A Solution To A Problem You'll Pretend To Have Just To Own It

Someone should get this and make it into an amazing camper, or a mobile...well, anything really, just get it out there in the world and find reasons to drive it and park it and expand it and use it as much as possible.

Why spend $45,000 on some overdone F-150?

(thanks, skwimjim!)

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Culture
Cop Flips Pregnant Woman's Car While She Tries To Pull Over Safely
Cop Flips Pregnant Woman's Car While She Tries To Pull Over Safely
A woman in Arkansas is suing a State Police trooper who flipped her vehicle while she was trying to find a safe place to pull over. She wants to change how and when the police department applies the PIT maneuver against drivers and fleeing suspects. The dashcam video released this...
Jul 9, 2025
Watch This Hot Wheels Collector Make A Civic Type R Owner's Day (Update: Original Video Post And User)
Watch This Hot Wheels Collector Make A Civic Type R Owner's Day (Update: Original Video Post And User)
I know that it’s easy to be a cynic when it comes viral videos—and toys, entertainment and even cars. But it’s impossible not to have at least a little soft spot for Hot Wheels. These die-cast cars are bite-sized versions of some of our favorite real cars and I still...
Jul 9, 2025
There's A Big Problem Buying A Used EV
There's A Big Problem Buying A Used EV
There’s plenty of consumer protection around any used car’s mileage, but a key part of electric cars’ life story — the condition of its battery — isn’t. All that and more in for June 9, 2021. As anyone with an old laptop of phone knows, battery life deteriorates over...
Jul 9, 2025
Blip: Advanced Cramming
Blip: Advanced Cramming
I’ve never been ashamed of my difficult trunk fetishes, which is why I appreciate when car brochures go out of their way to demonstrate exactly how you can pack the crap out of a tiny and/or weird-shaped trunk. The folded backseat part is easy, whatI’m impressed with is the...
Jul 9, 2025
The Mazda RX-Evolv Concept Was A Funkier, Earlier Incarnation Of The RX-8
The Mazda RX-Evolv Concept Was A Funkier, Earlier Incarnation Of The RX-8
Welcome to another installment of , a series here at Jalopnik where we flip through the pages of history to explore long-forgotten concepts and how they had a hand in shaping the cars we know today. Although it might’ve seemed inevitable in hindsight, the 's existence wasn’t guaranteed from...
Jul 9, 2025
Bugatti Made A Bugatti Slightly Slower Than The Last Fast Bugatti
Bugatti Made A Bugatti Slightly Slower Than The Last Fast Bugatti
There’s a new slow/fast Bugatti in town, as the slightly-less-than Super Sport 300+ model, called simply Super Sport, is finally reaching production now in time for delivery sometime next year. The 3.9 million dollar W16 hypercar feels like an absolute dinosaur in today’s automotive landscape. It’s big, heavy, and...
Jul 9, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved