Citroen LNA - the forgotten 80s budget French classic car!

Citroen LNA

In the Citroen GS video we recently put out, we discussed the Citroen Peugeot merger and building on that, it seemed a great place to slot in the Citroen LNA.

Now the story began in 1976, the LN which preceded the LNA was launched at the Paris Salon and was then available to the buying public in 1977.

However, it wasn’t all Citroen’s work like many of the cars loved by Citroen fanatics - it was the first car since the takeover - and Citroen fans were a little taken aback. This new car, aside from the engine, was Peugeot through and through.

The bodyshell of the 104 was used and teamed up with a 32bhp variant of the Citroen flat twin. It became even more Peugeot with the LNA, which was fitted with the 50bhp 1124cc 4 cylinder Peugeot engine.

If you’re wondering why Citroen die hards were so outraged, it’s worth noting that a lot of this outrage stemmed from a promise which had been made at the merger: despite the two brands sitting under the same roof, they were still separate beasts. It seemed like at the first hurdle, the customers had been lied to.

A flimsy excuse at the time was that the LN and LNA served the purpose of giving the budget buyer a Citroen they’d they’d find attractive, but surely Citroen fans replied, is that not what cars like the 2CV and Ami 8 do well already?

The LN was never available in the UK - we only got the LNA which you see before us today. The LN had done so well in France and other European countries and in the UK, it was just, well, it didn’t hit the mark quite like it should’ve. I talk later about why I think that might be.

Which is a shame because it offered the budget conscious buyer an attractive prospect with an air of simplicity: you got decent mileage of between 49 and 60 miles per gallon depending on your driving, a fairly respectable top speed of 87mph, a decent enough turning circle of 29 feet and even a six year anti-corrosion guarantee.

Citroen describe it in their sales brochures as one of the toughest babies on the market with resin-based paintwork and an anti-corrosion schedule especially designed for the UK weather and the salt on the roads - which when you look at other budget cars of this era - is a special promise indeed.

There are other promises too including seat compliance tuned to the car’s suspension, two speed wipers, electric screen wash, heated rear window and brake fluid light. The rear view mirror was also anti dazzle.

There were two models available for UK market which were the E and the RE - this is an E which can be determined at a quick glance by lack of some of the RE extras such as the electric windows, illuminated heater controls and quartz clock. The RE was fitted with the same engine and gearbox as the E, so there was no speed advantages gained by speccing up.

The car’s 1124cc engine was paired with a 4 speed transmission unit - no automatic Is mentioned in the brochure - and has independent suspension on all 4 wheels with dual circuit brakes with drums to rear. The RE was servo assisted as standard.

All in all, a lot for the money and a missed bargain for the British public, especially in light of what the competition offered as standard.