Car Citroën TYPE H Police COBI 24630 - Action Town 1:35

Did you know:

• The development of the van nicknamed "TUB" began in occupied France already in 1942 under strict secrecy from the Nazis.
• The entire project was supervised by the famous French automobile designer André Lefèbvre, who also created the Citroën Traction.
• The first prototype had to be tested on the road, but due to a shortage of petrol, everything had to be postponed.
• The public unveiling of the new vehicle took place in 1947 at the Paris Motor Show.
• The body of the vehicle was self-supporting, and Citroën increased its strength simply by pressing a number of corrugations into thin steel sheets. The inspiration came from German Junkers aircraft.
• Thus was born a van with a unique appearance and a square "nose," which many French people called Belmondo.
• Shortly after the war, there was a shortage of everything, and many parts therefore came from older models such as the Traction Avant and 2CV. Steering wheels for the first series were even produced as early as 1920 and were simply pulled out from forgotten warehouses.
• Mass production ran from 1948. The Citroën company had no money for advertising, and in fact, it wasn’t even necessary. In 1948, several Type H vans participated in the Tour de France cycling race as support vehicles, where they immediately gained enormous popularity.
• The van became so popular that all kinds of versions were produced: flatbed truck, ambulance, fire department, police, postal service, butcher’s, florist’s, double cab, and also police modifications.
• In France, the Type H was used, for example, by the Prefecture of Police in Paris (Préfecture de Police), mainly in the 1960s and 1970s as escort vehicles for events, for marking, traffic control, or as intervention vehicles, for transport, or as response units for accidents and incidents in the city. No French feature film with a crime plot was complete without this vehicle.
• Police officers called the van “panier à salade” (“salad bowl”).
• With only minimal changes, the van was produced until 1981.
• In nearly 35 years, over 500,000 units were produced in various versions.
• Even today, the legendary van is so popular that it is possible to buy a special kit of parts and components to convert a modern Citroën Jumper van into the Type H model, and demand is huge.
• In the 1970s and 1980s, Citroën vans were a common sight on the beaches of the Côte d’Azur, adding to the sunny summer atmosphere. Today, such a vehicle is rather a rarity.

Technical specifications:

• production: 1948 - 1981 France
• dimensions: length 4.28 m, width 2.00 m, height 2.43 m
• weight 1400 kg
• power unit: 4-cylinder engine type 7814 with a capacity of 1628 cm³ and output of 29 kW
• number of gears: 3 forward and 1 reverse
• from 1955: hydropneumatic suspension
• fuel tank capacity: 60 l
• fuel consumption: 13 l/100 km
• maximum speed: 90 km/h
• acceleration from 0 to 88 km/h in 48 s
• number of seats: 2

 
From the memories of police commissioner Lucien Aimé-Blanc:

"As a young police officer, I was deployed with five other colleagues in the center of Paris to maintain order before a planned strike of dissatisfied train drivers. The streets were calm, and it was clear that this day would pass without any incidents. At the end of our shift, we boarded our H-van when a breathless patrolman ran up to us, gasping to report that a boutique on Avenue Montaigne in the 8th arrondissement had just been robbed. We immediately set off for the scene. When we reached the intersection leading to the crime scene, we noticed a suspicious vehicle, its engine revving at full throttle, trying to leave the street toward the Champs-Elysées. We immediately knew what was happening. That vehicle had to be stopped at all costs. With the wail of the police siren, we set off. The problem was that we had probably the worst vehicle the police possessed for such a pursuit. However, the suspects weren’t much better off. Their dark gray Citroën H with the word ‘Plumber’ painted on the side was just as miserable a car as ours. It was clear they hadn’t counted on being chased. Today we know why, but at that time we watched the whole situation with great astonishment."