1979 Citroën Mehari

AT A GLANCE

ENGINE:  602cc 2-cylinder petrol with 28bhp
TRANSMISSION:  Four-speed manual
MILEAGE:  81,200 km (75 miles since refurbishment)
EXTERIOR:  Latte Menta
INTERIOR:  Bone vegan leather with bone synthetic textile seat centers
PRICE:  20,000€

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

In the world of purpose-oriented beach cruisers, the Fiat Jolly sucks up a lot of the oxygen, with good reason, but there were others, and the Jolly’s two most formidable competitors were undeniably the Mini Moke and Citroën Mehari. This is a 1979 Citroën Mehari, and I doubt I need to explain the appeal of this thing.

Powered and undergirded by the immensely durable and almost impossibly charming Citroën 2CV running gear, the Mehari sports fully plastic bodywork over a spidery tubular space frame that had me referring to it as the “Tipo 61.” (Maserati fanatics will get the joke.) Ours has been fully refurbished with all-new bodywork finished in a modern mint green color from Fiat called “Latte Menta,” with an all-new white vinyl top and top frame, white wheels, and an all-new interior in bone synthetic leather with matching bone synthetic textile in the seat centers. It’s all quilted and shakes off salt water and sand with aplomb, but it’s a looker, this one.

Two interior appurtenances are not pictured here. Fully removable, fitted interior floor mats, and twin wooden wine crates fitted to the rear, which have been lined in liquid rubber, allowing them to serve as either storage bins or, in a pinch, ice chests for beverages.

New tires, new service, and categorically too many new things to list, this is what you get when you get obsessive about building the cutest, happiest beach runner around.

But it’s a proper car, this. It isn’t a toy. I mean… it’s a toy. C’mon, who are we kidding? But it’s a proper car that is also a toy. It’s a toy for adults who DO THINGS. It’ll top 70mph if you have the appendages to stay on the throttle that long, and it’s fully useable around town or out in the countryside. It’s motorway legal and everything. But it wasn't built to drone down the interstate all day, it was born to fill with your most fun-loving friends or family members and hit the shores. It was built to run into town for ice cream, serve as a shuttle for provisions when your boat is docked in the harbor, or for running you and your floppy-hat-wearing significant other down to Shucker’s for a fried grouper sandwich and a couple bottles of Red Stripe.

So what does it look like? It looks like summer. All year round. It looks like the Mediterranean.

WHAT'S IT LIKE TO DRIVE?

As I said above, it’s a proper car. The plucky little vee-two engine fires from a touch of the key and settles into that dependable air cooled 2CV idle. Manipulate the trippy umbrella-handle shifter (which looks entirely bizarre, but feels like any other four-speed after you get over the visual weirdness of it) into first gear and you’re off.

With almost no weight to lug around - you and three big friends could lift it up and move it around - the Mehari is surprisingly spritely! It jumps off the line and snarls through the gears and it’s an absolutely hoot to drive. The long-travel suspension and nonexistent roll control mean it’s soft and compliant over even the most absurdly rough roads or terrain, and you sit up high, more on top of it than down inside it, so visibility is excellent. It will off road with more aplomb that you’d expect, and it’ll handle sand or dirt roads or grassy terrain with no hassles. This is the suspension, after all, which was designed to allow a French farmer to transport a basket of eggs across a freshly plowed field without breaking any. I’m not joking. Look it up.

Best of all? There is nothing to go wrong on these engines, and they are legendary for durability. Both the 2CV and Mehari have been (and continue to be) beloved in some of the most inhospitable areas of the world. North Africa, Indochina, etc. The brakes work like brakes and it has, uhhh… lights and stuff. Not much else. It’s an adult go-kart. It’s not so much a low-horsepower car as it is a super-high-horsepower golf cart, and that’s the true beauty of the Mehari. It’s an elemental thing that makes everyone feel like a kid again. It’s a nearly perfect fun car. And by that I mean a car for FUN. A car for doing fun things and hanging out with fun people. Doesn’t get much better than that. Maybe that’s why you see Meharis in posh little beach towns all over the Mediterranean, from Malaga to Cannes and from Monte Carlo to Dubrovnik. And unlike the similarly-priced Mini Moke it’s just dripping with gallic charm.

A similar condition Fiat Jolly will set you back three times this price, which makes the Mehari a hell of a bargain, but prices are on the rise. We bought this one two years ago, and we already couldn't build it again for this price, because prices have doubled just in the last 20 months.

Unless you’re crazy like me, you probably won’t commute to work in it, but you definitely could, and when the weather is right and you have companions with a zest for life? There’s quite literally nothing more fun to bop around in than a Citroën Mehari.

Fully serviced and needs nothing. See more in the walkaround video below: