When I was recently driving around the new VW ID.Buzz in Copenhagen (as you maybe read about?) I was keeping my eyes open for interesting cars just living their interesting car lives in the city, and I saw a few, including this incredible orange Citroën Mehari that some guy in a tank top was happily buzzing about the city in. It was clearly loved, and that ABS plastic body gleamed like only painted ABS plastic can, which is to say, slightly. It’s lovely.
The Mehari seems an ideal car for sunny days in Europe: as open like an hors d’oeuvre tray, great vivid color, and yet still frugal on expensive Euro gas with its tiny flat-twin air-cooled engine. That pic (taken by my drive partner Ezra Dyer) is also great because the contrast of that bright orange bathtub next to that huge tanker truck is just kind of perfect.
There were other great cars just around Copenhagen, too. I told you about that Saab 96 already, but here’s a couple more:
This fantastic chlorophyll-drunk-green Fiat rear-engine van!
And, one of these:
A first-gen Ford Ka! Still one of my favorite rubber-fendered cheap modern-ish city cars.
I have a few more, but I don’t want to cram so many at you all at once! Pace yourself!
Dude! I was in Denmark Aug 13-27. I also saw an orange Mehari. It MUST have been the same one right?
If you visit Uruguay, namely Montevideo and Colonia del Sacremento, you will see more than one Mehari. I visited Colonia del Sacramento a few years ago and was surprised to see five of them in one day along with several interesting automobiles.
In the early in the NYC suburbs one of the jocks at my high school drove a Mehari. It had a tag from a company on Long Island that apparently grey imported them in the 70s. FWIW this was an affluent suburb and other noteworthy rides were a 911 Carrera RS and a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow on the high end and a VW Thing and a Renault 15 that self immolated at the low end.
You and Dyer in the same vehicle? My two favorite automotive journalists together? That must have been a hell of a drive.
When Ezra left Automobile magazine is when I let my subscription die off. Maybe The Autopian will become successful enough that they could afford him!
Hi all, Denmark has an interesting cost regime for cars. My understanding is that you pay almost the entire purchase price again in taxes to put it into service. As a result there is a strong incentive to keep your car on the road (“just” regular VAT on spares) forever. Jason, you may have noticed a tendency towards cheap to buy cars and comparatively old cars in well kept condition. Again, interesting approach and shows that taxes actually can disincentivize.
Man, I miss my Ka 1.6. An epic definition of (not so) slow car fast, specially in the twisties.
Also, sturdy as fuck in the real life.
Is that an inflatable pool in the back of the mehari? Is it functional while driving?
Sure looks like it to me. It seems to be secured to the bed with some rope or straps.
Thanks for the Gen 1 Ka fix, I think about importing one rather a lot.
Doesn’t look like you had a chance to make it to Egeskov Castle on Fyn, hope you can some time. The attic full of random weird unrestored stuff and leftovers is really fun.
Just visited a friend on the west coast of Sjælland who had a secret to show me. It turns out there’s a barn full of old Buicks and Cadillac limos next door to his place.
Back in 2003, I was stationed in Germany and I rented a Ka for a couple days. Driving that bucket o’ bolts on the Autobahn was some of the scariest driving I’ve ever done (and I’ve driven over the “Million Dollar Highway” in a snowstorm). Top speed in the Ka was 140 km/hr and it felt like it was going to shake itself to bits at that speed. Even then, I’d be shuddering down the road (right-lane only, of course) hoping the wheels weren’t going to fall off, when I’d see a quick flash of brights in my rear-view mirror – holy hell that Porsche/Mercedes/Audi, etc. must be doing 200, easy! In the blink of an eye, the overtaking car would flash past me like I was standing still, with only a few centimeters between us, and making the poor Ka shake like a dog being yelled at for shitting on the good carpet. Entering the roadway was even scarier as I was wringing out the manual transmission for all it was worth, trying to get up to speed so I could merge with traffic that was mostly moving faster than my top speed. The Ka is a piece of shit that should only be allowed in countries without an Autobahn. It would be great in Turkey, for example, where the families riding mopeds could safely bounce off those rubber fenders. But in Germany, it’s a fiery death just waiting to happen.
Former first gen Ka owner here. I don’t recognise your description of the Ka at all. Maybe you were used to driving an S500 or a 911, in which case being cheap and renting a Ka with high expectations is on you.
I got mine in ’98 with just under 10k showing and it had 129k showing when I traded it against an ’03 Focus. It had a five digit odometer but after a hundred thousand miles even Stevie Wonder could tell it wasn’t a 29k mile car. It fundamentally ran and drove fine but the central locking failed at 99k, the passenger window became intermittent at 110k and then the driver’s side window went the same way so I ditched it.
I fondly remember it and I am always ready to fight for the reputation of the first gen Ka as a driver’s car. Viva slow car fast over fast car slow.
Glad you enjoyed your Ka. At the time, my daily driver back in the states was a 1985 Volvo 240, so I’m with you on the slow car fast thing. Maybe you were lucky? Maybe I was unlucky? Maybe the guys at Sixt were having a laugh by renting the USAF guy their worst car? All I know is that I’ll never drive one of those Ka Ka mobiles again.
I really dig the Ka! Had a new one for a week, and it was an absolute blast, if underpowered for California use. The chassis — a Ford strength in their car-building days — was just about perfect, and seemed willing to take a lot more power than it was getting. People stared, and more than a few wanted to know where they could get one. A lot of disappointment when I said “Europe”…I didn’t want to give it back.
A lot longer ago than that, I saw a number of Meharis running around the weird town of Jerome, Arizona. Why? Don’t know. Hate to think what the heat and sun did to their plastic bodies….
Perhaps I was a bit harsh on the poor little Ka. As a city car, it’s fine and it’s easy to park and it even looks kinda cool.
Living near the beach the Mehari struck me as an awesome runabout. Went online to have a look. They’re importable based on year. They also command quite a price with those I found in the $25,000 and up range.
Even in France they can be expensive. ( and that’s whithout the shipping over the Pond ).
Now you can get in touch with these people : https://www.mehariclub.com/en/pre-owned-vehicles/
They are the reference in France when it comes to Meharis as they have the Citroën factory tools and especially the Mehari molds ( original ones, nicely given by Citroën years ago )
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of one of these. The whole body is ABS? That’ll age in an unfortunate manner.
a brand new body ( OEM since made using the original molds ) is less than 3K Euros :
https://www.mehariclub.com/en/mehari/bodywork/bodyshell-kit/
What costs a lot in a Mehari is the underlying 2CV chassis and mechanic… Since it’s not produced anymore and the part quantities are limited…
The body is semi-mass produced by the Mehari Club out of the original molds Citroën gave them decades ago.
The fact they have the original molds is a good thing, but demand will slow one day. You can always repair steel or aluminum, but at a certain point ABS won’t take any repairs.
with the mold they can make new parts ( or new body ). Original EOM ABS body, just out of the mold.
My favorite Mehari story which I tell too often:
When Martin Whitmarsh was head of McLaren F1 I got to have breakfast with him and Lewis Hamilton was one table over being moody and weird and we were supposed to talk about racing but I made a Mehari joke and he goes “Oh, I bought one!”
We spent most of the rest of the time talking about Meharis and at one point Lewis Hamilton looks up from his eggs and gives us a look like “Are you guys still really talking about Citroen Meharis?”
Will the Ka’s bumpers fall off first, or just dematerialize like they accidentally stumbled into the transporter room on the Enterprise?
They will de-rez like they got hit by a disc in Tron.
They’ll go like the Departed in The Leftovers. One minute they are there. You turn around and, where did they go?!?
Wait…what is that really cool looking green-and-white van-like vehicle next to the Ford Ka?! That looks interesting. You should write ad nauseam about that vehicle, whatever it may be.
/s
I LOL’d! Thanks, I needed that this morning!