The Rear Appliqué Of The Citroën GS Is Intriguing: Quick Jump
It’s a fair assumption that the French has a contrarian approach to vehicular design than most countries because it’s true. I could probably churn out a dedicated series that focuses solely on Gallic automotive innovation and the reasoning logic that followed.
The focus on today’s Quick Jump comes in handy if you accidentally have a quick bump. You may just have to deal with the consequence of being unable to access your trunk before resorting to a hammer to pry it open.
Should you find yourself in this scenario, let me point out the pickle:
That is rear impact protection bolted into the trunk lid, itself a flimsy piece of metal that doesn’t serve much of a barrier to cushion from the distracted driver that could hit you from behind. Weather stripping and door hinges don’t do much to guard you from the inevitable. The crumple zone is the luggage you wish you threw in for safety’s sake.
An oversight in 1970s bumper design, it deviated from the norm of superior crash protection. The U.S. was coming out with mandatory 5-mph rubberized bumper protection with the notion to get you out of the smallest of fender benders, minimizing damage without affecting the overall structure of the vehicle.
Safety boards overseas adopted this remedy to some degree, even allowing a controversial vehicle like the Citroën GS to have its moment in the sun.
Doesn’t that look so inviting for a dead body—I mean, five-piece luggage set? Not only do you have better ingress and egress, but that euphoric feeling that your loved ones are better protected including the inanimate.
Eventually, the 5-mph bumpers were replaced by the plastic composite mold you see on cars today. But I’m surprised that a population as innovative as the French would allow early crash protection of the Citroën GS to pass muster. Case in point when I was doing a brisk deep dive on rear appliqués, this came up:
That is not A.I. rendering art for giggles, it’s tricolor engineering on acid. Feats like this used to be typical. The more I think about it, the more likely I’ll introduce some form of miniseries on the bonkers imagination that Parisians gave to the world.
All in due time.
-TA
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