Absinthe, a very special shade. For some it tends towards yellow, for others (and Citroën) it is green. The drink with the same name also had an ambivalent reputation. For model years ’61 and ’62, the colour was used on the DS. The Ami was the little sister and was also allowed to wear her dress in the same style.

In ’61, the Ami 6 came onto the road, as a model between the 2cv and the DS. The simple drivetrain and chassis of the 2CV were slightly heavier to make it faster and more of a car. Some graceful details were borrowed from the DS, Flaminio Bertoni further developed a baroque bodywork, with the silly rear window in Ligne Z. This gave more headroom and an accessible trunk. Something that the later hatchback managed to solve much more pragmatically, but also more dull.

This Ami is from the second model, or model year ’62, for the Citrophiles. Model years in France begin at the Paris Motor Show in September. She rolled out of the factory on October 3, 1961, the date stamp can still be found under the bonnet.

She drove around in the department of Creuse, central France. The stickers on the windshield show that the last Tax was paid in 1975. After that, she probably waited for her fate in a barn. That was fulfilled through a sale to the neighboring department of Allier in 2015, and a restoration by her new owner in Hungary.

Here, a lot of effort was made to turn her into a healthy old lady. Successful in most respects, although concours condition was not achieved. She drives very well again, looks cheerful and fresh and has wonderfully comfortable seats and suspension. Now she is shining here in our showroom. Who will take her to the ball?