Nice to be here, hello!

Thanks for your answers,

I was looking after an ability to get one
of these cars since their appearance on
the market. But I'm also a very economic
person who first can wait if something new
shows up. So then I could watch how other
possessors got along with their Insights and
see the prices fall on the market. In Germany
usually 1 - 5 different cars were offered online.

The first Insight I saw in reality was about two
years ago in my neighbourhood. I was quite
shocked. The second one I catched up in Munich
traffic last year, and - ! - it was for sale by one
of our big Honda-dealers. But it had a bad weather
damage on the roof so it didn't please me for the
(low) price. But the test-drive was marvellous.
I also own a Panhard CD from 1963, one of the
lowest drag-coefficients ever constructed and winner
in LeMans 1962 (not my car...). But it's the same
philosophy behind this pearl of French engineering.
2cyl. aircooled boxer 850cc and a topspeed of about
180km/h. With about the same power as the Honda.
A historic parallelism that I want to documentate in
the nearest future.

My car was a quite strange offer from a Honda dealer
here in Bavaria. He wanted to get rid of the car very
quickly so I got it for a relatively fair price. I hope it
doesn't have a hidden defect. It's silver as my CD and
my Audi A2 "3L" I bought two weeks ago because I
didn't know if the Insight-deal would end luckily...
In Germany these splendid Eco-A2 were stopped in pro-
duction in july this year. So I wanted to have one before
prices (of petrol) rise again. I think these three are great
collectors' and drivers' cars. But I have to give away a
small Citroen-car-collection now. Times are changing
and I think it's never too late to start a better future...

OK, enough philosophy for today, till soon, hope to hear
from you!

Yours, Michael

Marvellous, unbelieveable...

My cars I offer for sale are an ID19 berline and an ID19 break,
both in very good condition, both in beige and from 1962. The
first car that has to go is a (sic!) Panhard 24ct from 1965.
The car is now dominated by the CD and I only can hold one
Panhard.
The cars I'll hold are a 89 CX TRD and a 64 ami6. My girlfriend
has a 67 R4 now, they all are in very nice condition.
For everyday use the A2 3L has to do.

My new issue is "ultra lightweight (alloy/glassfibre), ultra low drag,
ultra rare". Perhaps the A2 never will be rare, but it's also a great
engineer's construction. Economy is the aim!

Till soon, yours, Michael

Second trial:

My mind has changed a bit concerning
the Cit-collection. So I have to correct
my sales-progress: the IDs will stay
as the Break is capable to tract the CD
on a tailer. Perhaps I'll take part on the
Nurburgring-Classic-event end of Sept.
The ami6 and the 24ct are already sold
now, the CX still waits for an enthusiast.

Yes, the 3L-cars are everyday fun! The
Honda is a real day-by-day pleasure,
the Audi A2 runs for long distance, so
at my holiday-trip to Corsica (62 mpg
over 2k miles, topspeed 120mph shortly).

You see, I'm not on the 'eco-trip', but I
enjoy these works-of-art. My Panhard
CD is doing well after a gearbox-overhaul.
I still plan a feature about a Insight / CD
comparison. To see a 40 years progress...

Bye, and till soon!

Yours, Michael

Yeah! It's a historic parrallelism that René Bonnet
and Charles Deutsch (Deutsch-Bonnet / D.B: HBR
coach) were on silimar paths with Colin Chapman
(Lotus: Elite) in the mid 50s.
With glassfibre body and ultralight (Lotus) or rigid
(D.B) frame-concepts they had the same aim.
Better perfomance and roadholding through
("just add") lightness.
Ultra-small motors nevertheless in this case were
enough for astonishing performances.
Both had the same problems on the racetrack
because of their fragility...

The 3-litre-joke is new for me. I read the biography
of senior VW-leader Ferdinand Piech who was chief-
race-engineer at Porsche at the end of the 60s. He's
one of the most important protagonists concerning
lightweight and proposed the former leader of Austria,
Franz Vranitzky (who wanted a 5 -litre-car) "why not
a 3-litre-car"? That was in the early 90s. 1999 VW came
out with the Lupo 3L. The revolution in body-structure
of small cars was the A2 in 2000, the same year, the
Honda Insight appeared. BOTH cars have a full alloy
structure with "Space-Frame" (Audi-patented) structure.
I don't know where Honda took their knowlegde to
invent their structure. Did they take a licence of Audi?

In any case these two vehicles wrote history, not many
of the journalists took real notice, but the ones who drove
these cars were fascinated. I'm curious about the com-
ments one will read in 10 or 15 years when other cars
MAYBE reach similar refinement. I hope to be able to
hold mine till then, because I love historic AND rare cars.

Why not drive a future historic car, with having lots of
fun and profit in everyday use? A 40 years old car never
can be a concurrent to it, at least because of corrosion!

Till soon, yours, Michael

P.S.: John, do you mean how many cars or how much
money for them? I can answer both. Audi built about
8.000 3L-A2s. About 4.500 were sold in Germany.
I observe the offers on the virtual market since more
than two years now. There never were offered more
than perhaps 40 at a time. At the moment there are
about 15, most of them over 60k miles. The cheapest
is about 8.500 EUR. With accident or damages lower,
but under 40k miles (as mine from 2001) you pay at
least 12.500 EUR. Very sought after are "full option"
models which are relatively rare (esp. 34 litres tank).