![LIVING SEPARATE LIVES](https://cdn.magzter.com/1343919541/1680867966/articles/9VSrwDrMt1681295597713/LIVING-SEPARATE-LIVES.jpg)
The Citroën CX and Lancia T Gamma are testimony to the fact that there was still room for individualism in big-car design in the mid-1970s. European Car of the Year for 1975, the CX 2000/2200 was a low-drag, transverse-engined DS successor: slightly shorter, slightly more conventional - if only by Citroën's exceptional standards. It would enjoy an 18-year career and one million-plus sales in its various saloon, limousine and estate incarnations.
The Gamma, built to appease Lancia purists who feared for the marque's individualism under Fiat ownership, was launched in 1976 as a connoisseur's model to take over where the Flavia/2000 had left off. It certainly was exclusive, but fewer than 15,000 sales of the Berlina over its eight years was more of a commentary on buyer resistance to a car with engine problems than restricted supply.
Yet had political winds blown in a different direction, we could have ended up with two technically related cars combining the best bits of both. Between December 1970 and June 1973, Fiat and Citroën co-operated by means of a holding company formed with Michelin, which had owned Citroën since 1934.
The mutual benefits were obvious. The French firm, haemorrhaging money, needed cash to develop its new saloon. Commercially booming Fiat, keen to share in Citroën's hightech secrets, saw the prospect of a full takeover. On this point the French political classes already had the Italian's card marked, limiting it to a 15% stake on the say-so of president de Gaulle when word of the deal first aired in '68.
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Esta historia es de la edición May 2023 de Classic & Sports Car.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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![From little acorn s...](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/1165/1692380/zPznrGPE51715168475775/FROM-LITTLE-ACORN-S.jpg)
From little acorn s...
The feisty Visa Trophée was an unlikely Group B rallying candidate, and a stepping stone towards Citroën's WRC supremacy
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FORD RANGER RAPTOR
OTT workhorse is a kid-pleasing head-turner that mixes business with pleasure
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MERCEDES-BENZ SL (R230)
The tech-heavy SL is becoming a sought-after classic with increasing specialist support
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By Royal appointment
The overhauled Middlebridge Scimitar continuation was championed by Princess Anne with this, her eighth and final GTE
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African Queen
A 1500-mile road trip has retraced this Morris Minor's history, from its first owner to its rediscovered remains, 54 years ago
![NOT SO HACKNEYED CARRIAGE](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/1165/1692380/eA3U-wVxf1715165598165/NOT-SO-HACKNEYED-CARRIAGE.jpg)
NOT SO HACKNEYED CARRIAGE
Never mind today’s bloated Chelsea tractors, for millionaire Nubar Gulbenkian the perfect transport for the streets of 60s London was a bespoke black cab
![Leading fromthe front](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/1165/1692380/_7TWcpK8I1715165004738/LEADING-FROMTHE-FRONT.jpg)
Leading fromthe front
In the 1990s coupé boom, Toyota, Rover and Mazda scrabbled for power with race-inspired tuning, turbocharging and a sophisticated V6
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EAST COAST HOME BREW
When ambitious racer Walt Hansgen was unable to buy a new Jaguar C-type, he set out to build his own. How does it measure up?
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NATIONAL VELVET
As smooth asvit is rapid and superbly built,this Vanden Plas tourer reveals how Derby Bentleys set new standards of aspirational motoring
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Martin BUCKLEY
‘While the BMW drifts round every curve, the chasing Jaguar XJ6 is driven with overstated incompetence’