The Citroën GS Birotor is equipped with a rotary engine. The manufacturer offered the particularly fast model for only two years between 1973 and 1975 and then tried to destroy all delivered copies. One of the few survivors of this ‘mass slaughter’ is now for sale in the Netherlands.
Citroën built its mid-sized GS from 1970 to 1979. However, it was also available with a rare engine that only rolled off the production line for two years. From September 1973 to October 1975 the GS was available with a rotary engine. This special edition was called Birotor, as indicated by a small letter on the back. The twin-disc rotary engine was considerably more powerful than the standard four-cylinder boxer engine, but Citroën still regretted the model.
The Wankel engine of the GS Birotor, named after constructor Felix Wankel, generated 107 hp at 6500 rpm with its two combustion chambers, each with a volume of 497.5 cubic centimeters. The pulling force was 137 Newton meters at 3000 rpm. That was considerably more than the 54 horsepower of the standard air-cooled 1.0-liter four-cylinder boxer engine. The Birotor was greatly appreciated by enthusiasts of sporty driving. According to them, the smooth-running Wankel engine was a perfect match with the soft hydropneumatic chassis of the Citroën, the suspension technology so praised by many.
The rotary engine was a further development of the engine from the NSU Ro80. NSU and Citroën had joined forces and wanted to produce rotary engines for passenger cars on a large scale via the jointly established company Comotor. The planned construction of 500 Wankel engines per day never materialized for various reasons. Because the Birotor was thirsty as well as fast. With an average consumption of 15.7 liters per 100 kilometers, the outbreak of the oil crisis meant the death blow for this model.
Sales faltered for a while, but when Peugeot took over the management of Citroën, the GS Birotor came to an end in 1975, after only 847 units had been built. Peugeot was concerned about the warranty costs of the complex Birotor engine and ordered Citroën to buy back as many GS Birotors as possible, only to destroy them one by one. Fortunately, some owners did not respond to Citroën’s offer. It is not known how many of these models are left.
The copy that is now offered for sale is in Oldemarkt at classic car company Carrosso. The car has run 61,465 kilometers and has been completely restored.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/this-special-citroen-survived-a-mass-slaughter-by-peugeot-48-years-ago/
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