Citroën Rosalie 'SPIDO' 15AL 1932/33 Recreation

For a client from the Netherlands Classic Job will build a recreation of the legendary 1932/33 Citroën Rosalie ‘SPIDO’ record car! Like the original Rosalie ’SPIDO’ the recreation will be built on a Citroën 15CV chassis with a 2722 cc six-cylinder engine. The aluminium body will be recreated using period photos and other sources.

To be continued.

About the original Spidoléïne Oils Citroën Rosalie ‘SPIDO’ record car.

The special streamlined bodywork was made by Clément Kelsch, a renowned French coachbuilder with workshops in Levallois-Perret. The firm was responsible for special car bodies for 24 hours of Le Mans race cars in the 1920s. The special aerodynamic bodywork improved the top speed of Rosalie ‘SPIDO’ with 25 km/h compared to the standard Rosalie bodywork. World speed records in class D for cars with 2 to 3 litre engines were to be set for Spidoléïne oils, hence the cars nickname ‘SPIDO’.

In 1933 the car set many records on the Linas-Montlhery track. On March 21 the car covered 2,877 km, the next day it broke three records: average speeds over 4,000 km, 5,000 km and 3,000 miles. On the third day, three new records fell: 4,000 miles, 5,000 miles, average speed over 72 hours. On March 29 the car had an accident caused by a collision with another car, indeed, despite the record attempt, the track was not closed to the public. A clumsy driver left on the track without seeing the Rosalie Spido arriving at him at 120km/h… the ‘SPIDO’ rolled over twice and fell behind the Monthléry ring. The pilot got out of the car with a big scare but was fortunately unharmed. The record attempt was interrupted after having broken 16 international records.

The Rosalie ‘SPIDO‘ was rebuilt by Clément Kelsch and reappeared as ‘SPIDO 2’ with a lower roof line. In April and June ‘SPIDO 2’ ran for three and six days to regain records which were taken by another Rosalie (Rosalie V) driving for the Yacco oil firm. The records were taken successfully on June 14. After driving for more than six days the 20.000 km long distanced record was taken at an average speed of 131.926 km/h and having won 15 new international records in the meantime. After having fulfilled its objectives, the record car disappeared...