Frequent finder Russell G. sent us this unusual (ok, at least in the US) 1980 Citroen Dyane that is for sale in Havertown, PA. It will cost a new owner $13,500 (or best offer) and is listed for sale here on Facebook Marketplace if you want to grab this orange beauty. Perhaps “beauty” is too strong a word; maybe “striking”? Or “distinctive”? I’ll leave the wordsmithing to others; suffice it to say I’m guessing that most of you that see this car’s picture want to run–some towards it, others away as fast as possible!

I wanted to find out more about the Dyane, and I thought you might be interested as well in how such a, well, unusual car came to be. I’m sure most of you are familiar with the Citroen 2CV, the extremely successful small car that was produced from 1948 through 1990. It wasn’t a beauty to most folks either, but that wasn’t the point of the 2CV. Mobility that suited the French coupled with a low price was its claim to fame. The Dyane is an upscale (well, relatively) companion to the 2CV for folks that were willing to pay a little bit more. It included a hatchback that the 2CV did not, and was designed in response to the success of the Renault 4, which when introduced in 1961 made the 2CV look even cheaper and more out-of-date than it was. The Dyane was produced from 1967 to 1984, with over 1.4 million finding owners. In 1980, when our subject car was produced, 61,744 other Dyanes left the assembly lines.

Turning our attention to this car, the ad states that the car was imported several years ago and “starts, runs and drives.” I can see some minor dings in the orange paint, especially in the left rear, and I would be surprised if there wasn’t rust somewhere on the car. The rear bumper is quite dented. In general, though, the car appears complete (very important in the case of a car never officially imported to the US) and in reasonably good shape.

You can see the useful and large hatchback in this shot. Just don’t plan on hauling a lot of heavy stuff–we don’t know if this is the lower or higher horsepower flat 2 (!) engine offered in the Dyane, but with all of 26 or 32 horsepower, I’ve driven lawnmowers with more power (and more cylinders)!

The interior keeps the 2CV’s shifter out of the dash and is pretty plain apart from the seat upholstery. There’s a pretty decent size stain on the passenger seat, and I’d hate to try to source that fabric to replace it. However, I don’t see any dash damage and that characteristic Citroen one-spoke steering wheel looks great.

Sparce might be a good word to describe the appearance inside the hatch, although the unusual (and I’m told, comfortable) seat suspension is quite visible. What do you think about this Citroen? Have any of you driven a Dyane or a 2CV? Share your experiences with us in the comments!