Thank you! Oh dear Toting the fluid, It's like it's like Dr Pimple Popper welcome to Hoopie's Garage The dumbest Automotive channel in all of YouTube and this is probably the biggest mistake I've made in a long time. but I know absolutely nothing about it so this is going to be quite a journey with me. But what I do know is it's a 1969 Citron Id19 that I bought for only nineteen thousand dollars. Now this is the same body as the legendary Citroen DS but it doesn't have all the crazy hydraulic stuff it has quite a bit, but not all of it, such as a normal manual transmission.

I think somewhat normal brakes, but still the crazy suspension that goes up and down. But being the typical idiot that I am I know nothing about these cars I bought it completely sight unseen on Bring A Trailer but I did see it once before because it sold it at Barrett-Jackson Auction two Houstons ago I Remember thinking well that's really cool and it sold for a great price. but you don't know because he can't drive it. but in the Bring A Trailer video, it sold for about the same price.

So I felt good and there were videos of it driving down the road. so I felt even better about it. But then it arrived and oh boy. Well, first of all, wouldn't start because of a bad battery I couldn't figure out how to pop the hood and then we couldn't get the parking brakes released because the shipper had jammed it and then once we got it off, the truck got the parking brake off after burning the clutch to try and get it out.

Well, the brakes don't really work or at least they feel really weird. So I didn't feel comfortable driving it I had it towed straight to the car Wizards which is where it is right now it showed up. Wizard was very excited and then Magic Mike Well, he almost quit, but not really almost quit. But he did protest a little bit because it does have this crazy mineral oil system that he somewhat traumatized on with later cars like the Bentley Rolls-Royce and Mercedes that use Citron system in their cars for the ride.

Citroen was the first mass-produced car to have this kind of suspension system and it is wonderful. They're supposed to be the smoothest, driving, most comfortable cars ever. Not to mention they look awesome, but uh, I may have stepped in it with this one. so we'll see Wizard when this crazy thing showed up in your shop.

I was amazed I've never seen one up close in real life and I also was drooling all over it. It is very cool and I do like the fact that you're not scared to take on new and different things from the very beginning like the Ferrari 355. All those years ago, you just really had never even been under the hood of the 355 and you just figured it out. Yeah, but this is a whole different animal.

Here it is and uh I I don't know if I'm disappointed yet I don't know what my expectations are supposed to be because it's supposed to be a running and driving Citroen ID but uh, it didn't show up seeming that way. Hmm so that's why I had it towed up here. Yeah to have you look at it before I drive it because it seemed like the brakes were not feeling right. okay and I don't know what else.

it wouldn't start either. like a dead battery. we were able to jump it off. but uh yeah I wanted your seal of disapproval before disapproval.

Yeah, before I went driving around in it. So this is definitely a Venture down a new road for me. So really, we should probably just look it over before we try to start it or do anything. Yeah, so I didn't know how to open the hood when we first got it which I don't know if you've discovered that yet, but there's a hood hinge on this side that's already loose I was trying to jump it off to get it off the trailer.

There's another one right here. so I've been I've been learning things very interesting. Uh, spare tire placement. How does the hood prop work? I've no I think you're the hood prop I'm the hood prop.

Yep, you want to get something to promise? No. I got it for now. Okay, well the uh and then the radiator is behind the spare and you can see they have this little I don't know what you would call it, a fabric uh shroud yep to feed into the cooling and then well, we're all very familiar with this aren't we? They anticipated to leak so they gave you like a five gallon drum yes of mineral oil. which I do have a lifetime supply of mineral oil here just because the one that came in the Jean-Claude Van Damme Bentley which is using a similar system.

he meant to buy one quart and he bought a crate. So I have enough mineral oil for the rest of my life. So I'm not scared in that sense. but uh yeah, you can see the hydraulic accumulator balls too which are hanging evenly.

Here we go again. how do we keep coming up with these balls? The S600 has a similar thing in the rear because Mercedes borrowed the system as well. Uh so yeah. four wheel hydraulic suspension which was working and then this motor I don't even what is it a I guess it's a force is a five-cylinder four-cylinder four-cylinder Okay, it's an odd setup.

one little Weber carburetor there. okay I mean that looks pretty simple in that sense. and the Id19 doesn't have like the crazy hydraulic steering that goes with all this system. and I think the brakes are are different as well.

They don't have the crazy brakes of the Citron DS this is like the lower tier version. The lower tier. Yeah, so does any of this make sense to you? It makes sense. It's just.

oh. I mean I keep seeing things like on the alternator and on those tags everything's made in Paris Yep, that's a new one on me. All right. Well yeah, it makes sense.

I mean there's the engine. That little green thing looks like the pump for the hydraulic system like on the Bentleys and things. they run off of a camshaft with two little pumps in the Valley of the engine. This has its own, almost like a power steering pump.

Have you tried to start it? I have it did start for me but I haven't driven it or done anything here. I'll start it up for you so you can hear it. When it does run, it gets kind of in the direction it sucks up. That's one way to put it.

So figuring out how to start it was definitely a thing as well. But first, the seats. Unbelievably comfortable. You sat in this.

Yes, I mean the padding is just crazy on this thing. So then with the hydraulic suspension, it may be the most comfortable car ever. But look at this wild and crazy steering wheel. Single spoke, single spoke with the ignition right between your legs.

But this doesn't start it. There's a button. Let's see, is this the choke here, right? Yeah, yeah. blue thing is the start button.

Make sure it's not in gear you want to try. Yeah. I'll try. Maybe it likes you better.

Oh there it goes and now it's rising. What'd you do I don't know. They just need to Prime up. just as I let go of the button and I was about to give up, it started.

Maybe I need to curse at it in. French Yeah, A cyclical clicking noise. What do you think that is? So you've seen the lever down there, right? the big one. Yeah, that makes it go up and down like a low rider.

Go, let's do it. Should put it to the ground, slam it. that is so cool. so that's Highway and then put it all the way back up.

Maybe There it goes. That's just so awesome. I've never gotten up that fast before. Well, thanks Wizard! So what's that noise? I Mean it seems to run okay.

it looks good. That's that noise. It's definitely with the suspension because if I change the height, it clicks faster. One of these is the horn.

Sure enough changes when we do that too. That's just kind of I Think when you're driving, you feel like you're grabbing. You know? Uh, okay. Wizards I'm talking about the clicking noise changes when you do this too.

Okay, it stopped. it stopped. Well, quite a mystery. Hit the brakes too.

It's pretty neat. Oh, they're not coming on because the brake lights actually up here and not down here. But doesn't the brake pedal feel weird to you? It feels like a Rolls Royce So like if there's not much play, it's just like it's yeah. But put it in reverse and try and like move and stop a little bit.

That's what concerned me. Freaked me out. It doesn't Inspire Confidence? Yeah, let me try it again. And just the back, right? Something's going on with that.

Well, you want to get her up even higher, have a looky-loo on the lift. Yeah! I can smell that. the gas is old. Oh dear I know what that is mineral oil? How do you see the two puddles already? Yeah, if I was to look at the ground and not know what's above me I would swear a Bentley Turbo R was parked here right? But this is where Bentley got its nice ride from and look at that.

What? the inboard brakes? Holy crap. So there's no breaks out here. Bored? There's no. So yeah, the rear wheels aren't anything but just Wheels they don't do anything.

Front is wet. Yeah, is that mineral oil getting on the brakes? or is that brake fluid? I Guess it's all the same, right? Yeah, it's all just like those calipers are leaking or something. Something bad is going on there this side too. There's some green.

Yeah, Yeah, okay. that is so weird. and then we have this kind of snap. Wait, it's front wheel drive it is.

I Didn't know it was front-wheel drive I didn't either. Okay, this is a new discovery so show us how much. I know the engines back here. the transmissions in front of the engine.

It's backwards to a normal car that is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs Wow, look at this old snout going up there. so you're getting an accident. and it's the transmission that takes to hit that's so weird. That is strange.

There's not much. there's nothing to see. two arms and a uh-huh shaft, right earring. That's about it, right? huh? That is very interesting.

So then you go back to the engine. There's lots of mineral oil there, which is oh my goodness. it's just dripping everywhere. Something's there's a ball.

that's a single ball, right? So something's exploded I wonder if that's the brake ball? Yeah, so this boot is bad. It just keeps getting weirder. Okay, so here's the exhaust. and then they put a little pop out for the muffler here.

So the muffler's here and then the exhaust pipe just goes to Infinity It's got like a strong shaft here and then two pencils. You know what? I've never seen that's so weird. The muffler is in the middle of the car as sideways. Okay, it's pretty cool.

One thing that's nice about it is definitely not. Rusty So if you did a timing chain on this car, it's back here. See that black case? Oh yeah, it's in the back. The same oops actively dripping there.

Yeah, well. thankfully the motor runs all right. It's just obviously mineral oil. It's just a hemorrhage again.

Jesus I Mean so that's probably brakes. Yeah, that's the front one. and that's why we have no front brakes. right and then the back.

It's on the left side. So what has exploded? Oh, there's a. was it a shock sideways mounted the shock absorber? This is the ball. This is the Piston the shaft that raises it, but it's sitting sideways.

Yeah, okay. it's leaking very much. So that's why after it sits for a while, it droops back down. It leaks it out here.

But I think that's like a ram there or something. but the brakes work in the back. It worked very well over here. it's dry over or is it I Think if I pop the zit, it's gonna splooge everywhere you want to try it.

Uh, okay. Ah that's not supposed to be in there. All right. So that one's bad too.

It's just the boots holding this fluid. It's like it's like Dr Pimple Popper laughs. Shoes are down there. Try not to get them on your shoes.

The rear shocks have failed. original from 1969. They work. They just leak.

Yeah, yeah. Wow. uh. the front shocks.

Do we even see the front shocks? Where are they hiding? So are they like they're completely invisible? Where are they? So there's the arm. I Get it. Um, how? it doesn't exist. This is like more complicated complex than a 2014 Mercedes or something.

But it's kind of cool. It's very cool. This must be this arm connect somewhere up in there. that one or these.

this these two arms just based Basically sitting. here's a rod. It goes between the two lower control arms. Yeah.

I Think this is like a ride height Rod here. What a mess. Oh I'm standing at it. You're you're standing in it.

I'm the one that stepped in it. But here's the thing. I Don't know what it is about sellers these days. Maybe because car business is so slow, they're getting more desperate so they're not disclosing issues.

But the reason why I passed on this thing when I saw it at Barrett-Jackson was because I couldn't really inspect it and couldn't really drive it. You kind of need to do that with these cars. So I assume this dealer that had sold a lot of cars and bring a trailer seem to have a good reputation that they wouldn't sell something that's doing all of this. I've been saying that a lot lately.

So is it desperation? you know? I'm wondering if I should even bother. I mean I paid 19 000 for this or twenty thousand dollars the fees and then shipped it up here. So I'm 21 Grand into it. Maybe the smart thing to just take the loss immediately for whatever it brings.

I have a private idea. uh uh. the Bill's only getting larger on that black car plus some cash and I'll just take it off your hands. Well, clearly we need to have a conversation then.

Yes, um, but I do want to drive it I want to see what it's like to drive so it will stop besides. kind of I wouldn't take it out on the roads. You could drive around a parking lot and kind of get a feel for it. I'm afraid it wouldn't stop.

Maybe I'll fall in love then. I I Don't know but holy crap I mean what a mess. Okay, so reverse I think yeah, that's reverse does seem to run well. Okay, because it's like a three or a four speed.

I think a four speed on the tree. so that'd be first. All right here we go. putting it in a lower suspension position.

air goes down. that is so cool. Okay, and We're Off to the Races All right, we're out. The rear suspension is definitely fubarged because it just went over the bumps.

super harsh. This thing is supposed to ride like you're on a cloud and it doesn't. Um, all right, let's try and stop. Yeah, it's only rear brakes, but they do stop.

All right. Not so far. so good. A Little off-roading and it bouncy.

If it wasn't for this really really soft seat I'd be really jostling around here, huh? All right. Oh, that bump just hit my head into the ceiling. Um wow. Okay, all right, let's try.

Let's try one two shift here. Come on one two. All right and stop. stop stop stop.

This car is a complete another disaster. Wow yeah, don't hit the garage door and install. Okay, well let me know what you think I should do. Should I uh, punt this to the wizard or should I dive into this thing.

Thank you for watching! What a mess we're looking for a Model A And really you hit it out of the park here. It's beautiful. Oh my God what are they feeding these animals I Noticed that there was a little leak here. Oh boy.