Monterey Auctions List 8 Affordable Classics Starting at $18,000

Q: Why did a secretive 1970s test program leave this rare rotary-powered Citroën as one of the few surviving models today?

It survived because Citroën’s secretive rotary-engine test program was designed to reclaim and scrap most of the cars once their real-world evaluation ended. In the early 1970s, Citroën used the M35 as a rolling laboratory for Wankel technology developed with NSU through the Comotor joint venture. The cars were not sold through normal dealerships. Instead, selected customers received them under a tightly controlled long-term test program, were expected to drive roughly 19,000 miles a year, and report directly to Citroën on performance and reliability. That testing exposed serious weaknesses in the rotary engine, notably high fuel and oil consumption and durability problems. Those findings also foreshadowed trouble for the later GS Birotor, which arrived just as the oil crisis made thirsty specialty cars far less attractive. Because the M35s were experimental and costly to support, Citroën later moved to buy them back from testers and destroy them. The company took a similar approach with the GS Birotor after Peugeot gained control and decided the rotary program was not worth maintaining. As a result, only a small fraction escaped scrappage. So the rarity of surviving rotary-powered Citroëns today is not just a matter of low production. It is largely the result of an intentional factory effort to erase most of the test and production cars after the program proved commercially and technically problematic.

3 articles · Updated · The Autopian · Aug 13

$18,000 to $24,000 is the lowest estimate in this year’s Monterey Car Week auction roundup, attached to a 1982 BMW 6 Series panoramic-roof prototype at Bonhams Laguna Seca.
Eight road-legal lots make the low-end list, with most estimates clustered between $20,000 and $40,000 despite Monterey’s reputation for multi-million-dollar sales.
Broad Arrow’s cheapest highlighted cars include a $20,000-$30,000 Citroën GS Birotor and several $30,000-$45,000 oddities such as a Citroën M35 and BMW Isetta 300.
Bonhams also features a $25,000-$35,000 Ford F-100 and Volkswagen Karmann Ghia, while RM Sotheby’s lists a 1958 Fiat 600 and a track-prepped 2010 Porsche Cayman S at $30,000-$60,000.
The roundup underscores that buyers at Monterey’s Aug. 13-14 sales can still find usable, distinctive classics well below the headline-grabbing record cars.