Meet The Crappiest Car I Was Ever Thrilled To See: Cold Start

Cs Ies America 1
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I’ve been eager to see cars in all kinds of miserable conditions in my time here on this car-filled planet we call Earth, but I think the highest ratio of crappiness to urge to see a particular car happened when I was in a little town called Esquel, in the Patagonia area of Argentina. I was on a Mini-sponsored trip that would eventually take me all the way to the southern tip of South America, but at the moment this picture was taken, I was simply thrilled to be in physical contact with a car I never expected to see in person: an IES 3CV America.

Well, I guess if I’m really honest, what I’m seeing in person there is like 70 to 85% of an IES America, but that’s good enough for me. I’ve always been fascinated by these cars for a number of reasons. First, because they’re basically Citroën 2CVs, a car that’s been one of my favorites since, well, forever. But what I find really fascinating about these is the bizarre and pleasingly half-assed way IES (which stands for, in case you were wondering, INDUSTRIAS Eduardo SAL-LARI S.A.) attemped to update the archaic 2CV design into the 1980s.

The 3CV America was introduced in 1986, and featured a number of pretty dramatic changes to the basic 2CV design. One big one was that instead of a trunk lid, a real, full-length hatchback was installed, making the car significantly more practical. You can see here on the one I saw how the hatch is now hinged above the rear window, where the rubber opening roof meets the metal of the hatch: Cs Ies America 2

The only evidence on this one are some holes where the headlights and grille would have gone, but the whole front end was updated as well.

Cs Ies America 3

All the plastic bits are gone on the one I saw, but back in the day, this car’s face would have looked like this:

Cs Ies America Front

Look at that! Square headlights in plastic bezels, sort of integrated into the fenders! A black plastic grille, and a big black bumper with integrated indicators and sidelights! It’s so modern! And look at how modern the dash became:

 

Cs Ies America 4

Holy crap, all that textured black plastic and rubber, those tweedy seats, all those indicator lights – this feels like a car of the ’80s! I will admit, I’m not entirely sure what was different in the Super America versions; I do know the cars had electronic ignition on the old Citroën air-cooled boxer twin engine, and I suspect there were other subtle modernizations. Also there are Ferraris named “Super America” too, so try not to get confused.

Here’s a nice one seen on video, so you can get the full sense of how much they tried to update these:

There’s something about the slapped-on nature of the ’80s-looking elements on this incredible iconic and archaic basic design that really appeals to me, in a deeply confusing way. I can’t say it’s exactly successful, but I can say I love it, so I think that’s good enough.

I’m so taken by these, I was genuinely thrilled to find that one, even in its incredibly rough and unfinished state. I’d like to think it’s been restored now, and is happily bopping around Argentina, running over ex-Nazis and eating nice thick steaks.

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Mercedes Streeter

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39 thoughts on “Meet The Crappiest Car I Was Ever Thrilled To See: Cold Start”

  3. I would like to inform my fellow Autopians that there is a 468-mile 1988 Yugo for sale on Facebook Marketplace somewhere in the Philly area. The $20k asking price is probably why it has been posted for seven weeks.

  4. I would like to inform my fellow Autopians that there is a 468-mile 1988 Yugo for sale on Facebook Marketplace somewhere in the Philly area. The $20k asking price is probably why it has been posted for seven weeks.

  5. I am very curious how the gearbox selector linkage in 3CV is rerouted.

    The 2CV and its various derivations have the umbrella handle selector going horizontally through the firewall in the middle. You twist the rod left or right and slide it forward or backward to select the gears.

    In 3CV, the selector is attached to the floor.

    1. Actually it is not a 3CV thing. (writing from Argentina here) These IES America/Super America things as rebadges/wayyy past end of life cars being build locally after acquiring the used tooling from Citroen in an auction (AFAIK that was the story back then) were very rare, very low volume. Yes, floor shifter, completely different suspenstion, etc. were innovations from IES. And they failed very quickly. Nevertheless, the Argentina market Citroens were called 3CV Azam from 1969 onwards, incorporating non-suicide doors, different tail lights, a real hatch in the back, and the 602 cc engine instead of the 425 engine. Some of these changes aligned to features for other market, some don’t. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_2_CV#3CV

  6. I am very curious how the gearbox selector linkage in 3CV is rerouted.

    The 2CV and its various derivations have the umbrella handle selector going horizontally through the firewall in the middle. You twist the rod left or right and slide it forward or backward to select the gears.

    In 3CV, the selector is attached to the floor.

    1. Actually it is not a 3CV thing. (writing from Argentina here) These IES America/Super America things as rebadges/wayyy past end of life cars being build locally after acquiring the used tooling from Citroen in an auction (AFAIK that was the story back then) were very rare, very low volume. Yes, floor shifter, completely different suspenstion, etc. were innovations from IES. And they failed very quickly. Nevertheless, the Argentina market Citroens were called 3CV Azam from 1969 onwards, incorporating non-suicide doors, different tail lights, a real hatch in the back, and the 602 cc engine instead of the 425 engine. Some of these changes aligned to features for other market, some don’t. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_2_CV#3CV

  7. The “deux” part of 2CV was two, as in two equivalent horsepower via some arcane calculation of the French motovehicule tax assessment algorithm. What in the South American world renders this a 3CV? Is the biggest engine ever offered in the 2CV biggerized yet further?

  8. The “deux” part of 2CV was two, as in two equivalent horsepower via some arcane calculation of the French motovehicule tax assessment algorithm. What in the South American world renders this a 3CV? Is the biggest engine ever offered in the 2CV biggerized yet further?

    1. They are called “headlamp levelling control”, which is to move the reflectors down a bit to compensate for the load in the rear as not to blind or piss off the oncoming drivers. The drivers could use the wheel switch (right side of dial in Mercedes-Benz W123) on the dashboard to adjust the beam pitch electrically or by vacuum.

      What you see on 3CV is the cheapest system that you have to step outside and slide the lever manually.

    1. They are called “headlamp levelling control”, which is to move the reflectors down a bit to compensate for the load in the rear as not to blind or piss off the oncoming drivers. The drivers could use the wheel switch (right side of dial in Mercedes-Benz W123) on the dashboard to adjust the beam pitch electrically or by vacuum.

      What you see on 3CV is the cheapest system that you have to step outside and slide the lever manually.

  11. When I ran the ad through Google translator my blurry morning vision saw “Súper cambiado” as “Super charged” rather than “Super changed.” Damn that tiny descender on the n. And my old man eyes.

  12. When I ran the ad through Google translator my blurry morning vision saw “Súper cambiado” as “Super charged” rather than “Super changed.” Damn that tiny descender on the n. And my old man eyes.

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