- Caselanis Type-Ami adds retro charm to one of the smallest EVs that are for sale
- Complete vehicle costs $ 13,400, or DIY sets come at $ 5,200
- Nine different color settings are available
For all Citroen Ami’s many charms, it does not exactly rank the top of the list. But an Italian coach builder has a solution to the awkward little square cycle.
Based in the small town of Sospiro, Italy, Coach Builder and Fabricator Caselani take modern Citroen products and dress them in fiberglass to look like the iconic type-H van Panel Vans in the late 1940s.
The wavy metal outer body panels and angular lines will forever go down into the history books as a classic piece of industrial design, but the sudden panel wagons have recently had a resurgence thanks to the cut of hipster coffee and food trucks that have used them as a base for Tasty operations.
Caselani will produce a modern interpretation of one of them (based on Citroen Berlingo, Relay and Sendch Vans), but it is the AMI project that really stands out from the crowd.
For starters, it takes a brave soul to use an AMI as a food car, which means that type-ami is purely designed to raise smiles.
For € 13,900 (approximately $ 13,400 / £ 11,600 / AU $ 21,300), Caselani will sell you a complete vehicle, including the possibility of swapping plastic seats and steering wheel trim to diamond quilted faux leather.
It’s about $ 3K more than standard AMI, but customers can choose from six classic colors from the 1950s or choose one of three more modern metallic shades. Oh and you get Jazzy ‘Steelie’ style wheel that is also thrown in.
If you already own one of the diminishing 8BHP, 28 km / h top speed city slickers, you can set the DIY body set to € 4,440 (approximately $ 4,500 / £ 3,700 / AU $ 7,200), adding the corrugated side panel end and A rear with ‘type-ami’ stamped in periodically correct white letters.
It all comes with the right screws and parentheses for self -installation if you fancy many scraped thumbs and lots of swearing.
The lovable ami becomes even more appealing
As a reminder, Citroen Ami is classified as a heavy square in France, and thanks to its 8 hp electric engine and limited top speed it can be legally powered by 14-year-olds … for about 46 miles before 5.5- kwh lithium-ion battery dies or mother texts to warn that dinner is on the table.
But far from just being a young teenage ticket to freedom, Ami has gained popularity in Europe as cheap urban bility, which contains a number of car sharing schemes for stores and back.
The H-Van project is clearly a bit of fun that started as a once-for-the-company founder, Fabrizio Caselani, but was soon made public as the customer queries began to flood.
Is H-Van Body Kit completely meaningless? Probably. But has it prevented me from wanting one? Definitely not.
