This Odd-Looking, Super Rare Experimental Citroën Is Powered By A Wankel Rotary Engine, And It's Up For Auction

If you've already excited that you're looking at a wacky French car, perhaps made wackier by its Wankel rotary power, then I do believe you must keep reading as you're in good company. This incredibly rare nugget is a 1970 Citroën M35 prototype that was never originally made available for sale from Citroën to the general public. But by the graces of fate and Broad Arrow Auctions, you could potentially own one of very few left in existence, as soon as this weekend. That's not to say no one has owned a Citroën M35 independently before. This particular M35 actually enjoyed the open road for many years after it was delivered to its first owner. How it reached them, though, is another story.

The M35 was an experiment for the French automaker. Citroën had partnered with the company NSU, which Felix Wankel had tasked with producing his rotary engine. The 1967 Citroën-NSU pairing was called Comotor, and the venture produced a 995cc rotary engine that would soon grace this little rakish-looking hatchback, paired to a four-speed manual gearbox. Of course, Citroën tagged in the French coachbuilder Heuliez to design this tiny 2+2. Citroën also fitted these prototypes with its well-known hydropneumatic suspension and front disc brakes.

This was not a model you could just roll up and buy from the local Citroën dealer. The French automaker instead made these special models available to its customers for what it considered a "long-term evaluation program." Octane magazine reports that M35 owners were asked to complete about 19,000 miles of driving a year and report their experiences. The cars came complete with a two-year engine warranty and the promise of a loaner car if something were to tie the M35 up in the shop for a period of time.

Many of these cars sported a white inscription in French that translated to English reads: "This Citroën M35 rotary-engine prototype is undergoing long-term testing in the hands of a Citroën customer." This particular example seems to be without that inscription, perhaps lost in one of its restorations. However, on the front flanks of the car, it does have white text that reads "prototype citroën M35 no 124."

Broad Arrow Auctions

Only 267 of these cars were brought into existence, though the French automaker had gone into the project originally aiming to make about 500. And how these vehicles were numbered remains a mystery, as this example is 124 but another is 417. The math is certainly not math-ing. Regardless, Citroën, nervous about the upkeep on the cars, decided to repurchase them from their gracious testers and destroy most of them. There may be about 100 of these Wankel-powered cars left in existence, but even that number is difficult to verify.

This M35 likely lived a quiet life in France with its first owner before it was later restored and brought into a private collection in Lyon. In the mid-aughts, avid car collector and enthusiast Peter Mullin, known for his affinity for French vehicles, acquired and imported this particular car to the U.S. with the help of Dutch and French Citroën specialists, and eventually added it to his collection and museum in Oxnard, California. Most of collection was sold off in a public auction after Mullin died a few years ago, which is how it arrived in the current owner's hands.

Broad Arrow Auctions

If you happen to also have a strange but avid affinity for French machines, as well as Wankel engines, this might be the diamond in the rough you've been looking for. According to Broad Arrow, this M35 shows 18,704 km on the clock, or 11,622 miles here stateside, which means the first "testing" owner didn't even achieve Citroën's test-mandated yearly mileage! Honestly, that's incredibly disappointing.

Outside of that small discrepancy, this rotary-powered Citroën is offered without reserve on August 14, at an estimate of $30,000 to $40,000.