Citroen Palm Beach Basks In Basque Country

Having just read Mark Kurlansky's book about the Basques (after being dragged into Kurlansky-land by his excellent histories of cod and salt, the way marijuana leads to heroin), I thought it was pretty cool when LivingAbroad70 sent in these shots of an incredibly rare Citroën DS Palm Beach convertible found parked down on the Zarautz street. Make the jump to read LivingAbroad70's description.

As an American living in the Spanish part of the Basque Country, I have a certain curiosity about classic European cars that locals don't usually share with me. Cars like the Renault 5, Seat/Fiat 600, etc. are not head turners over here, so they're not really appreciated, but when I came across this thing in a small city named Zarautz I knew I'd hit jackpot. This Citroën Palm Beach convertible was parked in front of a hotel and it had french plates, so its owner must be a French bon vivant who's not afraid of making a road trip with a classic and very rare French car. For what I've read on the net, this Palm Beach is a model coach built by Henri Chapron, one of 32 made between 1964 and 1971, so it's pretty shocking (and great) that somebody has driven this thing on a long trip, and still managed to keep it in great shape. As I said, this car was in excellent condition and it seemed to be either restored or obsessively well kept (I guess it was restored because the interior leather looked new).