Hello Fred,
Cool! Mine didn't fly but I did parachuting. Not hang gliding, however,
and the parachute was smaller.
What he mentioned in the text:
"Ein günstiger, fahrbarer Untersatz, der Bauer und Bäuerin
sowie zwei Zentnern Kartoffeln mit 60 km/h zum Markt bringen kann,
notfalls in Holzschuhen und über unbefestigte Wege.
Es sollte möglich sein, einen Korb Eier unbeschadet
über einen gepflügten Acker zu fahren."
sounds like the original "function requirement specification" that Andre
Citroen gave his engineers. In English:
"A cost efficient rolling carriage that can carry a farmer and his wife
to the market at 60km/h (40mph) along with 200 pounds of potatoes, if
necessary while wearing wooden shoes and via unpaved roads. It shall be
possible to carry a basket of eggs while driving across a plowed field."
And it sure was able to do that. You could barrel over a rough railroad
crossing at full speed and hardly feel it. I guess this spec was meant
for the very first versions that had a horse power rating of 9 and later
12. Mine had a whopping 16 so it could go 50mph. Woohoo!
I think later Andre did what marketeers usually do. Feature creep. IIRC
he added the requirement that you shall be able to step in and out of
the car while wearing a hat and that said hat shall not fall off while
doing this.
Regards, Joerg