There is a new episode of the UK program Wheeler Dealers where they buy a 1956 H van and restore it to be a commercial truck. They’ve done a DS and a very early 2cv in previous episodes. In each show they get their hands dirty and show you how to ‘fix ’em up’.
For the H Van they transplanted a Ford Transit engine and installed a 240v electrical system that is both battery based and plug-in.
photo courtesy of www.wheelerdealers.discoveryuk.com
There are three H Van video segments posted so far and you have to search around on the site a bit… Go here: https://wheelerdealers.discoveryuk.com/videos/ and click on Videos and then the ‘Wheeler Dealer Series 12’ tab and then to the right of the image below, scroll down and you Citroën HY (plus the episode subject).
We did an article in Citroënvie on Feb 2014 on H-Vans and a fellow who drops old Volvo 740 engines into them. https://citroenvie.com/real-power-and-braking-for-the-h-van/
H Vans are becoming scarce commodities these days and their prices are rising dramatically, mainly because these iconic French vehicles are being sought after to be converted to food trucks and mobile marketing displays. If you would like to see various uses of them in that fashion check out our H Van gallery here.
Art book publisher Phaidon had this story recently on their blog – some history of H vans turned into pizza trucks.
https://tinyurl.com/zord5w6
Bon Appetit!