I already have an interrest in the HY van for years. So every now and then I was browsing through the citroen adds to look at the HY vans for sale. Only one time in 2002 I saw an add which eventually let to the purchase of this 1970 HY van.
HY 1970 front

June 2002 we bought a 1970 HY for a very reasonable amount of money. The story behind the car is that the car is an original Dutch HY (with benelux doors). The car was initially used as a company car for a company specialized repairing and placing window glass. For this purpose it had a frame mounted on the left side of the car. On the rear bumper there is still evidence of that. The original frame-mounting bracket is still there. Then the previous owner bought this car and an HY camper in a bad state (probably from 1976). He used the 1970 HY as the basis for building a camper using parts of the other car (camper equipment and dual brake circuit amongst things). He owned the car 14 years.

After coming home the car was investigated thoroughly. The platform sections seemed to be in a good state. The lower 50cm of the bodywork need extensive work in the coming years as there is a reasonable amount of rust and some sections are already repaired but not in a way which is very future proof. Repair sections are spotwelded or even pop riveted on top of the original body panel.
HY 1970 side

I was really amazed looking at the construction of the car, that the whole car is stuffed with omega shaped 1mm profiles that, apart from the platform construction, form the backbone of the bodywork. The actual bodywork is mainly flat panels which received their characteristic ribs for extra strength. Because of this construction there are a lot of instances where 3 or 4 plates are welded on top of each other. This construction enabled a relatively light car however it also enables rust to start when water enters the seals.

It became clear that a number of repaired sections had to be done again. The first section would be around the tank area as the sill there was completely rusted away.

Apart from the bodywork the engine needed some attention also. The carburetor was horribly dirty and the top cover sat loosely on top of the caburetor. Furthermore the distributor housing was held in place with a tywrap. It was amazing that the engine ran so smoothly with all these imperfections. The engine was also leaking oil, which had to be investigated. On the front wheels the lower kingpin of both front wheels showed play.

The 'note technique' will discuss experiences I had with the technical aspects of the car to keep it running.