The last surviving Citroen Cityrama has been found…

It’s possibly the coolest bus ever built, variously described as ‘weird’, ‘wild’ and ‘futuristic’. Looking like something straight out of 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon series, The Jetsons, the Citroen Cityrama tourist bus was a common sight in the City of Light during the 1960s.

Thanks to a tourist boom, the Paris of the 1950s was a thriving, bustling city, luring visitors from all over the world wanting to take in its history, its architecture, and its culture.

Fledgling local tourist operator, Cityrama, needing to differentiate itself from a horde of similar start-up businesses, came up with the idea of a double-decker bus, encased in glass for greater visibility and with the ability to provide guided commentary to passengers in as many as eight languages.

To fulfil its vision, Cityrama started with a handful of Citroen Type 55 trucks and tasked French coachbuilder Carrosserie Currus with turning the workhorse into its be-glassed vision of a double-decker, space-age tourist bus.

That the Currus Cityrama resembles a boat more than tourist bus is no accident. The coachbuilder’s technical director Albert Lemaitre reportedly used the hulls of Paris’ famous Bateaux-Mouche tourist boats as inspiration.

The twin decks, capable of seating 50 passengers, were encased in plexiglass, the upper section with an opening roof designed to keep tourist on the upper deck from roasting in the sun.

Styling flourishes included a red stripe running the full length of the bus leading up into a, what is it exactly? – a wing? a handle? – that soared over both decks at the rear of the bus.

Up front, a horizontal fin protruded needle-like from the upper deck, looking like it could skewer anything that got in the Cityrama’s way.

Inside, each seat was equipped with headphones that enabled passengers to listen to the audio guide of the tour in a choice of eight languages, selected by a button on the armrests. Common now, but ground-breaking in the 1950s.

Total production numbers have been lost to the mists of time, but it’s believed Currus produced between five and 10 of the space-age tourist bus for Cityrama.

The Currus-Cityrama was a brilliant marketing tool for the tourism venture. After all, who wouldn’t want to see the sights of Paris from a bus that looked like the future. Even after one Currus spectacularly went up in flames very publicly on Rue de Rivoli, thankfully with no one injured, the fleet of Cityrama busses continued to ply their trade.

The last example remained in service until 1980, replaced gradually by altogether more conventional bus designs (boo!).

Time, as it does with absolutely everything, took its toll on the retired fleet, and by the time the third decade of the 21st century rolled around, it was believed none remained, their fates unknown.

That is until YouTuber, The Tim Traveller, got on the case of the missing Cityramas. In response to video posted in March of this year, The Tim Traveller received information that a dilapidated Currus-Cityrama, believed to be the last one in existence, was about to undergo an extensive four-year long restoration in Normandy, France.

But, before going under the knife, the Cityrama enjoyed one final public outing at a classic car and vehicle show in France. Watch the video here.

Now owned by a group of enthusiasts dedicated to the preservation of classic work vehicles – the Association Normande d’Anciens Utilitaires (ANAU, or Normandy Association of Former Utility Vehicles) – the Cityrama’s restoration is expected to cost around 400,000 euros ($AU580,000).

The work will be undertaken by local restoration experts, Normandy Classic, led by Philippe Debasly, who in something of an understatement said, “there’s lots of work to do”. Indeed.

And you can help, if you want. The ANAU is looking for donations to help fund the project and has set up a page on the Fondation de Patrimonie (Heritage Foundation), a not-for-profit organisation which, in its own words, “helps owners, whether they are communities, individuals or associations, who invest in making France more beautiful”. You can donate here.

The restored Cityrama is expected to make its first public outing at the Retromobile show in Paris in 2026.