1985 Citroen Touch Up Paint (2 OEM Colors)

The 1985 Citroen Vibe

Welcome to 1985, the year Citroen was busy proving that a car like the BX or the CX didn't just drive-it glided on a cloud of high-pressure hydraulics and pure French ambition. This was the era of the avant-garde, where a car looked like a spaceship and felt like a sofa. We've focused our database on the true survivors of this year, specifically the heavy hitters like Rouge de Garance and the legendary Rouge Delage. If you're rocking one of these reds today, you aren't just driving a car; you're piloting a piece of rolling European history that refused to fade into the background.

Paint Health Check

Here's the cold, hard truth from the spray booth: 1985 was the dawn of The Peeling Era. Manufacturers were making the jump from the old-school thick single-stage paints to the "modern" basecoat-plus-clearcoat systems, and let's just say they didn't get the recipe perfect on the first try. If your Citroen has been sitting in the sun, you're likely seeing "delamination"-that's painter-speak for your clear coat peeling off like a bad sunburn after a trip to the Riviera. Once that clear layer lifts and the basecoat is exposed to the air, it's a ticking clock before the color underneath goes chalky and dies.

Restoration Tip

In this era, your best friend isn't a buffer; it's a bottle of touch-up and a quick trigger finger. Because these early clear coats are prone to "creeping" failure, you have to seal every stone chip immediately. If you leave a chip open to the elements, moisture and air will crawl under the edge of the clear coat and start lifting it away from the pigment. Think of it like a loose thread on a sweater-don't pull it, and for heaven's sake, don't let it sit. Dab a bit of color on those hits as soon as they happen to keep the "peel" from spreading across the whole hood.