15/12/2008 _ Lechler has restored the historical Citroen Lictoria Sex of Pope Pius XI The historical Pope car Lictoria Sex dated 1930, on display now in the Vatican Museums, has been recently and perfectly restored with a Lechler coatings painting cycle, in the aim of allowing a lasting maintenance.

It is a jewel handed on from Pope to Pope, with a lot of curiosities in its history, starting from its creation. The car, identified as C6, was given to Pope XI by André Citroen in 1930, on the occasion of the sacerdotal jubilee. ’’The car’’, noticed the Director of the Vatican Historical Museums, Monsignor Pietro Amato, ’’was used only once, on the 12th May 1936 by the Pope, with Count Bezzi-Scali at the wheel. The day of its restoration beginning, the 14th December 1992, the speedometer marked only 159 km.” The 159 km have been covered only inside the Vatican area, to move the car for maintenance.

The Lictoria Sex, identified with the same initials of the present car, C6 , was created in the Milanese establishment located in Via Gattamelata. The 6 cylinder engine with 2442 cc, the 42 CV allow a maximum speed of 105 km/h. The car signed by “Citroen Italia” with internal parts in fine gold and precious velvet, has an elegant body, with an amaranthine red coloured with golden threads driving site. The paint, since its origins of Lechler brand, has been demanded also for the restoration and some Lechler operators looked into the historical cars archives to find the correct colour information. An entire cycle of Lechler products, partly conceived expressly for the occasion, have been supplied by Colortecnica in Rome. They contacted the internal Vatican body shop to suggest the best painting cycle: from the Polydur Zinc universal putty, to the historical bi component poly-acrylic filler Green-TI Filler and polyester Polyfan Rush, to the finishing in “Pope Bordeaux Citroen ” and dark gold for the external golden threads. The Lechler R&D Laboratories have developed a special Primer Ad Hoc to protect and reinforce, without weigh down, the awning of the Pope car, which had evident cracks and was not possible to replace to maintain its originality. Only 159 Km/h were covered in the speedometer of this precious car. A car which crossed around one hundred years history and now, after this accurate restoration, is ready, just like a new car, to celebrate its centenary and to show its beauty to the future generations.