It’s easy to love multi-million-dollar hypercars with unfathomable top speeds, thousands of horsepower, and various other superlatives, but when folks show love to the misfits of the automotive world, something truly magic happens. This bagged Citroën Ami is a perfect example. Meaning “friend” in French, the Ami is a diminutive city-only car that would never sell in the United States, with a top speed that’s under 30 mph and an electric-only range that just crests the 40-mile mark. That didn’t stop this builder from engineering a way to slap on some adjustable air springs that turn the Ami into the Slami.
The front of the Ami looks almost exactly the same as the back of the car, it has rear-hinged doors that open backwards, and it’s almost entirely made of plastic from the exterior to the interior. Unsurprisingly, there aren’t any kits designed to support bagging a Citroën Ami, so Josh Gresswell of Gresswell’s Custom Shop had to get innovative.
The Ami is under eight feet long, so there isn’t much free space under the plastic body panels to conceal the hardware necessary to add air suspension. Gresswell had to get innovative, so he cut Subaru WRX struts to allow the front suspension to fit properly, and engineered a special mechanism to allow air springs on the rear of the car. Gresswell says that the amount of work that went into this suspension setup was intense, and that a job like this would cost around the same amount as the Ami itself, so it’s not likely to be a particularly common build.
It probably seems stupid to most folks, Americans especially, but that makes me love the badass little Slami even more. Seeing people show love to their misfit cars brings me immense joy, because it’s entirely from the heart. It’s not to fit in with a scene, it’s not to show how rich you are, it’s just because you’re passionate about your vehicle. If I saw a Citroën Ami laying frame, or more accurately laying battery, I’d immediately whip out my phone to document it. Making it even better is the fact that Amis can be driven by teenagers who can’t get a full license yet in most European cities.
