AutoCult 1:43 1981 Citroen Acadiane w/Gauloises Truckente

These are limited edition models of only 333 pieces distributed worldwide

Anyone who pages through magazines from 1981 today will inevitably come to the conclusion that the tobacco industry was extremely creative and advertising-intensive at that time. In various advertisements and promotions, the cigarette suppliers tried to outdo one another. But no one managed to attract as much attention as the French cigarette brand `Gauloises`. Beside the small advertising effort of publishing a Paris travel guide, the light blue logo of the winged helmet became known far beyond the French country's boarders, as a number of unique vehicles were raffled off in a lottery. Five individually designed cars, resulting from a cooperation of Citroen and Gauloises, were raffled off. This was ultimately the highlight of a cooperation that began a few years earlier - in fact, in 1974. In this year, the advertising agency `Heye & Partner` was commissioned by the German sales partner of Gauloises, the company BAT (British-American-Tobacco), with a comprehensive campaign. Back then, a shareholder of Heye & Partner owned five Citroens and the idea was born to fit them with a new guise and to design fanciful versions for a raffle.

At BAT, the ladies and gentlemen of the leaderboard liked the idea and they started out with five 'Ducks' in 1981. Later on, other vehicles followed, like the 'Truck-Duck'. BAT was able to win the Citroen plant for its projects and although the raffled cars were touted as 'Ducks', the majority of them were of the type 'Dyane'. The 'Truck-Duck', as the semi-trailer version was called, embodied the most complex conversion of all vehicles. It is probable that the complete construction and conversion took place in the factory halls of Citroen. The semi-trailer was made of parts of the standard box-type vans, was fitted with a roof rack, and could be parked separately due to a support foot.

Those who flirting with the idea of ​​owning one of the unique 'Gauloises-Ducks' today, have to hope for someone selling his vehicle, as the closing date for the raffle of the initial five ducks was on May 25, 1981.