Only Citroen could build something this weird-looking.
Let's be very clear about this before we go any further, the Citroen H Van was awesome. This is one of those vehicles which was a fairly insane idea but which Citroen completely pulled off. Citroen used to be quite good at this, and like many of its other vehicles, the H Van was as innovative as it was weird-looking. This innovation made for a highly practical vehicle, and this cheap (if awkwardly styled) method of moving goods was instrumental in helping France recover from World War II.
The H Van first debuted in 1947, and like many other vehicles to have come out of Europe at the time, it would have debuted much sooner were it not for the Second World War. The chief motivation behind the H Van was the desire to make a front-wheel-drive van, with Citroen having made some significant contributions to FWD with the Traction Avant in the Thirties. The reason for wanting FWD was really quite simple. It allowed Citroen to design the passenger compartment and cargo area without having to be concerned about the driveshaft. This made for not only a spacious cargo area, but also one which was much lower.
This meant the floor of the cargo area was only just a bit higher than the curb, which made for much easier loading and unloading. This was the world's first FWD van, something nobody knew they wanted, and yet was a success. The corrugated steel sides of the van weren't a brand new technology, but this was their first automotive application. Citroen drew inspiration for these from the Junkers monoplanes of the Twenties and Thirties. The corrugation gave the steel extra strength without adding much in the way of weight or expense. This was a necessity, as the van's design allowed for much larger side panels.
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