Club Citroen

Dear Catalin,
I has just occurred to me that a free Internet translation service between English and Romanian would be very useful if you know of one. I have tried Altavista babelfish and two other sites under "World Translate" but I cannot find one which offers translation between Romanian and any other language, anywhere.
Germany, Holland, and Great Britain all have large communities of Citroen enthusiasts, as well as - naturally - France. Even the USA has a small but very enthusiastic group of Citroen enthusiasts online. Your members queries about Citroen History, spares sources, mechanical problems, and enthusiasts meetings will be more easily answered if translations can be done into English, German, or French.
I am suprised that the Citroen enthusiasts' community in your country is so small. I have worked in East Germany, and if your past Governments spent as little on the road repairs as the old East German government did, - I would have though that almost every Romanian who could afford to own a foreign car - even a secondhand one - would have wanted to take advantage of Citroen's superb hydraulic suspension systems for a comfortable ride.
Cordially,
Julian.

Yes, our community is still very small.

There are several reasons:
Most people are poor (average wages ~100euro/month) and cannot afford computers and ISP fees.
ISP infrastructure is developped only in medium and large towns.

And, my favourite: One cannot import and register cars that do not comply with EURO 3 standards !!!

Of course, the vast majority of our people seem to think german cars are better than french ones so they drive Golfs, BMW (E 30) and Opel (Vauxhall) Vectra.
Vectra models from late 80's and early 90's are becoming like a national car

This site was launched oficially on 10.03.2003 so we still need to advertise it locally.

P.S. The roads are far worse than they were in Eastern Germany :x

Catalin,
you wrote that you "cannot import and register cars which do not meet EURO 3 Standards".
Surely in this Legislation there must be what we British call a "grandfather" clause?
That is - if something met internationally recognised standards before new legislation was introduced, that object then bypasses the legislative requirements because it pre-dates them.
Under such legislation, if any particular old model of Citroen was imported into Romania under the previous regime(s), then you could try quoting government-established precedent, and the "grandfather" clause.
Cordially, Julian Wilson

Julian scrie:Catalin,
you wrote that you "cannot import and register cars which do not meet EURO 3 Standards".
Surely in this Legislation there must be what we British call a "grandfather" clause?
That is - if something met internationally recognised standards before new legislation was introduced, that object then bypasses the legislative requirements because it pre-dates them.
Under such legislation, if any particular old model of Citroen was imported into Romania under the previous regime(s), then you could try quoting government-established precedent, and the "grandfather" clause.
Cordially, Julian Wilson

Citroens were imported for the first time in 1994 or 1995 so there is no pecedent unfortunately
So we'll have to wait until we are admitted in the EU