SOME cars of fairly recent origin generate comment years after the last one rolled off the production line.

A case in point is the Citroen C3 Pluriel, produced from 2003 to 2010 and which featured a removable roof.

It was viewed at the time as a niche C3 range offering that provided a cheap way of getting into open top motoring.

The roof could be slid back in its sunroof mode, retracted fully to make a convertible, or you could even remove the roof bars altogether to turn it into a roadster.

But the problem with removing the roof bars was that you had to remove them by hand and they were quite weighty. Then you had to just chuck them in the rear seat or leave them in the garage because there was no onboard storage system for them as the car was just too small.

A tricky business this because in the event of a downpour, if you had them on board you would have to stop to reassemble them. A bit like a lay-by car building challenge, which would see you and the inside of the car thoroughly soaked by the time the roof was in place.

And if you wound up the car to high speed the wind noise with the roof on was certainly intrusive.

One magazine described the car as being as useful as a chocolate teapot, but it did have its friends and you still see a surprising number on the roads. One passed me on the motorway with the roof completely disassembled with the muffled-up lady driver not having a care in the world and enjoying every minute.

The Pluriel was originally offered with a choice of a 1.4 or a 1.6L petrol engines, and a 1.4Ldiesel The 1.6L petrol came fitted, as standard, with a semi-automatic gearbox.

Looking back at Pluriel it is clear that the company was trying to reassert its skill of making innovative cars such as the 2CV, which it did - but not in a wholly practical way.