André Costa (1927–2002) was a French writer and journalist. He was the charismatic senior editor of ''

l'Auto-Journal ''L'Auto-Journal'' is a bimonthly magazine created in 1950 by Robert Hersant and editor-in-chief Gilles Guérithault, devoted to automobiles. Notable journalists who have worked for ''l'Auto-Journal'' include Roland Gaucher and Jean-Marie Balestre ...

'' from the creation of the newspaper (later reformatted as a magazine) in 1950, and road tested hundreds of cars, writing his road test reports with elegance and a level of insight which transformed that genre. Costa's writing also celebrated his appetite for automobile expeditions and adventures, such as his drive to

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

in a

Citroën SM The Citroën SM is a high-performance coupé produced by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1970 to 1975. The SM placed third in the 1971 European Car of the Year contest, trailing its stablemate Citroën GS, and won the 1972 ''Motor Tre ...

, a trip he undertook in the remote

Hoggar Mountains The Hoggar Mountains ( ar, جبال هقار, Berber: ''idurar n Ahaggar'') are a highland region in the central Sahara in southern Algeria, along the Tropic of Cancer. The mountains cover an area of approximately 550,000 km. Geography This ...

with a

Citroën DS The Citroën DS () is a Front-mid-engine, front-wheel-drive layout, front mid-engined, front-wheel drive executive car manufactured and marketed by Citroën from 1955 to 1975, in fastback/sedan, wagon/estate, and convertible body configurations ...

, participation in the

Paris-Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal, ...

along with numerous automobile adventures that involved traversing parts of Europe. Costa was also an historian, with a particular focus on the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In addition to his pure history, he wrote an

Alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...

novel, set in the Second World War and entitled ''L’Appel du 17 juin''.

Bibliography

* André Costa, Gérard Macchi, ''Peugeot : la marque au lion'', Hirle Eds, 2011 *''Les roues libres'', Paris, 1976. *''L’Appel du 17 juin'', Jean-Claude Lattès, Paris, 1980. {{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Andre Motoring journalists Motoring writers Alternate history writers 1927 births 2002 deaths French male novelists 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French male writers 20th-century French historians French rally co-drivers French male non-fiction writers