Here’s a beauty from the Cohort, posted by ggh06 recently, though the picture was taken by him on Quai Valmay in Paris in 1995. As he relates:
Saw one of these glide past me in a Houston suburb the other day. Really took me back, it did.
I have never seen a DS in person, but have always liked the lines, just so smooth and modern. It still looks great today. While most folks would probably go for an early sedan or Henri Chapron cabriolet, give me a late-model DS23 Pallas, please. And let’s hope ggh06 catches up with the Houston DS one of these days – and has a camera on him!
I’m a bit too intimidated by the DS, knowing the limitations of my DIY skills, but if ever there was a car I’d like to own for life, that would be it. Looking out the window at the driveway would be a pleasure.
An acquaintance of mine used to drive his to the summer camp I volunteer at, and it was always a crowd-maker. I took this shot early one morning, and it seemed the fog and lodge were such a perfect setting for the DS (just added to the Flickr pool, too).
Wonderful shot! Thank you.
Best way to view a Citroen is through the soft focus lens of a dream.
You are a wise man sir.
“…soft focus lens of a dream” MikePDX, you are a poet.
Oh “Déesse”, you take my breath away! I have seen them on the road once or twice, but never one as great looking as this one.
Recently I been seeing a rather tired white DS parked near my parents’ new place. We don’t have a proper DS CC yet do we? I’ll have to see what I can do.
Can you believe this is a 1955 design?
“We don’t have a proper DS CC yet, do we?”
I have one shot, but it’s a hell of a car to take on and do justice. I haven’t quite been up to it. CC reader/very occasional Contributor Ingvar has one; maybe if we pester him enough?
It certainly is a big challenge to do justice to a goddess. I’ll see if I can get a proper set of snaps of the old white one in a week or so.
Ill have a look around town see if any are out and about I didnt realise how rare they were in the US long weekend coming up lots of classics get an airing if its fine
Nice cars there are several around here in all sorts af condition there was a topchop convertable being used as a restaurant sign for a long time, its gone now. You need to back thru the cohort Tom Ive posted Citroens before but Ill do more if you want I usually shoot things that you guys stateside dont see rather than Merican cars you have littering the place.
Was it a conversion or one of the mega-rare factory convertibles? A local fish&chip shop in Putaruru (my hometown) had a complete and intact dark blue convertible as their advertising sign for several years in the 90s. The owner knew how rare it was, but I’m not sure he did anything with it other than use it as a sign (with the roof up and watertight). It featured in NZ Classic Wheels/Auto Nostalgia magazine back in the day.
It was a chopped sedan bright yellow was for sale on trademe for a while. I was stopping for feeds in Putaruru on the Hamilton run recently the chinese joint on your left heading north great crumbed fish
Thanks for the heads-up Bryce, I’ll have to check out the Cohort again for your Citroen pics.
What is this? Curbside Classic at its best day?
Apparently!
Wow! Congratulations! That shot is the color of my junior high commercial art teacher’s DS at South County Technical School, 1967-68. Lovely, indeed!
His car was the talk of the school, as no one, at least us kids, had ever seen anything like it. Our exposure to foreign cars were British, Italian and German in the St. Louis area with the occasional Renault Dauphine.
Sadly, Mr. Rish died in 1985.
Jay Leno owns a DS and an SM. Here’s his article about them: http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/extras/articles/jay-leno-ponders-charm-and-quirky-engineering-of-french-cars/index.shtml
Say what you want abut Leno, he understands French cars, nice link.
He totally does. And I couldn’t help noticing that great little Saab in the background too!
i see one tooling around my neighborhood occasionally. i put a quick cell phone snap on the cohort but i will make an effort to track it down and shoot it with a camera.
Tom I couldn’t agree more when you say “Give me a late-model 23 Pallas”: these are the best ones. Early sedans do look fantastic in their space-age kind of way, but they are notoriously fragile and hard to maintain. Sob stories abound. All DSs are special but early ones are doubly so. They’re really for guys with Citroen hydraulic fluid in their veins. I think I’d definitely settle for a late model.
Ah, the DS. It has become such an icon. Yes it is a hell of a car to do justice (Paul, we know you can pull it off! You did it for the 1959 Cadillac!). Driving one in France today will make you immensely popular (and in some neighbouring countries too, I guess). Be ready to have conversations with 1.people who owned one and wish they never sold it, 2. people whose father owned one and who loved it, 3. people whose father owned one and who hated it because those damn hydraulics made them car sick.
I’m in the 2nd category. In 1979 my father bought a grey 1969 20 Pallas, because that was basically the only car my mother could ride in due to her chronic back ailment. At first I wasn’t all too happy, since a DS at that time was anything but a cool car. But I quickly fell in love with the old girl. I remember the red-and-white interior, the magic carpet-like ride, and (best of all maybe, when you’re 12) the back windows you could roll all the way down, as opposed to basically any other European sedan of that era. July 1980, coastal highway from Hyères to Nice with the 4 windows down and the old engine quietly humming, what a summer!
We sold it 4 years later. Dirt cheap. The supply and the demand, you know. Bought a CX wagon instead. Not many of these left, come to think of it. The best ones might be in the Netherlands. The Dutch’s love affair with old Citroens is a long, intense story. I’m only happy that they have rescued so many great cars which might have been wrecked otherwise.
“Citroën hydraulic fluid in their veins”- Be advised that there are several types, none of which is compatable with the other. The hydraulic spheres were color-coded in an attempt to provide a clue as to what sort of fluid to use-
http://citroen.cappyfabrics.com/tony.html
I have in my head a request from a parts guy:
“I want to buy some hydraulic fluid for my Citroën.”
“Sure, what color are your balls?”
Some of you VW/Audi guys/gals may recognize the name “Pentosin”.
I hated these as a kid in the 70s/80s – their slug/cockroach like looks creeped little me out. But now I’m a mature (heehee) adult, I love them. The purity of their design way is fantastic, and to think they came out in ’55…breathtaking. I agree with Tom and Olivier – a late-model 23 Pallas would be very tempting (as a third or fourth car though!).
Theres a 2.5 Pallas on the cohort I shot in Napier bloody nice car.
What is the average price for buying a European DS23 and importing it into the US? Does anyone know?
You would occasionally see these Citroens around L.A. Always thought they were odd cars, I remember some reviewer referring to them as possessing “French wierdness.” They had a sort of other worldly look to them, like they’d been transported from another planet. You would often see Monsieur President Charles DeGaulle alighting from one of these.
De Gaulle always had a soft spot for Citroens. When he came to power in 1958 the President’s official car was the US-inspired Simca Présidence but he wasn’t fond of it, so during the first years he used to travel in a standard black DS 19 sedan just like ordinary officials did.
That car actually saved his life in August 1962, when it came under gunfire in Clamart near Paris (that was in connection with the war in Algeria). The chauffeur just put the hammer down and the DS dashed off, all the time keeping a steady course although it had 2 flat tires.
A few years later he ordered a DS-based limo. That gave birth to the huge, bizarre (and unique) Chapron DS presidential limo, with possibly the most famous number plate in French automotive history, ie. “1 PR 75” (75 stands for Paris, PR for président de la république, and 1 for … yeah, well, either you’re the boss or you’re not). He hardly ever used it. Great advertising for Citroen, though…!
I remember as a 6 year old pointing at one going by and laughing hysterically at it. My dad drove a new ’66 Galaxie XL at the time and my mom had a Mustang. So I guess I didn’t “get it” yet. I do now. I always thought this and the Saab 99-900 series were similar in that they were so advanced stylistically that it took a couple of decades for them to actually look somewhat mainstream. Still wouldn’t want one.I would be right at home in my Galaxie.