(first posted 7/14/2014. I’m two days late on this re-post) Today is July 14th, the 225th anniversary of the French Revolution, celebrated as a national holiday akin to Independence Day in the US. A key moment in that revolution was the storming of the Bastille, a medieval fortress and prison in Paris that represented royal authority. That act that has become a synonym for the sudden enforcement of great change to a standard or convention, leading to a consequent rapid change in the perception of what the future should be. This car could be seen to have done exactly that.
The Citroën ID was, of course, a close relative the better known the 1956 DS, unveiled on October 5, 1955 at the Paris Auto Show to great acclaim and amazement. It is widely considered to have been the most technically advanced car available on the mass market at any given time in the twentieth century.
image:carmotorsports.net
Only the availability of cars such as the Tesla Model S prevents us saying “ever”. No wonder it was named the Goddess. (In French, the pronunciation of “DS” is very close to the word déesse, or goddess; similarly, ID pairs with idée, or idea.)
This car is also a great–maybe the greatest–example of the variation of the presentation of the future or more precisely, the presentation of the progress towards future technologies around the world. We’ve all seen concept cars which offered exciting visions of the future, and this car did exactly that. The key difference was that it was actually for sale.
Consider a list of the advanced features you might expect to see in a modern, progressive saloon car.
Modern, attractive and distinctive styling? Check. Aerodynamic efficiency? Check. Clutchless semi automatic gearbox? Check. Independent and self levelling suspension? Check. Standard disc brakes with power assistance? Check. Composite and lightweight body? Check. Class leading ride and handling? Check. Motor sport capability and success? Check. Immediate showroom and on-road appeal? Check. Enduring style? Check. Unparalleled recognizability? Check. All these features were deeply integral to the Citroën DS experience, at a time when the great majority of cars were essentially updates of the concept and technology popularized by the Ford Model T.
The DS was the successor to the Traction Avant, and took the challenge of producing the most advanced car in the world to a new level. These innovations, taken together, have defined Citroën for over 50 years, to the extent that the company has never been able to fully recapture the impact of the car.
image: citroenet
That first impression came, of course, from the styling. It was the work of former sculptor Flaminio Bertoni and Andre Lefebvre, who had an aviation engineering training. The pair are also credited with the 2CV, Traction Avant and H van–quite a list!
Work on prototypes and styling that would lead to the eventual production began at the end of the war, picking up on earlier pre-war concepts, and evolved steadily. Put the DS next to any contemporary car and the contrast is clear. It shouted “space age” in a way no quantity of Detroit chrome and tail fins could.
It is still one of the most distinctive, charismatic, elegant and downright gorgeous shapes on the road, and with a drag coefficient of just 0.37 in 1955, way ahead of the pack. Even the airflow under the car was managed.
Perhaps the other best remembered and recognised feature of the car was the suspension, known as hydropeumatique, or Anglicised as Hydropneumatic. Each wheel was connected to a hydraulic suspension unit consisting of a hydraulic accumulator containing pressurised nitrogen, a damper valve between the piston and the sphere with a cylinder containing hydraulic fluid above it. A piston inside the cylinder connected to the suspension arms and movement of wheels translated to a motion of the piston, which acted on the oil in the nitrogen cushion and provided the spring effect. The damper valve took place of the damper in a conventional suspension.
The height corrector, a valve fed with hydraulic fluid and controlled by the mid-position of the anti-roll bar connected to the axle, worked to maintain a constant ride height. The driver had a lever to select one of five heights: normal riding height, two slightly higher riding heights for poor terrain, and two extreme positions for changing wheels.
The result was perhaps the best riding car ever built. Yes, it rolled a bit, but it didn’t pitch and the ride was superbly comfortable at low speed, high speed, smooth roads, rough roads and even French D roads. It is rarely bettered, even today. The car needed no jack–instead the suspension was raised to its highest, a simple metal pole inserted into a slot, and the suspension lowered. So, the suspension going down was actually the wheel going up, off the ground. Simple! This even permitted driving short distances with a rear wheel missing.
The hydraulic system also covered the steering and braking systems, at a time when powered steering in Europe was almost unknown. It would be the 1970s before the DS’s European competitors offered power steering, and then often as an option. Even the six-cylinder Rover SD1 2300 of 1977 did not have standard-fit power steering.
The front brakes were in-board mounted discs, (five years before Mercedes-Benz offered front discs), and controlled by a pressure-sensitive, mushroom shaped button which apportioned braking force according the driver’s application of pressure rather than the distance travelled by a traditional pedal-and-lever. Citroën were offering disc brakes all round five years before Mercedes-Benz offered front discs.
The DS and ID had a conventional four speed manual gearbox. However, on the DS, this was controlled by a hydraulic gear selector and clutch. To change gear, the driver moved the lever to the required gear, and eased back on the throttle. The hydraulics did the rest–disengaging the clutch, changing gear and re-engaging the clutch. The gear selector also controlled the engine starter, so there was no risk of starting in gear, and all movements between second and fourth were single steps from left to right to go up, and right to left to go down. The ID19 made do with a conventional column change, and automatic and five-speed gearboxes were offered from 1970.
Given the relaxed nature of the whole car, you can soon see how the image developed of the casually dressed driver, one arm in the open window, the other resting easily on the top of the steering wheel close to the gear selector, Gauloises on his lips, returning from a rendezvous with his paramour….
The DS and ID had innovative construction as well–a welded “caisson” (inner frame), on which external body panels were bolted or screwed, including an aluminium bonnet and glass fibre roof, usually painted in a contrasting colour, and in some versions, a plexiglass rear window.
I accept it’s not an all-aluminum Jaguar XJ, but it’s a bit more than a body on frame in steel, or a woody station wagon conversion, with a useful weight saving above the centre of gravity. Many panels were easily unbolted for repair as well.
These features are combined together to build a car that was without doubt the most comfortable car in its class, in Europe and probably the world. It was also a car that handled surprisingly well, for a softly sprung, nose heavy car, with a capacity to cover ground quickly through good road holding, which allowed speed to be carried into corners, and superior cruising ability, aided by the aerodynamic efficiency of the car.
Motorsport may seem a long way from the DS’s image, but the car achieved significant success in rallying. The long travel suspension and front wheel drive gave it advantages in rough terrain, matched with its ground covering ability on the long distance rallies across Europe still prevalent in the 1950s and 1960s. It started with the 1956 Monte Carlo rally, with a class win, and continued to the 1975 Rally du Maroc. Not quite the Lancia Stratos, but a lot more than you’d expect, and all because of the inherent dynamic qualities of the car.
There were a full range of safety features too, over and above the benefits of (twin circuit) disc brakes and self leveling suspension. A single spoke steering wheel, crumple zones, safety door handles, centre point front wheel geometry, high level rear indicators and narrow screen pillars all added together to contribute to one of the first cars to take safety seriously.
image: citroenet
The only weak point on the DS was probably the engine. The original plan was to use a six-cylinder boxer engine, located ahead of the front wheels. This engine shared aspects of the 2CV’s boxer twin, and was initially planned to be water cooled, but then switched to air cooling. The 1806cc six was deemed to be lacking in power, too thirsty and too heavy, and was abandoned.
So an extensively updated version of the Traction Avant’s straight four was used. This was 1911cc and offered around 80bhp initially, and was mounted well back with the gearbox ahead of it, in what became a typical French front wheel drive format. Citroën then considered many replacement engines, including a two-stroke V4, a V6 at 2.1 litre and 3.0 litre V8 (that sounds ideal for a DS, but expensive under French taxation) before settling in 1966 on a revised straight four at 1985cc and 2175cc sizes. This eventually grew to 2347cc and was fitted with Bosch fuel injection to give 140bhp by the early 1970s.
Of course, Citroën did an estate version of the car as well. With compact and self-leveling suspension, it was at least a generation ahead of anything comparable in Europe in the 1960s and 70s. Indeed, when it was discontinued in 1975, it was still arguably the best large estate car available. This 1970 car may need a little TLC but is certainly safe and legal. The car had a split tailgate (Range Rover style), often with a second number plate usually fitted to the lower part, on a surface that was horizontal when closed but vertical when open, so the car could legally be driven with the tailgate open (lower only or both parts) to accommodate really long French baguettes. This was yesterday’s CC Clue.
And the impact of the DS on the public? Citroën sold over 700 in the first 15 minutes after putting it on display at the Paris Motor Show in 1955, and 12,000 before the day was over, more than the first year’s production. Ultimately, 1.5 million were built.
The featured car is a 1964-67 Citroën ID19, with the 1911cc engine and conventional column change, and the additional driving lamps added in 1964. I saw it for sale by the road in France last summer but please don’t try to call the number, as it’s been sold (yes, I wish it were mine as well……there is a special space for it in my fantasy garage). Later cars had the familiar twin headlamps under the aerodynamic cover, with, on the DS, a steerable inner headlamp. Yes, active lighting in 1967.
As a car so futuristic, the DS and ID managed to remain up-to-date during their entire production run, remaining advanced when it was retired in 1975 with full honours. In fact, one could make the argument that the Citroen was so ahead of its time that it failed to have the influence it deserved. It would be a good quarter century before other makes came close to offering the view of the future Citroën offered to the volume market, in 1955.
In the meantime other sedans took much longer to achieve the DS’s qualities, using different technology to attain the big Citroën’s aerodynamic finesse, high speed stability, and space efficiency. By taking a different path, they missed out on that famous magic carpet ride, which only makes like Rolls Royce and Mercedes prioritized on their top sedans (and even then, adapting versions of Citroën’s technology in favor of developing their own solutions).
Citroën themselves found it hard to conjure up an encore act to such a striking space-age vision. The big sedans which succeeded the DS brought forth much of the same brilliance but only managed to live in the its shadow, neither decisively solving the powertrain question or nor dispensing with the idiosyncrasies which came to overshadow their sheer talent. But true revolutionaries don’t come along often and when they do, rarely live long enough to see the masses finally realize the benefit of their vision.
Related reading:
Curbside Classic: Citroen Traction Avant en Indochine
Curbside Classic: 1972 Citroen SM – Gran Touring, Franco-Italian Style
Cohort Classic: Citroën XM – Its Three Predecessors were Hard Acts to Follow
Roger, I recognize a true believer when I hear one. Sorry, I have never drank the Kool-Aid. I’ve been hearing what great cars these are for damn near 60 years and I cannot get past their ugliness. This from a Hudson owner, no less. A friend tried converting me in the 60’s and it didn’t register then, either. Good luck, but I suspect you’re only preaching to the choir – everyone else runs away.
Ain’t nothin’ but a thing, David. Different strokes for different folks and all that. Me, I don’t even need the hymnal- I learned all the songs by heart many years ago.
Amen. I was too strident at 4:30a.m. A common malady in my old age.
Peace to you too, brother. No offence at all taken. By the time all that showed up, I had been awake all night trying to hork up a lung.
I think we both agree- even if for different reasons- the D is a decidedly different beast.
Cheers-
Bill
Even as a little kid, the front end looked similar to an amphibian. Imagine: a French car that looked Frog-like.
Discs only at front. Drums in rear I have a 70 ds
Quite true; that one slipped past me. It’s been fixed.
I remember these fondly , I hired a British Mechanic in the 1970’s who lusted after these and in time bought one with a tatty interior , it was an amazing car if too odd looking for me .
Recently Wagon Wally sold an Estate to Steve mcCARthy , I await it’s return to the road , occasionally we’ll get two of these on our multi – day Road Rallies .
The earlier versions ran everything off one V Belt , this was horribly bad engineering as evidenced by one Customer who told me of loosing that belt in traffic at speed , no brakes , truck like steering and suspension collapsed on her all at once .
-Nate
How amazingly brilliant! How quintessentially French!
A couple of these resided behind a repair shop when I was growing up. Weird, good looking, maybe not good looking, I was never sure. But, I found them to be way cool and was always a bit curious how two of them ended up side by side in Nebraska.
Great write up. If I had a bucket list of cars to drive, this would be on it.
When I was in college, a friend of mine’s family had five DS’ – three on the road, two for parts. We’re talking late 60’s, and the dealer support was already starting to fall by the wayside. I never got to drive the cars, but rode in them often, and their magnificence as a long distance cruiser is usually underrated in print.
Very, very, very high on my personal lust list (right under the SM). Unfortunately, my mechanical skills (or lack thereof) keeps me thinking sanely and conservative.
Just the same, if I could only snap my fingers . . . . . . . and immediately turn EVERY brougham in North America into one of these . . . . . . ..
One of my favorite cars ever, and in reading this I’ve still discovered things about the engineering that I didn’t know. Like the suspension adjustment in lieu of a jack–that’s pretty brilliant. (As a kid I always assumed they were rear engine/RWD. Not sure when I figured out that it was the other way round…)
And that shape, that shape. I know it’s not for everyone. It *still* looks kind of like a UFO almost 60 years after its introduction, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that one was a featured “hover-converted” car in Back to the Future 2. 1989 movie using a 1950’s design as a car present in 2015? Right. But personally I’ve always found it beautiful, and I love the little details, like the taillamps built into the trailing edge of the roof. The perfect amount of chrome. It’s just gorgeous. I think I like the later twin-lamp nose a bit better, but there is an even stronger sense of purity about the original.
They’ve always been rare in the USA, but I’ve seen a handful over the years, most recently about a month ago. A slightly tatty silver example pulled into traffic behind me and followed for a mile or two, then turned off. A fleeting glimpse…
Chris M- the rear lights were mounted high because Citroen designers knew that it was better to have the signals at eye height.Have you noticed in recent decades how cars have high mounted brake and directional indicator lamps.Citroen had that in 1955.My rello,a former government minister,his public relations secretary took me for a drive in his DS21,headlights which turned with the steering wheels so you could peer around corners almost before you got there,drove me off a highway at 60 miles per hour,at a right angle to the road and into a deep culvert.I put my hands against the roof very worried and the Citroen went down into and up the culvert as if it was not there.No big crash,bump nor discomfort.I was amazed.Still am.
Ha ha Rodney – I gave a work colleague a similar experience when I dropped him off home one day – he directed me down a street that had several quite large speed humps featuring. I took the first one at a sedate pace and he remarked that he directed me down this street to see how well it coped (he’d heard rumours you see) so I floored it and took the next 2 humps at increasing speed – to his amazement the ride got smoother over the humps. Point well made!
Thank you Roger, it’s a great help to separate the DS and ID models. These are one of the wonders of the automotive world; a car that looked so different and so space age and yet became one of the most ubiquitous cars in France. That they embraced it so fully is testament to the car as well as the populace. And the wheel-less show display is one of my faves. I drove one once and it felt like a floating couch. Superbe.
I possibly knew about 20% of this and now understand what everyone was talking about. They still don’t look as good as the traction avant but things do change. I also think they are sort of ugly. Friend of mine (a psychologist in Panama) had one but never could sell me on the idea. The station wagon (possibly only for me) loses much of the ugliness and could find a home with me but probably couldn’t find a mechanic anywhere here in the boondocks.
Excellent story. What we have come to expect from you. Keep it going please.
No surprise that the promo materials are also artful. I’d love the “Schema de la Suspension” as a poster.
Modern Citroens with that suspension are controlled by computers so the suspension responds faster to corners and the road surfaces.My 1965 ID19 would corner at speed,an initial lean and then the hydraulics would catch that lean and raise the side which was lower,self levelling.The effect was that there were minimal g-forces on the occupant’s bodies.Made for an immensely comfortable and stressless driving experience.Have driven many new Jaguar XJ6 and 12 from early 1970s and their ride and handling is exemplary,but still not in the league of the Citroen ID/DS.
Great write up on fantastic car. If there ever was a “forever” car this or a Tatra T87 would be it.
I remember first learning about these in the 1970s – they seemed so otherworldly, that it was hard to believe that they were regular production cars. These were extremely rare in the midwestern US, but I recall rarely seeing one.
At that time, these really did nothing much for me, other than their oddness-factor. Since that time, I have come to appreciate their uniqueness, and also to respect how a design could run for 20 years and still be a viable car.
Certainly not for the practically minded, but I love them for their willingness to go their own way in complete defiance of conventional wisdom. I would love the opportunity to drive one with an operable suspension system, just to experience it. Thanks, Roger, for this tutorial.
Good write-up. I never knew about the hydraulic gear selector, as my ’58 ID had a manual column shift. Really, these cars were everything they were claimed to be, just wonderful. Still, I was always glad to have my VW Type 1 as my main ride, just in case the Citroen had a fit of Gallic temperament – which it never did.
The DS’s ability to run on three wheels is also credited for saving another French icon, Charles de Gaulle, from the OAS assassination attempt at Petit-Clamart. (See “Day of the Jackal” for a good dramatization.)
Agree, an excellent thriller. Recall that the attempt was motivated by De Gaulle’s recognization that Algeria was a hopeless quagmire, not long before we Amis got into one of our own. So in another matter, the French were ahead of the curve, so to speak.
I recall seeing a European movie yrs. ago, possibly a comedy but I’m not sure now, in which a Citroen DS was rammed in half by pursuers, but was able to continue driving. Obviously a little dramatic license here, but I’m sure by then that the audience understood why this could happen with a Cit & not one of its competitors.
Considering how jam-packed with innovation it was, the Cit was an amazing piece of work. Pity it was undermined by its engine, thanks to the Tax Horsepower formula.
Right, the Day of the Jackal is one of the best thrillers ever made.
I don’t remember a movie with a DS breaking in half, but I do remember James Bond’s Renault 11 in a View to a Kill.
That movie has to be the 1969 comedy “Le Cerveau” (= the brain) with David Niven and Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Truly, the foresight and determination of this car’s engineers is something inspiring. When you think of what everyone else was cranking out in the late ’50s, it could be argued this was the best car in the world in mnay respects.
Where I am less charitable is in the aspects of the DS which required their drivers to readjust to the way the drove the car. Why a hydraulic gearbox which interferes with your ability to change gear quickly and intuitively? Why a high-pressure braking system which requires you to gingerly moderate your foot pressure?
It’s one thing to change what drivers expect from a car and quite another to change their expectations of themselves. So there was ultimately a lot of compromise with these cars and after a while, when other cars caught up the the DS’s aerodynamics and efficiency, it was hard to see the point of a big Citroen against faster, better put-together rivals
Still, one of my favorites.
Citroën dealers did have to give buyers a quick introductory lesson in how to use these things — the brakes in particular. The latter I think is probably more justifiable even if it did require some retraining; given the modern push toward “brake assist” technologies, it may turn out to have been prescient. The hydraulic gear change, by comparison, just seems eccentric. I think the DS would have been better off with a good torque converter automatic, which it didn’t get until very late in its life.
The brakes and the hydraulic gearbox were some of my favorite things about the car.
My understanding is that the hydraulic gearbox was used also in rally cars to prevent transmission damage. You couldn’t crash the gears; not because of the shift was slow, but because the clutch had a hydraulic feedback “guarantee” control that assured that the gear was fully engaged before the clutch could engage. And it didn’t seem to hamper them much, as it didn’t me.
To be fair, early Citromatics (pre-65, IIRC) were slow to shift, particularly the oldest ones with the high and low pressure pumps. By ’66 the last iteration was quite snappy and if you knew what you were doing you could adjust the RPM and rate of clutch engagement to suit personal taste. Besides, that last iteration altered the rate of clutch engagement with a hydraulic throttle position sensor so that you really couldn’t judge the citromatic’s characteristics with a mere gentle take-off from a stop.
As an aside, that clutch engagement control is passive once the gear is engaged, but active when the gears are not engaged. So you can’t do a neutral drop, or pop the clutch with the gas pedal floored. They let the gears and clutch engage all right, but they actually make the throttle close part way while it’s happening. They only give you half throttle if the gear change is in motion. The weirdest sensation is being in 4th, finding yourself in a hairpin that you want to power out of, firmly flooring the gas (the DS/ID really was kind of underpowered), flipping the gear selector from 4th to 2nd, and have the gas pedal literally push itself and your foot away from the floor for the moment the gears are changing and full engagement of the lower gear is confirmed. Then it lets the throttle fully open again as the clutch engagement is initiated.. It only takes a moment, but it certainly made me think, “What else does this car do that I haven’t discovered yet?”
I suppose if you’re doing you best “Speed Racer” impression and want to speed shift, perhaps the DS/ID isn’t the best vehicle choice?
Regarding the brakes, it didn’t take me long to adjust to the brakes. You know what took long? was readjusting to “normal” brakes (and steering) when going back to conventional vehicles.
Those brakes saved me on two occasions, where that fraction of a second of pedal travel delay would have cost the front end of the car at the very least and one potential broadside of indeterminate position at the worst. Both of those averted accidents would have been the other drivers’ faults, but given a choice, I was glad for the outcome. Today, I don’t have a DS and I also don’t have a choice. I guess that’s what they call “progress.”
Those rare panic stops used to get my heart pounding in my throat no matter what else I was driving. I can say from personal experience that the moment the brain has processed the information required hit the brake, the DS/ID has already stopped well before my heart knows it’s supposed to be pounding in my throat.
It takes moments like that to fully comprehend the importance of those characteristics. Those engineers had a pretty good idea of what they were doing and why.
What a contrast to today’s focus group/ committee designed vehicles. Oh, I understand the “Camry Effect” results in high mass market sales. But I don’t see anyone here finding them creative or interesting enough to bother discussing. And when I drive a Camryesque vehicle I find it so profoundly boring a drive that I actually find it tedious, performance-on-paper notwithstanding. Owning one would save me a lot of gas money though.
…and thanks for the Eiffel Tower con fireworks video, but this is I think how I would rather see it.
Many stories to tell about the DS.
Did a running – driving restoration on a 21 Pallas, top of the line model back then.
Was in my early twenties and it took me 7 months, I’d never wanted to give the car back to the owner !
Metallic grey car with a black roof.
I had a girlfriend in the Hague, she was nice, really nice a looker.
I’d pick her up to go to Rotterdam city, to go out.
I headed the DS out on the motorway, (you head these cars like you moore them, parking is soomething else)
Anyway the large French sharknose on the motorway and it was raining cats and dogs, october weather, the Ds’s speedo pointed at 160 km/h (100MPH) , she cuddled up close to me on the leather seats, the heating on softly, the rain, the wipers the noise of the wind (pillarless doors) the big yellow headlights in the dusk, slower traffic getting out of the way for this French monster, I really wanted to keep on driving and driving and driving with her.
That girl, I really have not got a clue what became of her.
That 21 Pallas still appears to be around.
What a great memory to have.
Superb writing, Roger, about one of my favorite conveyances.
When South County Technical School in Sunset Hills, MO (STL) opened in fall, 1967 – I was among the very first class – the place wasn’t even finished yet – our junior class commercial art teacher – Mr. Rish, now deceased, drove a DS.
His car was the talk of our class and of the school, for most of us had never heard of them nor have ever seen one! Mr. Rish would always be happy to talk about his car, and we discussed it often.
I wish I had the opportunity to ride in one of these, and when I told my buddy up the street about the odd car, we joked and wondered about it, but it was a fascination, for sure.
Alas, Mr. Rish didn’t keep the car – don’t remember the year, but in my senior year, he drove a gray Mercedes. It may have been a 230 because it had small tail fins.
Mr. Rish was an outstanding teacher, and he must have seen something in me or my work or both, because between our senior commercial art teacher, Miss Talley, and he, I was entrusted with doing the finished art for the school which became the school shield. The emblem was cast in bronze and set in the floor of the main entry way, complete with my signature on it! Some of my 15 minutes of school fame…
An interesting time due to having some great teachers, a wonderful school experience and cars like the DS that stirred wonder in us as teenagers, gradually opening our eyes to a larger world!
Love this write up, who knew the DS has a racing history! Great way to start Bastille Day.
One question: was the DS prohibitively expensive when it came out?
It wasn’t cheap. Think somewhere around the price of a mid-range Buick to start. That’s pretty much where it stayed throughout it’s career. The Pallas could reliably touch lower end Cadillac money. The Chapron Decaps and the Prestiges got up quite a lot further, because they were custom-built cars.
No offense to anyone as I know we all have our tastes in cars and everything else. Heck, I love Edsels and army trucks, but I rate the styling of these right up there with the Aztek, first year Ford Tempo, Bloatmobile Caprice and Prius.
It may be vanity or some other character flaw, but I don’t care how advanced or well rated a car is, I just can’t see myself driving any ugly car much less owning one.
To each his own.
Of course my disdain for the Tempo probably stems from the piece of crap low mileage one my daughter had in college. I think of all the wasted hours I spend driving up to IU to work on that boat anchor. No wonder it was low mileage when she bought it. The next owner burned it to the ground. I have a suspicion it was not an accident.
Looks more modern and daring than the Tesla Model S, without the fake grille. Tesla may have new technology, but it’s utterly timid in styling.
+1
Thanks for another great read Roger.I like these a lot,a good looker as a saloon(sedan) or estate(wagon) something few cars can pull off.The rarely seen convertible is even more beautiful.Conservative MP Alan Clark showed me a photo of his convertible when I met him on an animal rights demonstration.
I have a model of Giles Citroen from Buffy the Vampire Slayer(Spike’s DeSoto has gone missing) and can remember having a model of the estate with a canoe as a car mad tomboy in the 60s
My ’69 estate or break is just like the white one. It’s the lack of a viable redundancy in the hydraulics that made them such a challenge. There’s a high pressure accumulator that runs hydraulics for a short time after the v-belt snaps or the pump gives up the ghost. Once you deplete that pressure, it’s on the side of the road for you! Then wait for the flat bed tow truck to get it home.
The funny thing is that after the DS, Citroen switched to conventional unit bodies so the biggest user of “base unit” construction has been GM for the Fiero, the “dust buster” minivans and various Saturns. Rover also used a base unit for the P6 and similar design for the Range Rover and Discovery with non-structural panels bolted to an inner base unit on a separate chassis or sub frame.
Probably my favorite car ever.
As a big fan of the DS, thank you Roger for writing such a great article.
It breaks my heart how these are becoming ever-less usable classics…. at least here in the US. The level of dedication required to keep on the road is mind-boggling. Personally, I can’t think of another classic which I’d prefer to drive on a daily basis… it could be done, but it requires such a commitment that I will likely never do so.
I love these cars, and as I’ve mentioned here many times, their cousin the SM, but as someone else posted here, not being in France makes ever owning a French car a dubious proposition. There is an Estate somewhere in South Pasadena that I’ll need to grab a photo of; it appears to be a driveable car, though probably not a daily driver.
As for movie DS’s, there’s a gorgeous one in “Munich”, and one is a character unto itself more or less in “The Goddess of 1967”.
I worked near the L.A. based distribution facilities for Citroen and BMW in the 70’s. I would occasionally see an impromptu street race involving one of each brand’s vehicles screeching around our industrial neighborhood, neck and neck. Lucky bastards.
A relative who once owned one of these told me the build and engineering quality didn’t match up to the design.
I always thought it needed more rear overhang for the back to look as graceful as the front.
I see one sometimes in a supermarket car park and it’s the slender windscreen pillars that make me stop in my tracks. So much safer than any modern car.
The ability to carry speed through corners is still in later Citroens its the reason I overtake BMWs on twisty roads, no reason to brake for sharp turns like there is in those, its also one of the reasons the Citroen Xsara is the most successful WRC car ever putting brands like Subaru and Mitisubishi out of the event. Citroen shocked the motoring world when they released the DS it was so far in advance of anything else on the market ride comfort and roadholding is still a french hallmark.
KiwiBryce-the Xsara had a normal suspension modelled on the brilliant suspension of the Peugeot 306,both superb cars in terms of ride and handling.Only upper range Citroens have the hydraulic suspensions today.If I had the money I would buy a late model Citroen C6.People who think the shape of the DS is challenging would be shocked by the C6.
I know it doesnt have the hydraulic suspension I have it sitting in my driveway, yes it is a tuned version of the 306 and will quite happily out corner virtually anything else on the road in comfort,C5s C6s etc are in NZ but out of my unemployed price range for now Ive no reason to upgrade in the near future anyway.
One very hot and windy summer day in Adelaide,South Australia,in 1986 I drove my ID19 and friends to the beach to swim.At an indicated 70 miles per hour with all the windows down I was able to strike a match and light a cigarette.Then I lived in an historic neighbourhood,a wide street with very tall trees on either side.I jumped into the ID to go to work and it would not start,so opened the bonnet/hood and got the longest crank handle I have ever seen out and fed it through the hole in that very long snout.It started immediately and when the main accumulator sphere pressures the system,the front of the car rises first,so you are looking into the treetops,before long the rear of the car rises to match the front to make it level.A surreal experience.When home from work and with limited mechanical knowledge,I lifted the hood and noticed the starter motor was just laying on the topside of the engine,the starter was held by one bolt and it had become loose and the starter wasn’t engaging.My Cit did not have power steering,making it a chore at low speed.The main sphere malfunctioned once,so no brakes and no suspension and because the car settled down low to the ground,no way to get underneath it or jack it up.Took the sphere to the Citroen dealer for repair and regassing and all was well.I grew up in a small country town in Tasmania in the early 1960s and our family doctor was a 25 mile drive away,he had a new Citroen DS and those cars have fascinated me ever since
Thank you so much for the wonderful writeup. I’ve mentioned before on CC that I grew up in a family of weird cars, one of which was a silver-grey ’63 DS19 Cabriolet, much like this one but with a red interior. Oh, the memories of riding in that sweetheart! Unfortunately Cleveland’s winters weren’t kind to it and the floors rather rapidly rotted away. In the mid ’70s my dad bought a slid but side-swiped ’71 DS21 with the intention of using its undercarriage to restore the Cabriolet but nothing ever came of it. Someday I’d love to have one of my own.
A beautiful car,up there with the SM and Facel Vega in looks
Technology aisde, the DS and ID have also accomplished that rare feat of managing to still look pretty much sui generis — and like something from another planet — 60 years on. I’ve noticed a number of science fiction movies and TV shows that have a bunch of Déesses in the background, which seems appropriate.
I got quite a kick out of the photo of the car being driven with three wheels. It has a Danish license plate – leave it to a Dane to drive that way…!
Note: I am of Danish extraction myself – all four of my grandparents were born in Denmark – so I can get away with saying that….
As a young man, I always wanted a Citroen. I was just amazed at the styling of this car back in the sixties. We think it looks modern now, but back in its day it was incredible.
Then the neighbour got a GS. My affections transferred to the little one, for a time, but the DS was always the standard, for me.
I’ve never owned a Citroen, but have always held them in high regard for their outrageous vision of a future which never came to pass except for the fortunate few who could afford and maintain one.
Truly a science-fiction car.
I cant say Im as taken with these cars as some…which is unusual for me, as when it comes to love it or hate it cars, I usually love them. I can definitely appreciate the tech though, and how advanced the car is. Its really suprising that the hydraulic suspension hasn’t taken off.
The school library had old car reviews on microfiche and I would read them on my lunch hour. One of the ones I remember most was a comparison test in Popular Science that included a Citroen DS and Peugeot 504. It was sad to see what happened to French cars in the 80s and 90s.
Remember those Norbye and Dunne comparison tests in Popular Science? Here are two which include the Citroen DS, from August 1970 and December 1971.
The 1970 review was against the 100LS, 144, and 504. Norbye and Dunne liked the 504 best.
The 1971 review was against the Xj6 and Mercedes 250.
“The Mercedes is great”
“The Jaguar is existing”
“The Citroen is fantastic”
It’s interesting to note that the Citroen’s price was about the same as a Thunderbird which is shown in their table as having both the worst slalom speed and mpg (6.9 at a constant 45mph!) of recently tested cars.
I forgot how good the fuel economy was on these Citroens, 26.567 mpg versus 12.817 on the Mercedes.
The school library did not have car magazines, Popular Science was the closest thing if you were into cars. Later I would read MT, CD and RT but I never saw a Citroen DS test in those.
http://citroensanfrancisco.com/Vintage_Citroen_files/PopularScienceDSvsXJ6vsMB_screen.pdf
http://books.google.com/books?id=kgEAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=citroen+ds+popular+science&source=bl&ots=90KYey5sW-&sig=tdRRoOOz-oPqHuWxS5Ov8XBmXjc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=B8PEU6-3CKfC8QGl3YC4BQ&ved=0CDAQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=citroen%20ds%20popular%20science&f=false
Count me in as another one who isn’t super attracted to these. The skirted rear wheels, narrow rear track, teardrop shape and rear end treatment(which looks way too busy and poorly thought out compared to the rest of the car) just go against everything I look for in a beautiful car. It does have a quirky charm for sure but so does the 2CV and the SM, but you don’t hear the poetic gushing with those nearly as much as you do the DS, which kinda ruins the charm for me. Frankly the DS has attained a very pompous twinge to it these days.
Ditto from me. I respect some of the DS/IDs features- front discs (inboard is an unnecessary complication) frameless doors, concealed wipers, but the thing is just plain homely.
Sure,it looked like a rocket ship in ’55, and a mile away from Detroits chrome covered designs ( most of which I like). But I still don’t like the styling.
Not hating on it, but it’s not for me.The looks just kill it.
By the comments, this is certainly a love-it-or-hate-it car. I rather like them. I suspect that I am not alone in remembering exactly where I first saw one. It was in the parking lot of the LLBean factory store; I was 8 or 9, on our way to our annual family vacation. It made almost as big an impression as the store itself – which is saying something.
Thank you Roger for such a fine CC on one of my all time favorite cars.
It is a shame the boxer engine out front didn’t work out, DS architecture obviously assumed it. The warmed-over Traction Avant engine it got was an anachronism that made a major intrusion into the cabin. Even in Europe just four cylinders in an executive car was a lifelong disadvantage. I wonder if a Subaru boxer six drivetrain could fit out front amongst all the hydraulics.
Otherwise, one of the most brilliant machines ever built.
Imagine Porsche 911’s original air-cooled 2.0 liter boxer six in that upfront space. 148 hp, 140 lb-ft. It must have been a lighter engine than Citroen’s 1950s prototypes. Surely someone somewhere tried that swap? It would have completed the original DS vision. The Goddess perfected?
Never in production though, de Gaulle would have personally put a stop to that.
Doesn’t really matter if people don’t like them or understand them or the fact they changed the progress of cars. Innovative in the extreme!
So many aspects were at least fourty years before it’s time.
but then this was the love child of Gabriel Voisins chief engineer le Fabrve and everything he did was before it’s time.
Who is he you ask?
Just searchengined him. He was involved with the mythical Bucciali.
Don,
have a look at the Voisin history and Le Fabrve and his design legacy.
He left Voisin and went to work with Citroen , hence the fabulous designs which imprinted Citroen forever.
Avions Voisin C6 laboratoire (1923) …..worth checking out
Bugatti “Tank.” racer.
Love both these cars to bits!
The French see things very differently.
Thanks for a great article on a fascinating car. I had no idea of all the technology in place. One question, in the picture of the undercarriage, it appears that the front wheels have severe toe-out, while the rears are toed-in; is this normal for an upside down chassis, or maybe some parts are missing on a display chassis, or..?? I can’t imagine they went down the road like that.
Anyway, thanks again for an interesting read on a car that is certainly a classic.
It is a bit strange. I assume it’s because the wheels are at absolute maximum extension, and the suspension design does that in that situation, which would not be the case in ordinary use. But I can’t say for sure.
great writeup! although i do love the goddess, for me the ultimate french car has an italian heart. of course, i am referring to the citroen sm.
how not to drive a french car by burt reynolds:
http://youtu.be/VK7cdDT5x-0
If there’s a better reason to bring back hanging I’ve yet to hear it.My favourite French car has an American heart,the Facel Vega.There’s a place for an SM in my lottery winners garage(and an on call mechanic)
OMG, that poor car.
Never seen that before.
What an awesome car.
Shame on you, Burt!
I just howled my eyes out … the beautiful girl doctor on Heartbeat (who drives/drove a cool elegant caramel cream and white DS wagon) ..just got blown up by a toe-rag kid who put a bomb in her kitchen ..and now who will drive the DS on the show ..obviously she is dead ..the young cop just married to her was so distraught I believed it was real and started howling too… haha ..get a life man!!
An amusing 2011 Car & Driver road trip article about driving a clapped-out Citroen from New York to Saint-Pierre.
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/retour-a-lenvoyeur-driving-a-citroen-cx-from-new-york-to-france-feature
Terry David,
yes, lovely women a nice cars,memories.. so many.
The children have grown up with French or Italian cars so the see them as a normal and the cars others have as being pretty dull.
The eldest has remarked at how brilliant the brakes are on her Peugeot when she rounded a tight corner out here in the bush and there was a fallen tree! Seeing it as she rounded the bend the nose of the car was in the tips of the branches of the fallen tree. No damage at all and it was a wet road.
The Alfa JTS has superb brakes , panic stop on a country lane impressed me greatly . If you get the 156 without the body kit it is a lovely car, almost a modern day Lancia Flavia? Great touring car.
Some of the Chapron versions are interesting too. Good luck finding one though…
The Gallery in Brummen, the Netherlands, had one for sale last year:
http://bringatrailer.com/2013/11/25/one-of-two-1965-citroen-ds21-chapron-le-dandy-coupe/
I just checked the company’s website, it’s no longer in stock. They do have this SM though:
http://www.thegallerybrummen.nl/en_EN/autobedrijf/collectie/674915/details.html
I prefer my SM with extra doors…
That’s very sweeeet, Mr. Tatra ! And a Citroën show extraordinaire too. Big Citroën parking only. All other vehicles will be towed away.
This one lives around the corner. I couldn’t believe what these were fetching a few years ago; seven figures IIRC. Maybe prices have eased off now.
The Chapron coupes are the real rarities. As you can see a DS convertible is on every street corner….
hehehe
Jay Leno has posted a great video on his 1971 DS. He’s clearly ecstatic 🙂
The Citroen DS, after it’s facelift in 1970 had Swivel Headlights as seen in a Commercial for the car and another fact is that then French President, Charles de Gaulle loved the DS & made his own Presidential Limo Variant but damaged by Gun Bullets in a failed Assasination Plot in 1962 but got away.
Get your facts straight pls: facelift was in late 1967 (1968 model year). De Gaulle’s presidential limo was made in late 1968. The 1962 “assassination car” was a standard DS-19 saloon.
The image showing a plaster prototype of an early DS carved by Bertoni belongs to me. I found it at Bertoni’s flat in Paris and I have the original negative, among other photos of the same kind as I published in their time. It is part of many images used without authorization by the english website Citroenet. It does not bother me that the photos, once published in my books, circulate, there is not the problem. I find it indecent in addition to using them without my approval to take ownership of it. Julian Marsh knows very well where all pictures he publishes come from, but his oversized ego makes him not honest enough to cite the true sources of his borrowings. It is small, it is unfair and it is also strictly forbidden by the law. Fabien Sabatès.
I thought that I would add a contemporary comment. I do admire the car for it’s engineering and out of the box styling but the Philistine in me still thinks that it’s ugly. The French love good cooking and it would be like a preparing a delicious meal that looked like a blob of brown sludge. The presentation is important. I do agree that this is what space age styling should look like, not a Mercury Turnpike Cruiser. It might have been the class winner at the ’56 Monte Carlo rally but the overall winner that year was the Jaguar Mark VII. I’m just mentioning that to be snarky, because I have one. If the DS had more power it may have well won the whole thing. Nonetheless I think these are amazing cars and would love to own one.
A DS is the featured vehicle in the 1995 Icelandic film “Cold Fever”.
I used to call my`73 DS the OSV-the Outer Space Vehicle. Anybody care to guess why?
Reading this article recently, I was struck by how much my Saab 900 looks like the Citroen. And when the article mentioned that the transmission was in front of the longitudinal four cylinder engine, I started to wonder if Saab copied the Citroen in multiple ways (wrap around windshield, engine and transmission configuration, low slopping hood, down-slopping rear), or if it was just independent engineering from similarly unorthodox europeans…
The Citroen obviously was very influential, being the first mainstream sedan in the post-war era to optimize aerodynamics. But then Saab had also been doing that since its very first car, the 1947 92. I would actually argue that Saab more likely influenced Citroen! 🙂
But did the Citroen influence the 900? Likely to some unknown extent. But not the arrangement of the engine and transmission, which is actually quite different in these two cars. The 900 has its transmission under the engine, rather a lot like the Toronado, except its transmission was alongside the engine. In both cases, it required a 180 degree turn in power flow.
The Citroen drive train, which originated in the TA in 1933, was the very old school approach of the engine full behind the front axle centerline, then the differential and the transmission in front. Same as a rear engine car, but turned 180 degrees. Much simpler. But much less space efficient than the Saab and Toronado’s approach.