Citroen DS - one of the best cars of the 20th century

Car sold - sorry! ____ The Citroen DS - the best 1950s car! Citroen did something special in the 1950s and that something special was bringing the DS to market after launching at the Paris Salon of 1955. The car came into a world where there was simply nothing else quite like it. As I mentioned earlier, the family car market in Britain had motors like the Austin A90, the Morris Oxford and Ford’s line up of Zephyr, Zodiac and Consul. The unapologetically glamorous and traffic stopping DS, named as such to be a play on the French word for goddess, was to come in and smash new car sales records. In a world of austerity post-war, it seems almost unfathomable that hundreds of people bought one without even a test drive in the first hour of the motor show debut. The car was to replace the Traction, another winner for Citroen. Bear in mind, they’d done well off the 2CV which had launched in 48, so brand confidence was high and they wanted to ensure they kept their growing customer base and enhanced it to boot. Whilst the Bertone styling was signed off by Citroen bigwigs without too much faff, there was the issue of the engine which I talk about later. Essentially, the new fuel injected flat six engine the company had been working on since 1950 just wasn’t going to plan. Money was being thrown at the problems like lack of power and overheating and it was decided that instead of going for bust, they’d go back to a known unit. So with that, the 1911cc engine as used in the Traction Avant was fitted to the car. This was an engine bear in mind, that had been designed in the mid 30s.A sort of sore spot to mention for some, because it was the development of the Traction and it’s technology which put the company in the position of needing a bail out in the mid 30s. This engine decision might feel a step backwards to some, but many manufacturers were using engines for decades in various guises and Citroen shouldn’t be criticised for going for a safe option on this one. If you’re wondering on bhp, it’s 75bhp at 4,500rpm. There are more engine options later on and of course the moving headlights, but we will cover this in a different video when we review a later DS at some point in the near future. One of the most impressive things about the DS is of course, the famous or for some, infamous hydraulics. The set up is designed to power the suspension, clutch, transmission and steering. This ensures a smooth ride, easy steering and driving and a pleasureable experience for all in the car as you’ll see when we go driving on one of Yorkshire’s pot holed roads later on. It was the first mass production car equipped with this hydropneumatic suspension as well as disc brakes - which must’ve made it feel otherworldly in a way we cannot comprehend in today’s world. It’s worth mentioning this set up is absolutely unbelievable in how it works, correcting ride height and compensating with automatic self-levelling - something the company designed in-house. If you want to see a brilliant video of how it all works with the Citroen suspension, Ian from Hubnut did a video of a DS driving on three wheels - you should watch it after this one! Transmission on these is 4 or 5 speed manual at this time and it’s not until you get to the 70s that automatic is offered as an option - at least not in the UK brochures I’ve seen anyway! It’s worth mentioning the body too, because the car’s structure is great for restoration and repairs. The car is essentially a skeletal design and the panels are bolt on - which means if you need to sort your car after an accident or remove something suspect, it’s pretty straightforward. It’s also got a fireglass/polyester mix roof and a lightweight aluminium bonnet. Again, all designed with performance and end finish in mind. A lot of Citroens are bolt on/off panels though - so this isn’t unique to the model. Aside from the design, the car had incredible racing prowess in the era. It won monte carlo rally in 1959 and 1966 and 1000 lakes rally in 1962. There were countless other wins on a global circuit and the car was revered by drivers all over the globe. However, that 66 win is a bit of a sore point for Mini Cooper fans, as the only reason the DS won the title was due to a disqualifcation for the Cooper over something really petty like lights. There is a lot to the history of the DS and we cannot cover it all here today - so we will revisit much of the later history of the car and the evolution of the engines and tech when we cover a later model in the future. The car’s production came to a close in 1975 and just shy of 1.5 million of the car were produced in that time. It’s won places in the top 10 for being the most beautiful, most innovative and most groundbreaking and memorable car of the 20th century - but what is it like to drive? Well, let’s hop on in!