The DS advanced attainable standards in the automobile ride, handling and braking. Citroën sold nearly 1.5 million D-run series during the model’s 20-year production. The DS was third in the 1999 Car of the Century competition, recognizing the world’s most influential car developed and was the most beautiful car of all time by Classic & Sports Car magazine.

Classic Cars Wanted Citroen DS Model History

Avant After 18 years of development in secret as the successor to the venerable Traction DS was 19 on 5th October 1955 on the Paris Motor Show. The car looks and innovative technology, the imagination of the public and the automobile industry almost overnight. In the first 15 minutes of the show were taken over 743 orders and orders for the first day was 12,000.

Far from being just a fascinating technology in search of a purpose, contemporary journalists were effusive in noting how the DS dramatically pushed the envelope in the ride vs. handling compromise possible in a motor vehicle.

To one in France is still deep in the reconstruction after the devastation of World War II, but also building its identity in the postcolonial world, was the DS car a symbol of French ingenuity. It defied virtually every automotive design convention of the period.

In addition, the nation relevance postulated in the Space Age, while the global race for technology of the Cold War. Structuralist philosopher Roland Barthes in an essay on the car, said that it looked as if he has “fallen from heaven.”

The high price, but was hurt general sales in a country still recovering from the Second World War, and a cheap sub-model, the Citroën ID, introduced in 1957. The ID shared the DS the body, but was more traditional mechanical: it had no power steering and had a conventional gearbox and clutch instead of the DS hydraulically controlled set-up. A station wagon variant, the ID Break, was in 1958.

Outside France, the car radical and cosmopolitan design loaded nonconformists appeal. An American advertising sales summarized this argument: “It takes a special person to a special car to drive.”

The Citroen DS was historically significant for many reasons, including as it was the first mass production car with front power disc brakes. In addition, the hydro-pneumatic suspension reduced disposal including automatic level control and variable ground clearance, power steering and a semi-automatic gearbox and a fiberglass roof, the weight shift. Inboard front brakes (as well as independent suspension) reduced unsprung weight. Different front and rear track widths and tire sizes reduced the understeer typical of front-engine, front wheel drive cars.

As with all cars French was the DS-design of the PS control system, which effectively mandated very small engines affected. Unlike the Traction Avant predecessor, there was not a top-of-range model with a powerful six-cylinder. Citroën had planned an air-cooled flat-6 engine in this car, but do not have the resources to the prototype engine started up. derived Despite the rather leisurely acceleration by its small four-cylinder engine from the Traction Avant, delivered, the DS successful in motorsports like rallying, where sustained speeds are on poor soils in the foreground, and won the Rallye Monte Carlo in 1959 and controversially in 1966 after disqualification of the BMC Mini-Cooper team.

The Classic Cars Wanted Citroen DS placed on Automobile Magazine “100 Coolest Cars” listing fifth in 2005. It has also been called the most beautiful car of all time by Classic & Sports Car magazine after a survey of 20 world-renowned car designer, Giorgetto Giugiaro including Ian Callum, Roy Axe, Paul Bracq and Leonardo Fioravanti.

Classic Cars Wanted Citroen DS : Technical innovation – hydraulic systems

Classic Cars Wanted Citroen DS In conventional cars, are used in hydraulic brakes and power steering. In the DS, they were used for the suspension, clutch and gearbox, although later ID19 had manual control and a simplified power braking system.
At a time when few cars had independent suspension on all wheels, the application of the hydraulic system, the car’s suspension system, a leveling system that was a novelty. This suspension allows the car to sharp handling with a very high level of driving comfort combined, often to a “flying carpet” to achieve in comparison. The hydro-pneumatic suspension uses pioneering work in the year before, on the back of another car from Citroën, the top of the range Traction Avant 15CV-H.

Classic Cars Wanted Citroen DS : Impact on the Citroën brand development

From 1955, the Citroën DS cemented as an automotive innovator, Avant building on the success of the traction, the world’s first mass-produced monocoque front wheel drive car was built in 1934 had. In fact, the DS caused such a huge feeling that Citroen concerned that future models would not fat should be of the same standard. A clean sheet new models were introduced by 1955 to 1970.

Classic Cars Wanted Citroen DS was a big, expensive car executive and a decline in brand extension was attempted, but without result. In the late 1950s and 1960s Citroën developed many new vehicles for the very large market segments between the 2CV and DS, occupied by vehicles like the Peugeot 403, Renault 16 and Ford Cortina, but no one has it in production.

Either they were not economical construction costs or ordinary “me too” cars, not up to the high standard of social innovation. As a Citroën, Michelin as a research laboratory owned by it and a strong showcase for the performance of the Michelin invented the radial tire, had such an experiment was possible.

More models by Citroën were produced on the utilitarian 2CV 2-cylinder compact car (that some of the most advanced independent suspension chassis technology is part of the world) is based. designed by Flaminio Bertoni, the Ami tried to combine the styling of the DS with the advanced chassis of the 2CV. It was very successful in France in the 1960s, but less on export markets because of its controversial styling, and by loud and too weak. The Dyane was a modernized 2CV with a gasoline engine to compete with Renault fourth.

Citroën finally putting Citroën GS 1970, which won sold “European Car of the Year 1970″ and a spectacular 2.5 million units. But it was a flat-4 air-cooled engine is too weak, the intended Wankel rotary-engine version has not the full production.

Classic Cars Wanted Citroen DS : Replacing the Citroen DS

The DS remained popular and competitive during their production run. Its peak production in 1970. Certain design elements such as the slightly cramped cabin, column mounted gear lever and separate wings began seem a little dated in the 1970s.

Citroën invested enormous resources to develop and launch a completely new vehicle in 1970, the SM, one was entirely modernized, much wider, faster and more expensive cars than the DS. Although the SM building was conceptually similar to the DS – a platform frame spotwelded with many of the pieces together, mid-engine, front drive, removable front fender, hydro pneumatic suspension, rear fender skirts and trailing arm rear axle – it is a completely different car. In the SM, the roof and rear windows were welded. Few parts are directly interchangeable between the two cars, but the DS and SM were gathered both on the same production lines at the Quai André-Citroën, Paris. Unlike the DS, the factory never authorized a convertible model, as Citroën roofing felt was an integral part of the structure of the SM.

Despite all of the SM had to fulfill a different purpose more than the modernization of the DS: it had a new Citroën Grand Tourer segment to start. This meant that, unlike the DS, the SM is not provided, a practical 4-door sedan to be suitable as a large family car, the most important market for vehicles of this kind in Europe. Normally would be used by low-volume coupé based on items with an existing salon imagine together, not as unique models, a contemporary example is the Mercedes-Benz SLC-Class. The SM the high price, driven by his Maserati engine and limited use of the 2 +2 seating configuration, said that the SM could not understand as they actually produce the shell of the DS.

The DS was finally phased out in 1976, produced the time in which 1,455,746 cars were. The DS has been replaced as a large family or executive car model in the range of the CX. The development and introduction of the CX in the aftermath of the oil crisis in 1974, Citroën bankruptcy and forced it into a merger with Peugeot to PSA Peugeot-Citroën form.

Classic Cars Wanted Citroen DS : Citroen DS Manufacture

The Citroen DS was made especially in Paris, with other manufacturing sites in Great Britain, South Africa, the former Yugoslavia (mostly B ambulance) and Australia.
Australia’s own built-D version in the 1960s in Heidelberg, Victoria, the ID 19 identified “Parisienne.” Australian market cars were fitted as standard with options like the “DSpecial DeLuxe,” which were not on domestic European models.

By 1965 cars were assembled by the manufacturer premises Slough, west of London, made with a combination of French semi-CKD kits and local-related components, some of them worked on site. A French electrical system replaced the British one on the Slough cars in 1962, resulting in a change to “continental style” negative ground. After 1965 imported cars for the UK market were fully assembled by the French company plant. The British-built cars of their leather seats, wood dashboards, excel, and made (on pre-1962 cars) Lucas electrics.

Classic Cars Wanted Citroen DS Specification Summary

Article Archive in Classic Cars Wanted Citroen DS also see our others classic cars collection.

Incoming search terms: