1971 Citroen DS D Super 5 from UK and Ireland - Comments

Re the last comment; all I can say is that it must say something about cultural differences.

There is no doubt that even now, having finally bought a DS after fifteen years of aspiration, I was surprised at the staggering amount of attention it receives. Looking at any movie from the sixties (for example Le Saumourai) there is no doubt that the feminine and full lines create an unusual, almost organic reaction in people, as though the car reminds them of some long lost love...

Quite simply the most beautiful and interesting car in the world ever!!! Nearest rival in my opinion is the Tatra 603 (Also from 1955 interestingly).

It was 12 years ago when I finally had the opportunity to offer me a DS 20 Super, in Brussels. It was a fantastic ivory colour car running smoothly across Europe. Once, a charming lady said to me: "Monsieur, vous roulez sur une légende!" I still think she was perfectly and poetically right. That's why I really intend now, living in Portugal, to look for another DS to cross smoothly again European roads.

This is a reply to our friend you thinks that the DS is ugly and all the technology behind it are party tricks!

In my opinion the DS21 (and 23) is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL and innovative car EVER MADE. No other car resembles the perfect aerodynamic shape (raindrop) and looks as near as good as the DS.

If I am not mistaken it had an aerodynamic drag coefficient (Cx) of 0.34 and that was in 1955!!!

The Hydropneumatic suspension gives it a ride quality that is still THE BEST in the world ever. I saw a road test comparing the ride quality of the DS to the "more modern" XM and the DS won hands down!

Roadholding is absolutely outstanding and although it understeers at the limit (mostly because of the 70%-30% weight distribution) its limits are SO high that you will never reach them. It will still put to shame a lot of so called "GTI's" on a twisty road.

The quick power assisted steering is still a revelation as they are the amazing brakes.

Interior space is Huge and few cars now provide so much space.

Believe or not the DS has an Aluminium Bonnet and a plastic (or fiber glass?) roof cover to save weight.

The turning headlamps was one of the best ideas ever to embrace the automotive industry. It's a shame that it was not followed by other marques in our time.

For me simply the DS is probably the best saloon car ever made.

I have to be slightly apologetic here to the owner of a souped up Renault who I followed across the winding roads of Dorset in my DS, up to an unmentionable speed. It was with ridiculous ease that I caught up on every corner and sat behind the aforementioned car at at a speed not in excess of twice the...

Ahem. As someone who has owned numerous cars, including a very fast V6 XM and a 2.5 TD Exclusive XM (in which, I must mention, I shall never forget the irritation of the driver of a Mercedes S320 owner, whose car I pulled away from up a dual carriageway hill in Devon with so much ease that he blew his horn as I pulled strongly past)... I am still very surprised at the sheer real-world performance of the DS. I wrote a comment on them some years back when owning such a vehicle was for me just a dream. Now I own four, in various states of repair. But each is a thrill to own. I suggest to anyone considering one that it is a car that will never fail to allure one and intrigue and allure others...

I love the DS and it indeed was the first true modern car. I own the smaller GS series and it has the capacity to out run many cars of which are much more powerful around corners. and ever since I have modded the engine the only thing I can think of that is as quick around the track is a Porsche 944 (and maybe a Lotus Elise, and some other wildly expensive supercars). The DS is a brilliant car and I intend on owning one in the future. the poor individual that dissed the DS is a fool and I feel sorry for him in the fact that he has no imagination.

Just to set the record straight- crunch zones were invented in 1951 by Bela Barenyi of Mercedes-benz, although the marque was not to use the idea until 1959 with the 'finny' sedans. Please, don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore the DS, but there are other brilliant designers who should be credited.

I have owned 9 Xms and 5 Ds's. I can clearly state that the XM is a wonderful car that requires more thinking about its general state than a mere 'mechanic's car service' to keep it running. I have just had my Citroen owned (from new) D Special back from a respray and overhall and I am thankful I took the plunge. The cash payment was worth it when I saw the fantastical face of a C5 estate owner gesticulating to his partner as we (car and I) drove through an eighteenth century Gerogian town... a perfect setting of old and new! Let the losers buy future scrap.

More for us.

I own a '72 Dsuper5. I've owned it for nearly 3 years. It's my first DS and I wouldn't swop it for anything. You simply can't go anywhere in a DS without people waiting to pounce on you as you come out of a garage or out of a newsagents. Total strangers just want to stop and ask you about the car, and that includes women too. It seems to strike a chord with their genetic makeup somewhere, and they ask as many questions as men.

Someone parked their DS in an inner city street overnight, hoping that it wouldn't be vandalised. And do you know what it was covered in when they came to collect it the next morning? Thousands and thousands of flower petals! What other car would induce such an unsolicited response?

Park a DS in a pub carpark next to a £50,000 Merc and see which one gets all the attention! The Merc will be invisble. No argueing.

In fact, we were driving the DS through Henley In Arden (a very posh Warwickshire village)

and we rolled very slowly past a Jaguar dealership as we were stuck in traffic at the time. In the showroom, a salesman was doing his best to convince a couple they should be buying the latest lardy looking Jag saloon, and he happened to look up as we floated on past (as you do in a DS-it's like riding on a bed of fluid) and his mouth dropped open and he stared wide eyed and started pointing at our car. Then the couple looked up and they too just gawped and joined in staring and pointing,their bottom jaw moving up and down like goldfish. I imagine they were saying to the salesman "We want one of those please" What a moment! Only in a DS...

Critics must remember that the shape has never changed on a DS, so that shape is 50 years old this year. It's still a timeless classic. Where will all these new shiny things be in 50 years time? Ex modern car owners will spot a car they drove 50 years ago and simply say "Yeah I used to have one of them". The same could never be said of a DS, because owning one is truly an experience you won't forget.

Atistic creative types, musicians, artists, poets, novelists, designers are automatically drawn into the world of the DS without a fight. Yet a friend of mine was at a set of trafic lights and a group of boy racers were facing him in some hot hatch, pointing and laughing. So he raised the suspension to its highest setting then dropped it to its lowest before bringing it back up to normal ride level. As the lights turned green, the spotty faced oiks passed him and shouted out "Respect dude, respect". Only in a DS.

And yes it's true that even the mighty Rolls Royce designers admitted they could not hold a candle to the suspension system. It's simply a work of art in its own right. In fact the guy who designed it had no formal engineering qualifications to speak of! He said later that if he had been taught formally, he would never have conceived the idea, because it was so outrageous an avant garde. But then that attitude pervaded every aspect of design of the DS.

The DS shape was the brain child of a man named Flaminio Bertone, an Italian. He was, not surprisingly when we look at the DS, a sculptor and an artist. Thank goodness he was. What a true artist and visionary. I wonder what he would have made of the soulless Euroboxes that clog our roads today?

That's why I find people looking at my DS in Tesco's carpark, from all sorts of bizarre angles today, because it has something that captures the attention of the eye from just about any angle.

So for those that think, "Well it aint as fast as my car", they're totally missing the point. Why? Because the DS doesn't have to prove anything to anyone. (Although for the petrol heads out there, I know someone who has fitted a Maserati V6 into the engine bay of his DS-now there's food for thought)

So good people, I give you the legendary Citroen DS. This year they will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the launch of the car in Paris in October '05. Paris will be brought to a standstill! For those who wish to see this once in a lifetime spectacle, contact the Citroen Car Club for details, or better still, buy one and become part of a unique piece of motoring history.

Chris Barlow

I don't currently own a DS, but I'm in the market for one. I currently drive a VW Golf 2.0GL (I know... boooriiiinggg...), but it was my first car, and a pretty good one at that. I'm generally someone who's heart speaks louder than their head, and I believe this is the reason the DS has struck a chord with so many people in the world (about 1.5million+ I believe) - because it appeals to the heart. It's truly a thing of beauty, and being a lover of classic cars my entire life (all 18 years of it anyway), it's always been an aspiration to own one.

Now that it's the 50th anniversary of the DS, I decided that it was time to leave the dull constraints of hatchback-ism and go out of the norm and out on a limb (and even more so in Australia - the world where V6 sedans and 4WDs reign supreme). I'm not currently the only person with a white Golf, but I'll definitely be the only person with a DS (in my circles anyway).

The DS is simply (in my opinion anyway) the most beautiful car on the road, and I think it's just amazing that the fellows at Citroen (especially Bertoni for the body and Lefevbre for the suspension) managed to package it all in with so much amazing stuff.

I recently had the fortunate chance to travel in a DS and even with the terrible roads in some parts of Australia, the DS always remained composed and smoothe as a baby's bottom. Having to re-adjust one's glasses after going through a pot-hole (otherwise known as a massive crater in these parts) is a thing of the past for DS owners.

A truly amazing car...

GC.

I was introduced to Citroen in 1965 when my father rolled up our back alley in his new ID 19 wagon.We were then the strangest family in south Vancouver. My uncle bought a DS super soon after then my eldest brother bought his own DS 21 sedan. after ten hard years service as a hauler for our family of 8 and use as a truck for fathers machine shop the old citroen came to its lifes end when the tire jack went through the floor;the car had a major weekness, rust.we loved the car dearly and still talk about it fondly 40 years later.

I'm the proud owner of a 71 DS21 Pallas. I find it fascinating that this car appeals to such a wide range of ages, truly showing what a timeless design the DS is. Just the fact that this car has such a polarizing effect on people speaks to it's genius. Only those who have taken the time to appreciate what a masterpiece this car is understand it's many virtues, the detractors resort to senseless babble.

Some misconceptions are: the car is too complex to be dependable. These cars are very rugged and overbuilt, the drive-train is bulletproof. Having said that it does take an attentive owner who will correctly maintain the car.

Another is that it is difficult to find parts for. There is a tremendous amount of support on the Internet (yahoo groups) as well as many part outlets (even here in the USA).

So take the plunge and find a DS and bring it home from the cold!These cars are in dire need of owners who are willing to preserve the most important motoring icon in history, but only if you don't mind attracting massive attention wherever you go.

DW.

I have just bought a DS 1971 and take delivery of it next week. The car in metallic light gold is simply stunning. It has caused a real lively debate at my work as well as home. I can't think of another car on this planet that would satisfy my mid life crisis in the same way as the DS. In a sea of mundane cars on our roads the DS stands out. I consider myself to be very fortunate.

I am Singaporean, living in Vietnam. There used to be lots of DS here from what I hear. It was an official car for conferences etc during the time of South Vietnam, and many illustrious, high class people owned them.

I remember the DS feautured in the 'green berets', 1967 movie shot in wartime vietnam. That car was used to ferry a beautiful lady spy in Aodai (traditional long dress) to a french colonial villa, where the green berets slit the throat of a high-ranking NVA officer after the girl seduced him. Quietly the DS slipped away. Thereafter, the green berets quielty slid the prestige car into a river!!

I thought I had to look up that river of 1967 to find a DS anywhere in SE asia.. Luckily, in the last few years, I came across 2 in Singapore plus 3 live ones/ 1 dead one in Msia. and thank God! 6 known ones in Green Beret land Vietnam, including my own.

There are said to be about 20 on the road.. I personally have seen 5 DS21 and one DS23. In early 2002, I bought up the only DS19 I have ever seen (there is supposed to be 2 more dead ones around), and am holding on to it like its my best possession on this earth.

Especially now.

I was tailing the only DS23 known to be in excellent condition for the last 9 months, trying to raise cash for it. It was mechanically very sound, but the interiors needed an re-do...like a grand dame needed new clothes. It was on sale by a friend who still preferred beetles to Ds (???!!!), I had placed a USd200 deposit, but the grace period for taking up lapsed 6 mths ago. I was working too hard, and too pre-occupied with other things to put the $$ where I should have.

Last night as I lay on my pillow, suddenly the sight of that bottlegreen car came up.

Hastily today morning I went to check out the car. But was told it had been sold 2 weeks ago for a song.

I don't know why, but since that news, I have been feeling depressed, and feel like drinking and smoking. Bring back my DS to me!

The feeling is like I were able to lay Brigette Bardot when she was 23 years old for the price of a few bottles of wine, yet I let it pass!

Luckily I still have my DS19.

One DS is not enough, I will looking out for more..

In the meantime, I am remembering how the DS ferried yet another NVA commander to the field command post (to be shot by Brad pitt) in 'Spy Games';how the blind Aussie girl and the lanky Japanese DS worshipper went around the Aussie Outback in the Pink DS in ' Goddess of 67'.. and how an DS ferried away Hong Kong gangsters away from the crime scene in a 2 second flash in a early 1990's HK movie ' to be no 1'

DS- it goes right into my bones.

Mark sim

s8926630@mailcity.com.

May 20, 2003 comment:

"Nearly 50 years later, no other mass volume car manufacturer has brought out a car with such a good ride."

July 15, 2004 comment:

"The hydropneumatic suspension gives it a ride quality that is still THE BEST in the world ever."

From Car Life magazine, May, 1959:

Cadillac Coupe de Ville road test...

"Cadillac's ride has been good in most recent years- especially in the area of dip and bounce. When the new coil-spring suspension first came out, the resultant riding qualities weren't up to those provided by the long leaf spring of earlier models. This year, however, they've really hit the mark. The car rode as level as any I've ever driven, including the fabulous Citroen DS-19. Bumps in the road displace the wheels most of their length of travel before the body begins to rise gently for a short distance.

Without a detailed analysis let me simply say that I feel Cadillac's ride is now the best in the luxury- or any other- price field. The competition is terrific and comes very close, but this year, for the first time in recent years, Cadillac is the best."