LOVE LOST AND FOUND AGAIN!

Like all cars there are the favourites. When it comes to the Citroën DS, there are those, like the afore-mentinoed panel and certain former French presidents, who love it, and there are those who think it is an acquired taste.

Stuart Bilbrough sits squarely in the ‘love it’ camp. When seeing his first DS in the late ’80s, owned by Max Earnshaw, a manager at the Christchurch-based accounting firm Stuart had recently joined, he set his sights on owning one.

It wouldn’t be until returning from his long OE in 1999 that he would buy his first DS, a 1974 DS23 from Masterton-based Citroën specialist, Terry Falkner.

Stuart kept his DS as a daily driver, unless it was raining or even threatening to rain, until 2006 when work commitments took him and his young family to Singapore and Bahrain. Instead of storing his DS to await an uncertain return, and with an impending sense of loss, Stuart sold it to Northland-based Rosco Pennall and bid a reluctant farewell.

With the financial crisis in full swing, Stuart and family returned to New Zealand in 2010, which was earlier than anticipated. By this time, Stuart was full of regret for selling his DS23, which his wife referred to as “The Mistress”. Stuart reconnected with Rosco and by 2014 was once again reunited with his Mistress.

Fate would not shine favourably on a long term relationship with this brun scarabee–coloured Goddess when a short two years later, while returning from a drive to Hamilton back to home in Clevedon, Stuart stopped to buy a paua fritter from a food caravan on the north side of Huntly. The most unlikely accident would occur when a chap lost control of his Holden Cruze and careered off the road at exactly the spot where the Mistress was parked, writing her off.

As people drove past on their way north from Rotorua or Taupo, or south after showing their car at Hampton Downs, or, for the lover of burnt rubber, the Meremere drags, they would have slowed down to share the grief of a broken car and a broken man.

For reasons Stuart cannot clearly explain, whether a rebound reaction from losing the Mistress or a glass too many red wines while trawling through Trademe, he would place the winning bid and become the proud (sometimes perplexed) owner of a 1957 Studebaker Champion with a ridiculous 79 miles on the clock since new. You can read more about this very original yank tank with a staggering New Zealand history in New Zealand Classic Car magazine (April 2017, issue 328).

The problem Stuart found with the limited mileage and pristinely original right-hand drive Studebaker was that the value was in the low mileage. Driving a classic like a DS Citroën was what he missed and chilling in the armchair soft seats on a classic sunny Sunday drive.

It would be nearly three years until Stuart saw an example that would meet his exacting DS replacement needs. It needed to be post '72, a DS23, and, ideally, a Pallas, which his former Mistress wasn’t.

the factory-recommended Michelin 185 HR 15 tyres. Paul frequently drove to Clark’s Beach in South Auckland to have her serviced by well-known Citroën expert David Jones.

Stuart comments: “This DS is in spectacular condition. It has certainly been worth waiting for. The car drives incredibly well and I’d say better all-round than my last DS. She effortlessly drives at 100km and handles the long straights and twisty country roads around Clevedon and the Franklin area with ease. I had forgotten the smiles, comments, and thumbs up the DS constantly gets. It is so cool!”

Stuart adds that his wife Diana also seems to be pleased, though begrudgingly, to see the DS taking its rightful place in the garage again.

The Mistress is back!