CITROËN DS

Exquisitely designed and brilliantly engineered, the‘Goddess’ is as desirable as ever. Values are bullish and vary wildly, so how should you allocate your cash?

More than 60 years after it first made the competition look comically primeval in comparison, the DS is still as exotic as ever. Today, prices rival those paid for some of the more powerful, luxury cars of its era – but there was never anything quite like Citroën’s ‘Goddess’.

Nearly 1.5 million were built and sold throughout the world, including rust-discouraging dry countries such as South Africa and Japan, so finding a good example often means buying from overseas or choosing a car that’s already been imported back into Europe.

The DS was built in both left-hand and right-hand drive and about 130 taxed examples survive in the UK. Happily, that number is actually increasing slightly as a handful of specialists continue to import from mainland Europe. The jury is out over the viability of this post-Brexit.

Buyers with more cash to splash may be tempted by Citroën’s longerlegged, Maserati-engined grand tourer the SM, which helps to keep a lid on DS values… but only a bit.

The DS is increasingly a collector’s car, especially so for the more glamorous variants. At the top of the pecking order are the rare (and stunning) ‘décapotable’ Chapron convertibles – the province of highend auctioneers such as Bonhams, and usually fetching well over £100k.

Occupying the more attainable end of the spectrum, the simpler ID model makes do without hydraulically-operated transmission and offers less thrust, although they’ve all got four-pot engines. The Pallas brought heightened luxury, while Familiale estate versions (called the Safari if a seven-seater) will offer masses of load space for all those bottles of wine on your next recce across the Channel.