Nostalgic cars: Citroen Ds

Italian Flaminio Bertoni designed it, we give them credit for building a majestic piece of art. Isn’t it comical, that an Italian designed a Citroen Ds and an Italian designed a Fiat Uno? Well, maybe the Italians were not as fancy until they got to France! Even the French themselves, they built the Ds and up until now there is still nothing quite like the Ds.

Anyway, my fascination with the Citroen Ds goes beyond the looks. I’m more fascinated with its design. With little reminiscence of the car itself, all I have is curiosity as to how this rather quirky piece of machinery handled, how it responded when one tickled its pedals or how it sounded on the open road. All I have heard from those who had a chance to see and feel it is that, it floated over the surface like a magic carpet!

As we go on, I begin to see that there is a good reason this car is listed out of the 100 as one of the coolest cars of all time. There is a better reason why one motoring journalist called it “the most beautiful car of all time”. For a car produced from 1955, the Ds oozes appeal effortlessly and defines what automotive beauty really is.

The front of the Ds looks like a boat, more like a shark. The aerodynamics do not point back to the1950s at all, everything is too futuristic. Its curves are bold from the front and they slim up as you get to the rear. The back looks somewhat like a spaceship. Quite a bit of thought and imagination went into this design; the rear directional lights were stuck right in the roof bringing out that 50s spaceship styling. The roof itself was made out of fibreglass to reduce weight. Chrome bumpers back and forth, shiny door handles and shiny wheel covers. Now you see where bling came from. In addition, the doors were frameless!

In the 60s the Ds was face-lifted and equipped with directional headlights. These lights follow the direction of the steering wheel. Decades later, this technology was adopted for modern cars like the BMW X5 but they now call them adaptive headlights. It took the motoring industry over 50 years to adopt this technology. So even up until now, the Citroen Ds was over 50 years ahead of its time.

There is one feature that made the Citroens of the day special. It was the suspension! This specific model Citroen was the very first car to disk brakes ever. In 1955 it had disk brakes while most cars had drum brakes, it had power steering when most manufacturers didn’t even know what power steering was and that’s not even the icing, this car had hydro-pneumatic suspension. It must be best thing ever after air suspension because they say you have not enjoyed a comfortable car until you have ridden a car equipped with hydro-pneumatic suspension. No springs, no shock absorbers, just pressurised fluid! No wonder they say it’s like flying on a magic carpet!

One writer noted that, “Citroen had always been good with suspension: any of its cars could be driven along rutted French farm tracks without breaking eggs.” It was impressive; the BBC’s Top Gear concluded the Ds’ suspension was more stable than a BMW M5. This is a 1955 car compared to a 2006 car!

You get me when I say cars should be flying by now but hey, electric cars and driverless cars are the in-thing.

The pressure was generated by the engine, that means when you stopped the engine the car would rest its body on the ground until you start it up again then it would rise. It had three height settings and you could set it on the level you want depending on the road conditions I guess. It could be a crouching tiger or a tortoise hovering over the ground, whatever rocked your boat!

The Ds was not exactly a performance car as it’s been widely concluded that it was a bit underpowered. It had Overhead Valve Engines which when introduced in 1955 were 1900cc producing about 60hp. In the 70s the Ds had been refined with a 2300cc overhead valve engine producing a cool 160hp but still the performance was disappointing. As much as the Ds was an executive car it never got a power powerful V6 or V8 engine because of some bureaucratic issues in France at the time.

The Ds came with a semi automatic 3 speed transmission, 4 speed manual, 5 speed manual. It was semi automatic in the sense that it had no clutch but one needed to shift the lever to change gears, it was hydraulically controlled.

Years later, millions of these Citroens have succumbed to rust but fond memories remain. Smooth slippery body with futuristic aerodynamic designs, the suspension that hugged the road and gave unsurpassed comfort and technology that was way ahead of it’s time.

If the French had continued with that pace, they’d still own the hearts of many.

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