Celebrating 60 years of the Citroën DS marque

EVERY year marks some kind of celebratory event or anniversary in the automotive world. However, one major automotive anniversary in 2015 – the 60th birthday of the original Citroën DS – truly is an event worth celebrating and a milestone that Citroën will be pulling out all of the stops to honor in May with DS Week, a special sevenday celebration of the car in the French capital starting on May 19.

Highlights will include a special free DS exhibition in the Jardin des Tuileries on May 23 and 24, plus a 600- strong procession of Citroën DS cars from around the world along the Champs-Élysées.

DS Week is just one of many events planned this year in honor of the car the French call the Goddess. But that’s understandable because, in the words of motoring journalist and “Top Gear” co-host James May, the DS is “easily the greatest car in the world. The DS changed everything. It was a true revolution in motoring.”

From the Ford Model T onwards, the history of the automobile is packed with benchmark vehicles that innovated in a single area to such an extent that it become the norm.

But in 1955, when the DS debuted, it boasted so many ground-breaking features that to this day, pretty much all current cars have some of its DNA.

The first production car with disc brakes and all- around independent ‘air spring’ hydraulic suspension for the smoothest ride, it also saved French President De Gaulle’s life in 1962 when his DS was hit by a hail of bullets. — Relaxnews