Citroën DS/ID saloon
Snare yourself a Goddess of the finest calibre using a new-found mechanical confidence
With age throwing up new problems on the Citroën DS and ID it’s essential to look at any perspective purchase with a fresh pair of eyes. Quite a challenge because it’s easy to be dazzled by the Goddess’s futuristic looks and fluid-armchair ride. DS ownership brings a whole new perspective on motoring, and entry to a very special club. So we spoke to Olivier Houiller of French Classics (01474 703125; frenchclassics. co.uk) Jonathan Aucott of Avantgarde Cars (01827 288177; avantgardecars.co.uk) and Jamie Piggott of DS Workshop (020 3417 0243; dsworkshop.co.uk) who says, ‘It’s about the size of a Jag Mk2 and just as structurally complex – with the added expense of the hydraulics. If you buy the wrong one it will sting you.’
Which one to choose?
DS/ID The DS was conceived as a semi-auto with fully powered brakes, but Citroën came up with the cheaper manual-shift ID, without power steering, in 1957. You’ll have to decide whether you want the early ‘frogeye’ style front end or the later faired-in lights that arrived in 1968. On most of these, the inner lights swivel with the steering. Engines were 1911cc from 1955-1965 (DS19/ID19) and 1985cc after that (DS20/ ID20), with a 2175cc option (DS21), and 2347cc from 1973 (DS23). Production ended in 1975.
D The D Spécial and D Super replaced the ID in 1970, with options of a five-speed gearbox and 2175cc, which together became the D Super5.
Originality and authenticity
With so many permutations, it’s not always clear what you’re looking at. The ID has a conventional-looking pedal as a brake, not a mushroom button, though it operates the same kit, with different leverage for a more conventional feel. Slough-built cars are righthand drive and all have mushrooms. The Chevrons on the bootlid are silver on an ID and gold on a DS, and the hydraulic height corrector lever is black on a DS Pallas and white on an ID – and for real anoraks the bonnet release catches are different too. Since the more luxurious Pallas (made from 1965) is considered
‘Age is throwing up new problems we haven’t previously encountered, so look with a fresh pair of eyes’
the most desirable, many lesser models have been ‘gentrified’, or Pallas-ised. An ID that has been Pallasised, for example, will probably be missing the chrome strip on the dashboard – this can only be fitted if the dash is removed and dismantled.
Corrosion
All of the outer panels bolt on, and the roof is glassfibre, though it’s bonded on after 1972. It’s the structural steel underneath that you need to worry about. Sills and boot floors are the first places to check, basically the bottom 2in of the car. The sills should be nice and flat between the spot welds. If the metal has started to swell, it’s ‘blown’ and rusting. Early cars were built better - the later the car, the fewer spot welds, because the distance between them increases. Boot floors start to rust at their edges, and this area supports the rear trailing arm mounts, so it’s a potential MOT failure. It’s not unusual to find repairs here, but make sure they’ve been done well.
There’s a little test that gives a good indication of the state of the rest of the car. Pull back the top windscreen seal and run your thumb along behind it. A little gunge and surface rust is normal, but if it’s rough, jagged or flaking it’s got into the roof rails, which is a windscreen out and roof off job to fix and probably not viable to buy. Push the top of the screen – if it moves it’s more than the outer skin that’s gone, and at least £1000 to fix. If the seller will let you, take off the rear wings – one bolt per side, by the rear reflectors - and check the tops of the inner wings, under the parcel shelf. One other quick tip is to see if the rubbers at the bottoms of the B and C pillars are still in place – if they are it’s probably quite a good car.
There’s also one phenomenon that has only appeared in recent years as the cars have become older, and that’s cracking around the front suspension mountings, where the wishbone carriers bolt on, which you hear as a creak or click when cornering, like a twig snapping. Look out for that on the test-drive. Repairs cost anything from £150 for rebrazing if it’s just started, or £2000 for a full (engine-out) repair.
All of the brightwork apart from the door handles is stainless steel. It doesn’t rust but it does get damaged if taken off clumsily. Only the Pallas has chromed boot hinges, plus bright sill covers.
Suspension
Before 1967 the cars used LHS red fluid, which is hygroscopic, in that it absorbs moisture and creates corrosion from within, and also acts as a paint stripper – so if there’s been a leak you can find massive, random corrosion. And red fluid costs about £45 a litre.
We’ll be mostly concerned with LHM green-fluid cars. They all leak, a little; but is it sweating, a leak or dampness? Splitting suspension gaiters look very dramatic, but it’s just a release of accumulated fluid. A leaky pump will spray LHM everywhere.
A DS sinks to the down position when turned off. When you start the engine, the suspension should rise within 10-20 seconds, rear first quickly followed by the front. There’s a simple test to make sure it’s all working correctly. Open the boot and bonnet and, with the engine running and the car at normal ride height, put your weight in the boot shut (don’t jump on the bumper in case the mountings have been weakened by rust). Tohe car should dip under your weight and then within five seconds return to its normal ride height. Jump off and it should rise, then sink back to its normal level within five seconds. Clicks from the rear as the car rises and falls signal worn pushrods between the spheres and the trailing arms.
Do the same at the front with your knee on the slam panel – don’t push down on the wings because they’ll dent. If it’s solid and doesn’t move it means one of the spheres is blown and is full of fluid, which doesn’t compress like the nitrogen, the springing element. Spheres cost £60-£124 exchange a pair. If you feel stiction when you compress the suspension, the front wishbone bushes are worn – complete replacement front wishbone modules cost £300 plus the best part of 2 days’ labour to fit; more if welding is required.
Never go under a raised DS that is unsupported. ‘If anything in the suspension goes pop – I’ve witnessed it twice – they drop instantly,’ says Jamie.
Engine and transmission
Under that futuristic skin it’s a bit of a disappointment to find the engine is an old-fashioned pushrod fourcylinder – at first a 1911cc Traction Avant-derived unit, then a shorter-stroke 1985cc unit from 1965, along with a 2175cc option. Cylinder heads are good for 150k miles, bottom ends for 200k. Fuel injection arrived as an option in 1970, and the drawback with this is that you have to remove the intake trunking to get at the tappets. The 2347cc version came in 1973, in both carburettor-fed and injected forms.
‘Establish early on whether the car has the red- or greenfluid suspension system’
‘The smaller the engine the less likely it is to have trouble – the 23 is oversquare, and the most likely to have big-end problems, so listen for a clattering on acceleration,’ says Jamie.
All cars use the same basic gearbox hardware. A well set-up semi-auto is beautifully smooth; if not, it’s worn or badly set up. Harshness or whine on any needs investigating. If there’s a whine from bearings or differential, usually caused by running with low oil (five-speeds are more prone), rebuilds are about £3k.
Brakes
Inboard discs at the front – the main pads are quick and simple to change, so don’t worry about them, but discs and handbrake pads require removal of the driveshafts and calipers, plus radiator. Book time on an EFI is nine hours, and that’s a bill of about £700 just for labour. Rear brakes are utterly conventional drums.
Tyres
DSS by their nature mask tyre problems, but it’s a 100mph, 1320kg car and needs decent rubber. The correct tyres are 180-section Michelins – XASS, or Xs before 1965, and they’re £180 a corner. Retro-branded Nankangs are £84 each; beware of van tyres.