Bob Shell Dispatches

WHY CITROEN

In 1955 the French automobile company Citroen introduced the DS series of cars. They were in continuous production until 1975. Prior to the DS series, Citroen had introduced 'Traction Avant,' front-wheel-drive, in 1937. The Traction Avant series featured front-wheel-drive, unit-body construction, and advanced aerodynamic styling. Andre Citroen said his company would never make a car that he had to take his top hat off to get in, so Citroen cars always had plenty of headroom.
To demonstrate the advantage of front-wheel-drive, he had men try to move sacks of potatoes across a warehouse floor, some by pulling the sacks, some by trying to push them. The advantage of pulling the sacks was obvious.
The DS cars took those early innovations farther, being much more aerodynamic with totally unique futuristic styling. DS is pronounced Day-ess in French, and means 'goddess.'
Although the engine was a fairly standard, four-cylinder, pushrod design, beginning with 1.8 liter displacement, progressing ultimately to 2.3 liters, coupled to a four-speed transmission that sat in front of the engine. Massive disk brakes were mounted inboard on the sides of the transmission. The brake shoes could be replaced without any dismantling of anything, they simply slipped into slots. Electrical contacts illuminated a light on the dashboard when the brake shoes needed to be replaced.
The cars were almost entirely hydraulic. A pump driven by a belt from the engine provided the hydraulic pressure (3,000 psi I've been told). The transmission was manual, but there was no clutch pedal. Shifting was controlled by a complex hydraulic system called Citromatic. Brakes were also hydraulic, controlled by a round brake button on the floor to the left of the accelerator pedal. Steering was hydraulic, operated by two opposing hydraulic rams connected to the steering rack. If the hydraulic pressure failed, a standard pinion gear engaged the rack, so you could still steer.
That's not all that was hydraulic. The car's suspension was hydraulic. Over each wheel a sphere was located. The sphere had a rubber diaphragm on its equator, with pressurized nitrogen gas above and hydraulic fluid below. This was essentially a hydropneumatic 'spring' with a lot of travel. The Citroen DS cars are the smoothest riding cars I've ever driven.
Another advantage of this hydropneumatic suspension was that ride height was adjustable. When I owned my DS cars, flooded streets didn't faze me, I just raised my car to it's highest position and drove through the water!
If I needed to change a tire, I just ran the car all the way up, clipped a metal stand under one side, then lowered it and both wheels on that side lifted up off the ground. The rear fenders could be removed to access the wheels with a single bolt. The original wheel design had a single bolt in the center which tightened and loosened the wheel, but they switched to standard lug nuts later on.
The only problem I ever had when I owned a number of DS cars in the 70s and 80s was that the tire used by the DS cars was an odd size made only by Michelin, and only DS cars and one model of Triumph sedan used that tire. I had to special order tires when I needed them.
Sitting in a DS was like sitting in an airplane cockpit. The steering wheel was a unique design with a single spoke and no central column to push into your chest in a collision. Instead, the curved single spoke would push you toward the center of the car.
Being front-wheel-drive, there was no hump in the floor, of course, which gave you more leg room.
I've read that Jay Leno says his DS is his favorite car to drive.
Because of all the hydraulics, it was difficult to find a mechanic who knew how to work on DS cars, so I learned how to do my own work, and, once word got around, the few remaining DS owners on my area used to bring their cars to me for service. I was living on a small farm in rural Virginia at the time, and there was an old country store on my property. I filled it with Citroen parts and special tools so I could service my cars and those of others.
Unfortunately, in the mid-70s Citroen pulled out of the US market, and parts became harder and harder to get. For a while Peugeot sold Citroen parts, but then Peugeot pulled out of the US. I ordered parts from a Citroen dealer in Holland then, but I eventually gave up on keeping my cars running, and sold my last DS to a homesick piano tuner from Paris.
When I was going to England and Europe during my magazine editor days, I used to rent Citroen cars whenever they were available, but those later cars just didn't have the magic of my old DS cars.
The car I always wanted, but could never afford, was the Citroen SM. It was a futuristic sportscar based on the DS mechanicals and hydraulics, but powered by a Maserati V6 engine. I got to ride in one once, and it was an amazing experience.