Voitures Anciennes

[Hotrodder]

The 3500 would have been a sound choice. The build quality was retained and with the Buick V8 (after design improvements) it was a proper gent's tourer. I fitted a few of these for friends in the 70s-80s. In stock form not a stormer but a good balance of weight, size, torque, and economy.

[RobertArthur]

[RobertArthur]

An alien, inspired by "le Génie français", has just landed from outer space they must have thought in the mid-fifties. And also the updates are still quite astonishing, a face to remember.

[Polarengineer]

The technical stuff under the bonnet is even more genius for its day

[Hotrodder]

But, just like a supermodel. They are stunning to look at but the complexity and maintenance can be a concern. I have been put off Citroens for many years because of their sophisticated suspension systems that even today have a limited life before replacement is required.

[RobertArthur]

Under the bonnet not only new technology, also a slightly modified engine already present in the Traction Avant. Trying to repeat the success of the DS Citroën decided to buy technology from Maserati. Result: a more powerful modern engine with problems in the SM. Not landed from outer space this time, just proven old technolgy. Nowadays without work.

The SM, almost the swan song of Citroën, the company saved by Michelin.

[Hotrodder]

Its all very well trying to be cutting edge and lead with innovations but there's a lot more to the car industry than that. The changes have to make economic sense as well.

[RobertArthur]

This is a 1971 Citroën SM in silver blue, with a brown leather interior, killer!! Missing: split rear window. No PR ladies around, only delivered in the edition with black seats. A mere 12,920 SMs were produced during its lifetime, from 1970 to 1975.

[DominicBest]

I was surprised to see how much of the technology crossed over between the Traction Avant which was first seen in the 1930s and the ID/DS models that are always thought of as 1960s cars. Externally the change from 1930s wings and headlamps to the futuristic aerodynamic look of the new cars appeared to be a huge change by Citroen who were saying goodbye to the past and hello to the future but under the skin things weren’t quite that simple nor such a leap forward. The pneumatic suspension was trialled in the later Tractions and the engine from those cars was carried on into the space age body. The change from ancient to futuristic wasn’t the clean break it appeared to be.
I learned to drive in a Citröen but that was a 1015 GS and it was in many ways a bigger jump forward than the DS had been with its four cylinder air cooled engine and very low drag body. It too had the pneumatic suspension with all the tricks that that allowed, changing a wheel without needing a jack was even more impressive than the adjustable ride height or it sinking to the ground when you turned the engine off. The Wankel engined GS that almost broke Citröen financially was one step too far.
My only experience of the ID/DS range was being a frequent passenger in them when we visited my aunt who was married to a Frenchman and lived in France. I don’t actually have fond memories of those rides, I didn’t like the motion and I used to feel car sick in them. My aunt is still alive and I often drive her in a current car, an elderly Citröen XM, it might not have the kerb appeal of the DS but the suspension is still there. Luckily for me it also rides more comfortably than the very soft DS used to do.

[RobertArthur]

The GS with the Wankel engine shared the middle-class looks with all the other standard GS voitures, but you had to pay much more for it, almost as much as for the dreamliner of those days, the DS 20. Difficult to convince the public at large, why should I pay so much for something new under the bonnet. Also more than a bit of oil consumption, every 1000 km one liter. And very thirsty, not an asset during the oil crisis, maintenance problems also. End of the road, call back of almost all cars, destruction of all the engines to prevent possible future guarantee claims. Rumor has it that only about 200 survived this control/alt/delete action by Citroën.