The most Innovative French classic car all the time

THe Most ONES The French automotive manufacturer, Citroën has been famous for its teardrop body design cars that give it a unique look. And one of them we can see on its classic model, Citroën DS, while the 'DS' comes from the 'deesse' (the French mean 'goddess'). Its name implies, as the goddess, besides being beautiful, of course, she also has strength and power.

The Citroën DS has beauty appearance, turn out the car is very far surpassed other cars at that time in terms of automotive technology innovation and overall performance. (Picture from: Hagerty)

Indeed, besides it has beauty appearance, turn out the car is very far surpassed other cars at that time in terms of automotive technology innovation and overall performance. Even in the early of its born, the Classic & Sports Car Magazine also had titled it "the most beautiful car ever made," after conducting a poll that involved 20 world-class car designers including Giorgetto Giugiaro, Ian Callum, Roy Axe, Paul Bracq, Leonardo Fioravanti, and others.

The Citroën DS has the futuristic lines captured the public imagination and by the end of the day an astonishing 80,000 orders had been taken. (Picture from: CintaMobil)

Indeed, there are some cars that stand out and beat each others due to the superiority of one factor alone such as technology, appearance or performance. However, only the Citroën DS, which was first introduced in 1955, was able to combine the three pillars simultaneously. Even after several decades since it was first born, in fact it is still difficult to beat the various innovations it has inherited.

The Citroën DS made its first appearance at the 1955 Paris Salon de l'Automobile (Paris Motor Show). (Picture from: CintaMobil)

This beautiful car made its first appearance at the 1955 Paris Salon de l'Automobile (Paris Motor Show). At that time, the visitors of the expo were immediately fascinated to see this Citroën made car featured various innovations that were far beyond its time. Not surprisingly, before the closing ceremony of the event, the Citroën's representative at the event recorded more than 80,000 reservation orders for the car. That's a remarkable record that lasted nearly 60 years, before being surpassed in March 2016 by the Tesla Model 3 with 180,000 reservations.

The Citroën DS has an aerodynamic body that has an air resistance coefficient (Cd) of 0.34 which can only be rivaled by the 1980s sedans. (Picture from: CintaMobil)

One of the important factors for the beauty of the Citroën DS iis thanks to the briliant hand touches of the French designers Flaminio Bertoni and André Lefèbvre. Before becoming the car designer, Flaminio Bertoni was a sculptor. After he was working for Citroën for many years, he used his imagination as a sculptor to produce several legendary works including the Traction Avant (1934), 2CV (1948), H van (1947), and Ami 6 (1961).

The Citroën DS has an aerodynamic body that has an air resistance coefficient (Cd) of 0.34 which can only be rivaled by the 1980s sedans. To achieve its Cd of 0.34, the Citroën engineers applied a smooth design and also minimized body protrusions. Not to forget, they hid the air ducts, installed rear wheel cover panels, made body curves that "flow" and the windows have minimal air resistance.

The Citroën DS's interior consisted front seats, rear seats, B pillar coverings, top grab handles, door cappings, door panels including chrome trims, sleeve for air vent under dashboard. (Picture from: CarStyling.ru)

The Citroën DS's drive system is front wheel drive similar to the Citroën Traction Avant by utilizing an engine and transmission system mounted longitudinally in front. While the bodywork, Citroën engineers use a mixture of materials such aluminum (hood), glass fiber (roof), steel (body panels, frame). One more thing, its steel monocoque frame has adopted the crumple zone special designs.

The Citroën DS featured with the hydraulic system for suspension, clutch and transmission operations. (Picture from: CintaMobil)

In most conventional vehicles at that time, the hydraulic system was only used for the brake and power steering systems. However, things are different when embedded in the Citroën DS, where the hydraulic system is applied to the suspension, clutch, and transmission systems. In order for the hydraulic system to function optimally in the suspension, clutch, and transmission, an engine-driven hydraulic pump is used which can produce a pressure of 17.2 MPa (2,490 psi).

The use of a hydraulic suspension system (hydropneumatic) also functions as an automatic self-leveling system and variable ground clearance which at that time was quite innovative and helped the Citroën DS to perform extreme maneuvers, resulting in excellent control and providing extraordinary suspension comfort (often called the "magic carpet" ). Prior to the Citroën DS, the hydropneumatic suspension had been in service and was pioneered by the Citroën Traction Avant 15CV-H. The hydropneumatic suspension created by Paul Magès allowed the Citroën DS to go fast on rough roads that were often found in France at that time.

Another excellent features was pinned on the Citroën DS such the directional headlight, in which high beam headlights (inside) are connected to the steering wheel via cables and can glance up to 80-degrees. (Picture from: CintaMobil)

Another excellent feature, the directional headlight that is installed on this car. Although actually Citroën wasn't the first car applied for the such feature, it was the Tucker 48 'Torpedo'. However, Citroën was the first car manufacturer to market adaptive headlights into mass products. In late 1967, Citroën released the facelifted version of the 1968 DS model year by Robert Opron (also designed the 1970 Citroën SM and 1974 Citroën CX). The 1968 Citroën DS has a more streamlined design of four headlight units inside a glass canopy.

The Citroën DS was produced in long periods between 1955 and 1975 with sedan, wagon, and convertible (such in pictured) models. (Picture from: CintaMobil)

The high beam headlights (inside) are connected to the steering wheel via cables and can glance up to 80-degrees. While the low beam headlights (on the outside) are not adaptive, they are equipped with a self-leveling feature to reduce pitching symptoms caused by acceleration and braking so that the lighting is always stable. Adaptive headlights allow the driver to see the conditions around the car while driving through winding roads while speeding at night.

The Citroën DS is the first car to use an Inboard disc brake system to make maintenance easier and minimize potential problems . (Picture from: CintaMobil)

The Citroën DS became one of the world's first cars to apply a disc brake system on the front wheels and drum brakes on the rear wheels. While other cars at that time still relied on a drum brake system for all wheels. What is unique is that the front disc brakes of the Citroën DS are placed in the engine compartment (in-board disc brakes), not attached to the wheels such the conventional cars in general. This simplifies maintenance and minimizes potential problems. A few years later, the innovation was re-used by many military vehicles such as the HMMWV (Humvee) and the Toyota Mega Cruiser.

This Citroën-made car had gone down into one part of the historical momment when it became the life saver of Charles de Gaulle, then President of France from an assassination attempt that occurred on August 22, 1962, at Le Petit-Clamart near Paris by a veteran of the Algerian colonial war named Jean-Marie Bastien-Thiry. At that time President De Gaulle survived and managed to escape the assassination attempt even though the presidential Citroën DS (standard version) was recieved by dozens of 9 mm caliber bullets which caused the body to have holes and flat the tires.

The French President Charles de Gaulle on the Citroën DS presidential car was hailed to the public at the side of the roads. (Picture from: CintaMobil)

Despite having experienced its four wheels skid, the driver managed to speed up the presidential car to get away from the scene. You can imagine that without the hydropneumatic suspension system, it is certain that the French presidential car should be roll-over after several SMG bullets hit the tires. After the incident, Charles de Gaulle vowed only to use the Citroën cars.

The French Citroën DS presidential car is recieved by dozens of 9 mm caliber bullets which caused the body to have holes and flat the tires in the assault back in the 1962. (Picture from: CintaMobil)

The Citroën DS was produced in long periods between 1955 and 1975 with sedan, wagon, and convertible body models, the car was also known as one of the French luxury cars at the time, and is still considered the most unique car ever produced to date. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | HAGERTY | CARSTYLING.RU | FRENCHCLASSICS ]

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