Had the Citroen DS not been made, many of the cars would probably look different today.
Porsche 911, for example. They copied the rear end of the Citroen DS into their own 911 model. I don't know if they had any agreement with Citroën, but it doesn't matter. Citroën's "goddess" had changed the automotive industry.
Citroën DS became a car that represented advanced technology, design, comfort and sophisticated solutions and a symbol of the French. It won great popularity here at home too, although not as much loved as further south in Europe. It gained a reputation for having more faults than average, and that several of the technical solutions, including the suspension system, were said to be difficult to repair. The truth was that the cold and road salt stuck sticks in the wheels. Therefore, when I find DSs at car gatherings in Norway, I see that most have been imported recently, often completely renovated. There are few original Norwegian DSs on the road.
I am in Citroën's home country, France. There aren't very many DSs here either, but almost all are original cars. I take weekly lessons in French conversation at a place where the neighbor owns a great DS in burgundy with a white roof. I have not been able to photograph this car as it is parked on private land. But today my teacher had asked the owner if I could take pictures. He had therefore driven his Citroën into the street for a photo shoot. The car has been owned by the same family since new. It's a 1971 model with dual headlights that follows the road. It was in 1968 that the Citroen DS/ID received a facelift. Then it also got a redesigned dashboard that is more similar to contemporary cars
The burgundy red Citroen DS from the Langedoc region is completely original. In the course of forty-something years, it has received a new coat of paint. Mandatory, according to the owner. As a used car, it bears a beautiful patina that testifies to an original, authentic, clean, healthy and rust-free car. A car several of the companies that make a living restoring DSs would probably like to get their hands on. Then they would upgrade the hydropneumatic suspension with parts from XM. They will upgrade the brakes with parts from CX. They might want to paint the car black or grey, depending on what's in fashion right now, and replace the original interior with new leather with head cushions. It will then be offered for sale in the same price range as a new, lavish family car costs today. Perhaps it would be sold to Norway as a vintage car.
While taking pictures, I have to be careful that my face is not reflected in the full chrome original wheel caps. I note how good the rubber parts look for their age. This is a car that lives in the best of health, and will do so for many years to come with good care. Nice original cars like this should not be renovated.
Dear child has many names. On the back cover it says "D Super", which brings to mind the DS. But DS is probably not a technical term. Pronounced in French, it sounds like "Déesse", French for goddess. Typical French. In the Scandinavian countries it was called something as unromantic as "toad". It looks like a toad, and with the hydraulic suspension it can move like a toad, including raising itself up and down. And toad is by no means a bad term for a car. Audi currently uses a lizard to describe its four-wheel drive system. If Citroën had chosen to call its DS "toad", it would have been called "crapaud", pronounced "krapå". DS sounds much better.
Also, goddesses are known to live much longer than toads.
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