Up until fairly recently I thought it was named Citroen Deesse as opposed to the simple D and S letters.To me it implied the car was godly. And for good reason: "deesse" means "goddess" in French and is pronounced the same as DS. Coincidence? For all you french theorists and philosophy enthusiasts out there, the DS was described "as if it had fallen from the sky" by Roland Barthes.
This French whipper-snapper is one of my all-time favorite cars. It's got a great design that cannot help but capture a bystander's eye. Little do they know it's BADASS (yes just like the Lincoln Continental). Why? What is so special about this little number? How about a hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension?! A hydronew-blabla-what? Citroen introduced the first rear self-levelling suspension in 1954 on the unique looking Traction Avant, followed by an all wheel self-levelling suspension in 1955 by using the hydropneumatic system on the DS. This means that instead of using the ordinary steel spring suspension system most cars have, the DS was equipped with a system powered by a special hydraulic fluid. That suspension system provided the driver with ride-height control for rough terrain, which rural France was known for back in
the day.
Unveiled before a stunned crowd at the Paris Motor Show in 1955, the Citroen DS was quickly referred to as "the most beautiful car of all time" by Classic & Sports Magazine (you can find the press release at http://www.jalopnik.com/) It boasted almost "space-age" like features in its design, demonstrated clarity of purpose, clean lines and most of all, proportion. No wonder it received such high praise at the time.
A tid-bit of history: contrarily to the Presidential Lincoln Continental Limousine that didn't do much to save President Kennedy from assassination, the humble DS did manage to save President De Gaulle.
Interested in more about the "goddess" automobile? Do yourself a favor and watch the British TV show Wheeler Dealers' episode about the Citroen DS. You should just watch that show regardless.
I wish I had better pictures, I must have some from when I was a wee little kid in France... no digital back then. This gorgeous one was driving around West LA. I made my mom, who was driving me around at the time, follow it to try and get a clear snapshot.
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