Le Roi
A 1973 Citroën DS23 Pallas Prestige — the top of the DS range, and one of fewer than 200 Prestige cars believed built. The DS came out of 18 years of secret development to replace the Traction Avant and was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show on October 6, 1955, where more than 740 orders came in within the first fifteen minutes. Aeronautical engineer André Lefebvre engineered it, Italian sculptor and industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni styled it, and Paul Mages designed the hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension. The Pallas treatment arrived in autumn 1964 as the highest level of luxury and equipment: "DS" is pronounced déesse, French for goddess, and Pallas comes from Pallas Athena. A Pallas cost 15,370 francs in 1964 and 27,000 by 1973. Citroën built 1,455,746 DS models between 1955 and 1975 across six countries, 1,330,755 of them at the Quai de Javel plant in Paris. The car placed third in the 1999 Car of the Century competition and fifth on Automobile Magazine's "100 Coolest Cars" in 2005. This one is on display at the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum in Pinellas Park.
Favorite Feature
The steerable headlights — connected to the steering wheel by cable so the driver can literally see around a corner before entering it. Runner-up, and inseparable from the car: Paul Mages' hydropneumatic suspension, the first on a mass-production car, holding a constant ride height regardless of load or road surface. Jay Leno described the result as riding on a cloud.
Best memory
On August 22, 1962, a DS saved Charles de Gaulle's life. Twelve OAS gunmen — furious that de Gaulle had granted Algeria independence weeks earlier — ambushed his car on the way to the airport and shot out all four tires. The chauffeur still accelerated out of a front-wheel skid and drove clear, on the strength of the suspension alone. De Gaulle and his wife Yvonne ducked and were unhurt. Frederick Forsyth dramatized the attempt in The Day of the Jackal. De Gaulle never forgot what he owed the car: when Fiat moved to buy Citroën outright in 1969, he blocked it, holding them to a 15% stake.
Modifications
- None — retained in original Pallas Prestige specification
- Hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension as built
- Cable-actuated steerable headlights as built
- Front inboard disc brakes, rear disc brakes as built
- Pallas trim and equipment package as delivered
Pinellas Park, FL