1965 Citroen DS21

The Citroen DS was introduced at the Paris Auto Salon in 1955. It was a mid-priced family sedan that received more than 12,000 deposits on the first day of the show. Despite its humble purposes, the DS featured hydraulic suspension (which had been pioneered on the Traction Avant's self-leveling rear end), high-pressure self-centering steering, semi-automatic gearbox, radial tires, and four-wheel disc brakes. Its futuristic bodywork was penned by Italian sculptor Flaminio Bertoni and French aeronautical engineer Andre Lefebvre. Its styling was determined by the requirements of aerodynamic efficiency and a low-drag bodyshell.

In 1966, the original 1,911cc, overhead-valve, long-stroke engine powering the DS was replaced by a short-stroke 1,985cc unit, also available in 2,175cc and 2,347cc versions. Additional developments and improvements included swiveling headlights, fuel injection and a five-speed gearbox. Models offered alongside the original DS were the ID (a cheaper and simplified version), the Safari estate and the two-door Décapotable (convertible) with coachwork by the Parisian coachbuilder, Henri Chapron.

As early as 1965, Chapron added fins to the rear wings and launched his own version of an upmarket DS at the Porte de Versailles Salon de l'Auto in October 1964 using the name 'Majesty'. Originally the décapotable conversion by Charpon was not approved by Citroen, forcing him to buy complete cars rather than rolling chassis. Eventually, the factory relented and went on to produce its own Usine version on the longer chassis of the ID Break (estate) model.

Chapron continued to build his own Palm Beach le Caddy cabriolets along with various coupes and limousines. The Le Caddy was Chapron's second attempt on a soft-top DS and first appeared in 1959. In many respects, it was a considerable improvement over La Croisette.

During the production lifespan of the DS, from 1955 to 1975, several versions were built, including the DS 19, DS21, and DS23. More than a million examples were built over two decades.

The DS 21 was introduced for the 1965 model year. Power was from a 2175cc, five main bearing engine offering 109 horsepower. Power rose even further in 1970 with the introduction of Bosch electronic fuel injection. At the same time, the carbureted version also received a boost in power, then to larger inlet valves.

by Daniel Vaughan | Nov 2019