Enough of La bombe Citroën, thank you

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Let’s place a little bomb here. La bombe Citroën perhaps, as it’s been 60 years since the DS model was launched. You’ll know that by now as the Citroën-fanbase never fails to mention the revolution that the DS was. Yes, we all know it caused some shock waves in automobile design and engineering as there is no chance you missed those stories about swivelling headlights and illuminating roofs somehow during the last six decades. The DS is Ad Nauseam heralded as ‘the most stunning car in the world’ by a generation who would certainly have been called hipsters if they hadn’t been born before the car they adore so much did.

They worship it and devotedly call ‘her’ The Godess; The Iron; The Flying Carpet or The Pike. They compare the lines of the bodywork to that of Catherine Deneuve and the sound coming from the engine to baroque music. They eagerly vote for it when another election for the ‘Greatest Car Of All Time’ or ‘Most Beautiful Car In The World’ comes up. The DS may have been revolutionary; it may also have been ludicrously overcomplicated with its expensive airride suspension, puzzling semi-automatic box and teething electronic ignition. And beautiful or just quirky? Sorry, fans, but that’s an opinion.

(Words Jeroen Booij, picture courtesy Vogue magazine)

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