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ronhic

ronhic

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 6, 2008
Messages
2,836
Location
Canberra, Australia
Well folks, I've gone and done it.

In less than half an hour I splurged on a dream without telling the other half (who thankfully just smiled).

She's a 1975 Citroen DS23 Pallas with electronic injection and a 5 speed manual gearbox. Genuine 2 family car and had $25000 spent on a rebuild in 1991 because the original owner couldn't part with her. Now slightly tatty inside, but still as glamorous as ever in this final iteration of the DS line that went from 1955-1975...

ronhic++11-5-2010-16-00-5.jpg
 
YAY Chris!

Wow, congrats Chris! It looks like it's in beautiful condition! Hopefully you had a chance to look at it in person before bidding!

Citroens are odd, quarky but very neat cars that were way ahead of their time and most people seem to either love them or hate hate. Personally I love them! My uncle used to have a DS 19 and later a '68 DS 21 Pallas. Another friend currently has a 1972 Pallas.

Neat, neat cars! Congrats!

Kevin
 
Great catch!

I hope you have a source for Citroen's special hydraulic fluid (green blood!)

I rode in one once. One of the most comfortable cars ever built. Only the Lexus LS series comes close.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
One of the strangest cars ever built!

These Citreons were way ahead of their time. And they used to sell them here in the US up until the early 70's, I think.
I remember they had a very plush velour interior.

A guy I used to fly with was an addict with these. He had three of them! They did ride very smoothly. I thought that the 4 speed on the column and the shape of the steering wheel was way weird. I also liked being able to change a tire without using a jack was neat.
 
Wellll....

....no, I didn't get to see or talk to the guy before buying. It was a true impulse with a touch of research - I spoke to the mechanic or restored it in 1991....

Seems the lady who owned it had a stroke in 2000 and her son drove it until 2004. It was then sold to the current owner. It was a 'buy it now' listing that wasn't on in the morning but was when I checked before leaving work on Thursday...for $4800. Now, I know that sounds a lot of money, but for this particular car it is cheap...very very cheap. By way of comparison, the mechanic I spoke to said he had one on the hoist that was shipped from Western Australia to Sydney...the owner paid $12800 for it and it was full of poorly repaired rust. He felt that the car I bought should sell for between $8-13000....and that I couldn't really lose as the engine and gearbox alone are worth more than the money I paid....

From my perspective, these things normally happen to other people...you know, the 'I got upgraded' or 'look at the bargain we found'....

As for the LHM (green fluid), well I already have a Citroen GS and am a member of the New South Wales Citroen Car Club. Let's also not forget that Citroen have a full range of cars on sale in this country too, so whilst I can't exactly drop into a dealer and get a service, I can get fluids....

...so this is the start of a dream really....
 
On another note.;...

....the shape and angle of the steering wheel are there for a good reason.

The steering wheel was designed with the spoke to point 7 and 8 o'clock or between 4 and 5 o'clock depending on which side of the road you drive....simply, many accidents happen at the 'straight ahead' so the spoke and wheel are shaped to push you towards the centre of the car and not impale you - remember that this car was designed from the late 1930's/40's and released in the 1950's.

Newer cars, such as this, have collapsable steering columns and inertia reel seat belts so the wheel sits at 6....[this post was last edited: 11/5/2010-17:30]
 
"id 19"

back in 1985 i found a Ca.1960 id 19 citroen in a junkheap
and disassembled and examined it,this one was old enough that
it's wheels were held on by a single bolt-the wheels had
a large hex hole in them that fit over a hex on the axle
ends.The engine was mounted "backwards"with the clutch
forward,differental next and tranny at the front of the car,
under the spare tire.The aerodynamicly designed engine fan
was plastic and had a "spinner"like an aircraft prop.
The single spoke steering wheel was weird and the whole car
was just so french...
BTW forgot to mention the "id 19" was a cheaper,simpler
version of the DS and had simpler hydralics and "normal"
brakes..I still have a few pieces of the car...
 
Were these the ones that went up and down?

Our downstairs neighbors bought these. They had 2 between 1964 and 1972. At first, I thought they were ugly but they grew on me. Most comfortable car I've ever ridden in. First trip to France all of the Citroens I saw looked exactly like VW beetles.
 
they did go up and down-you could adjust the height with a
lever inside. Those "VW looking"citroens were probably the
"2cv"model with an aircooled opposed twin in the front.
BTW a late model DS can be see in action in the 1985 movie
"real genius"LOL
 
I remember an episode of CHIPS where a DS was cruising along the highway with one wheel missing; it was driving just fine on three wheels.
 
Yes, there was..

....an episode of CHIPS with a DS on 3 wheels...

You can do that with any hydraulically sprung Citroen built from 1955 until about 1989...so that includes

ID
DS
GS
GSA
CX series 1 and 2
BX

Only later models, Xantia/XM/C5/C6, which have different hydraulic systems won't do it....

Years ago I drove a CX with the back left wheel in the boot, into a garage....the attendant did the fuel and then I asked him to check the back wheels...He nearly freaked - came running back to the drivers door and said 'you've no back wheel!', 'no, its in the boot'....then came a 20minute conversation as to how this all works...

Below is a clip of a GS going through a witches hat slalom course - turn the sound a up a little as you get to hear the lovely sound of her engine as she straightens up....

 
Here is a video of the dash in the later cars such as the one I've just bought....

He's doing 106mph and the car should be good for another 10-15mph still...

The chrome lever sticking out of th etop of the dash is for the semi-automatic gear change....a slight move of the lever operates a minature hydraulic ram to depress the clutch (in the engine bay, not the car) and you then move the gear lever into gear. It is one, fluid move with the clutch action taking milliseconds and also means no power sapping torque converter as it is effectively a manual gearbox with an automatic clutch...

 
Lovely car,

and what a bargain! Did she come ready for the road, or does she need a bit of fettling?

Which GS do you have? I used to drive a 1978 Pallas, beautiful lttle spaceship, but like most 70s Citroens over here, rust got it in the end - apparently there are less than 36 GS/GSA's on th road now in the UK...

Have lots of fun with her!

Si
 
Hey Si....

I've a 1974 GS club with a Citroen reconditioned 1299cc GSA engine and 5speed in her....she also has flared rear guards, CX antiroll bar and runs 195x15 wheels instead of the 145x15...

I love her, but she has to go to make way for her big sister...

Unfortunately, the DS whilst looking pretty good on the outside, does need the boot floor replacing and a few other things sorting too...but for the $4800 (GBP2200) that I paid, that was a bargain for that car....
 
Wow!

Ronhic, I can't believe I just saw this thread . . . one of my very favorite cars of all time, and you snagged a rare last model year top of the line car! DS production ended in May of '75 so it wasn't even a full year. I'm sure you'll have huge enjoyment from the car.

cfz2882, the ID19 only used the master cylinder brakes through the '61 model year, for '62 they got a simplified version of the high pressure brakes used on the DS. I love those single-lug wheels too, they were used through '65 but the next year went to five-lug with the change to 15 inch wheels from the old 400mm wheels.

One thing many people don't realize is that in spite of being incredibly comfortable these cars are tough as nails. Citroen did very well with the D in rallies from the late '50s through the early '70s, even though the cars were a little heavy and underpowered for competition. Mme Rene Cotton, who became head of Citroen's rally department after the death of her husband, remarked that they didn't have the budget for much in the way of mecanical improvement but did lighten the cars as much as possible. She also observed that the comfort of a D was a great help in long rallies as the Citroen drivers were significantly less tired after a long stage than those of ordinary cars. Here's a link to a short video of DS19s in the '65 East Africa Safari.

 
citroen in the usa..

That ID19 i found in '85 is the only citroen i have ever seen
in the u.s.,looks like prior to new auto safety rules that
came into play around 1968,you could go to europe,buy a
citroen or other euro-spec car and bring it back home with you!
I have heard citroen was sold in a few areas of the u.s.through
1974. I also remember sometime around 1987,a company in NY.
was importing new citroens(CXs?)and modifying them to meet
DOT specs for u.s. sale..
 
One key feature....

....prevented Citroens being sold in the US from about 1972...

The hydropneumatic suspension...

Seems US regulations stipulated a particular bumper height from that year and of course Citroens could go higher or lower by being adjusted in the cabin and sink onto their bumps stops (over time) when not running...tch tch....

Here, we lost the BVH, or hydraulic, gear change in 1972 as Automatics, which this was classified as, had to have a 'Park' position to effectively 'lock down' the gearbox. Unfortunately the BVH, being a normal manual gearbox with an automated clutch, worked off the cars powered hyraulics could not be left in gear....ok, it could be left in gear, but as the hyraulic pressure dropped with car switched off, the clutch would disengage and it would move out of gear to enable you to start the car.....perfectly sensible really...

Anyway, the Borg Warner 35 automatic was adapted by Citroen for front wheel drive and offered on cars destined to the US where the automatic gearbox is king....this was a very large investment by Citroen in what was a 15yr old car at the time...of course, at the same time Citroens were legislated off the road in the US so you can guess where the majority of automatic DS Citroens ended up....
 

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