Introduction

I've been fascinated by the engineering, design, beauty and charm of the Citroen DS for over twenty years. Awe struck was my first sensation at seeing a DS, a sculpure on wheels, yet I never managed to own one until now. Life took different paths and then another love had got in the way... my love for Japanese classics and more to the point the Datsun 240Z. The 240Z, let's called it the Z, was a 2 seater Japanese sports car of the early 70s, quite accomplished for the time with a great six cylinder engine, fantastic handling, a robust chassis and amazing reliability for a car of that era. No surprise then of the subsequent huge racing and rallying successes brought on by the vehicle that helped put Datsun on the map to the world outside of Japan.

My 1973, 240Z

I purchased my Z back in 1999, it was my first classic car. Having read lots of buying guides, the common denominator in all the articles was to focus on finding a car that had been well cared for and had a solid chassis and bodywork. I am glad I took this advice. Cars of the 70s had very little in the way of rust protection, and many suffered badly in our UK winters with salt strewn roads. I therefore made it a requirement to purchase a solid car, which I did from Duncan Pearcey at The Z Farm. The vehicle had always been garaged it's entire life and never came out in the rain. I paid a small premium for this exclusivity but it was well worth it. Bolts could be undone easily without breaking off and time and money wasnt spent fixing bodywork to get through MOT's.

My day job belongs behind a desk and whilst I really enjoyed driving the car, the frustrated engineer in me got more pleasure working on the car than driving it. Not that it needed work but the Z is one of the easiest cars to work on, lots of space and the mechanicals are like Mecanno and there is a host of performance parts that one can fit. To put it mildly, most of the time the car was on ramps then on the road. Drag racing followed, which was lots of fun and meant many a trip to Santa Pod Raceway with the Z Club.

By 2013 something was missing... taking the engine, gearbox and diff out a zillionth time had finally taken it's toll on me - I started to get itchy feet. On top of that, I wanted to enjoy the car with the family and after the birth of my daughter we really needed a classic car we could all enjoy. Finding a DS was now on the agenda and felt it was coming at the right time in my life.

The first thing I did was to check out the Citroen Car Club's website to see what events were taking place. As luck would have it an event in June was occuring which was only a few weeks away- a DS Rally in Little Horwood. I took the family and we had a great time, the event was very family orientated, it ran for 3 days - you could camp if you wanted to and the venue even had a playground for the kids to keep themslves occupied. We had a great time seeing the cars and meeting friendly and welcoming D owners.

One of the most memorable events of the day was meeting Nigel Wild, he is the D Columnist in the Citroen Car Club's magazine called the "Citroenian". Nigel has a wealth of knowledge on the D that he has aquired over many years of being in the Club and being around these vehicles. Nigel is the type of person who likes to share his knowledge and is always accesible for a chat and advice if needed. On the day a number of owner's had asked Nigel to provide valuation advice on their vehicles, which Nigel was happy to oblige. It was great being a fly on the wall and watching the meticulous inspection taking place with the main focus on the chassis. 

On one vehicle Nigel explained how the sills had been patched with little regard to how the vehicle's original chassis was designed and could therefore pose a real moisture trap. On the DS the chassis comprises of an upper skin and a lower skin, and as you reach the edge of the sill a reinforcing panel is used to provide extra strength. When creating a repair in this area, it's easy to take a shortcut and not weld it to replicate the original metal, down to the extra time involved and the ease of just welding a patch on top. The design of the sill can be seen on Jint Nijman's site, see here.

After seeing this it was important for me to find a car that had either never been welded or had been welded with consideration to the original design of the vehicle. Some may say, "who cares" as long as it's a good weld, I see that point of view too but for me originality was now my primary focus and I wanted to find a car which was either solid or welded correctly.

I also knew that I wanted a Pallas, the extra luxurious trim appealed to me but I wasn't sure if I wanted a carbed or injected vehicle or even a manual or semi auto transmission. The prime prequisite was that she was solid and hence I didn't mind if she was LHD or RHD and I new that any preferences I did have would be overidden by the quality of the bodywork, but from speaking with a number of owners my ideal preference was narrowed down to a post 1968 DS21 or DS23  injection with the semi automatic transmission (BVH).

Thanks for reading and if you would like to read more, then follow my blog for more information on my journey into DS ownership, you will also discover links to useful sites I've located which may be helpful to you too.