Featured Auction - Citroën DS 21 Le Caddy Cabriolet 1965

Fully restored to concours standard, this is a wonderful opportunity to own a pristine example of Citroën's and Chapron's 20th Century motoring icon.

•One of a mere 34 examples built
•Rare Chapron-built Décapotable
•Professionally restored in Italy circa 2006
•Semi-automatic transmission
•Rare Jaeger dashboard
•Recently serviced and updated
•EU Registered

Just as it had done 21 years previously with the revolutionary ‘Traction Avant’, Citroën stunned the world again in 1955 with the launch of the strikingly styled ‘DS’. The newcomer’s startling appearance had been determined by the requirements of aerodynamic efficiency, while beneath the shark-like, low-drag bodyshell there was all-independent, self-levelling, hydro-pneumatic suspension plus power-operated brakes, clutch and steering. No European car would match the DS’s ride quality for several years, and the fundamental soundness of Citroën’s ahead-of-its-time hydro-pneumatic suspension is demonstrated by its survival in top-of-the-range models until this year. In 1966 the DS’s original 1,911cc, overhead-valve, long-stroke engine was replaced by a short-stroke 1,985cc unit, also available in 2,175cc and 2,347cc versions, while other developments included swivelling headlights, fuel injection and a five-speed gearbox.

Other models offered alongside the original DS were the ID (a simplified, cheaper version), the cavernous Safari estate and the two-door Décapotable (convertible). One of the most stylish cars of the 1960s, the latter was the creation of that most celebrated Parisian coachbuilder, Henri Chapron, who called his first such model ‘La Croisette’. A native of Nouan-le-Fuzelier in the Sologne region of France, Henri Chapron founded his coachbuilding company in 1919 at Levallois-Perret, Paris. Unlike so many fashionable French coachbuilders, Chapron carried none of the mental baggage that came from having graduated to cars from building horse-drawn carriages; consequently, his work had a freshness and innate sense of proportion that was well suited to chassis of quality.

Chapron’s interpretations of the Citroën DS and ID were quite different from the regular production versions. Chapron added fins to the rear wings as early as 1965 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’. At first, Chapron’s décapotable conversion was not approved by Citroën, forcing him to buy complete cars rather than rolling chassis, but 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 Le Caddy and Palm Beach cabriolets together with various limousines and coupés. Chapron’s second take on a soft-top DS, Le Caddy first appeared in 1959 and represented a considerable improvement over La Croisette. Whereas the latter had used saloon-type rear wings, necessitating a covering strip for the join between the wing and the redundant rear ‘door’ panel, Le Caddy used a much neater one-piece wing. The saloon’s front doors were used until 1960 when longer ones were adopted, resulting in a further improvement in the design’s proportions. Only 34 examples of the Le Caddy convertible were built between 1959 and 1968. Needless to say, they are all highly desirable. Built to the top-of-the-range trim level, this particular car has the most desirable Jaeger dashboard and Carello lights, and is one of very few made to this ultimate specification.

Find out about the car offered at auction here: http://gaukmotors.co.uk/post/featured-auction---citron-ds-21-le-caddy-cabriolet-1965