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Citroen DS23 Pallas

Citroen DS23 Pallas

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Citroen DS23 Pallas Citroen DS23 Pallas Citroen DS23 Pallas Citroen DS23 Pallas Citroen DS23 Pallas
Citroen DS23 Pallas Citroen DS23 Pallas Citroen DS23 Pallas Citroen DS23 Pallas Citroen DS23 Pallas
Citroen DS23 Pallas Citroen DS23 Pallas Citroen DS23 Pallas Citroen DS23 Pallas Citroen DS23 Pallas
Citroen DS23 Pallas Citroen DS23 Pallas Citroen DS23 Pallas Citroen DS23 Pallas Citroen DS23 Pallas
Lot number 132
Hammer value N/S (est. £9,000 - £10,000)
Description Citroen DS23 Pallas
Registration LFM 241N
Year 1974
Colour Light Green Metallic
Engine size 2,347 cc
Chassis No. 7DS4649
Engine No. 0674000574
Documents V5C; MOT August 2016; South African registration document

The Citroën DS remains one of the most extraordinary cars ever created, and is still capable of turning heads more than half a century after it first appeared.

Its ‘Goddess’ name (‘Deesse’ in French) was entirely justified because it did seem to be from another world and looked like no other car on the road. Recently voted ‘Most Beautiful Car of all Time’ in a poll of famous designers conducted by Classic & Sportscar magazine, it is also one of the few cars to have been displayed in an art gallery and was famously described as “the exact equivalent of a great Gothic cathedral” in a 1957 essay by French philosopher, Roland Barthes (although he also said: “A photograph is always invisible, it is not what we see,” so take that how you will…).

The beautiful shape was like nothing else, while hydropneumatics controlled the self-levelling suspension, brakes, clutch and power steering, with the ride height adjustable from inside the car. But these features weren't just there for show – each high pressure system brought a genuine benefit to the driver. Only the old 1,911cc engine was carried over from the Traction Avant, which while capable, was far from cutting edge, but engines got bigger and better as time went on.

Built in Citroen’s South African factory in 1974, this particular DS has the last and best engine, the fuel-injected 2,347cc unit that produced 141bhp and gave the car the performance that it had always deserved, being happy to thunder along in top gear at 115mph all day long. It has spent all of its life in the sunny climes of Africa and thus has never been exposed to the salt-laden roads of Europe, being imported back to the UK from Cape Town by the vendor earlier this year.

Now UK registered, it is also MOTd until August 2016 and is said to run well with the suspension rising and falling as it should, although it has been very little used since arrival on these shores. A top spec Pallas model, it looks most attractive in light green metallic with a tan vinyl interior.

Supplied with a V5C, MOT and a registration document from its time in South Africa, it looks stonking value at the guide price suggested given the way that values of this model have begun to rise sharply of late. Another one to buy now while you can still afford to, perhaps?

AMENDMENT: This car has the carburettor engine, not the fuel-injected engine as stated above.

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