Citroen DS DS 21 Pallas

Citroen DS DS 21 Pallas

The Citroen DS is arguably the most revolutionary car in automotive history. When it debuted at the 1955 Paris Motor Show, it was from another planet. Within 15 minutes of the show opening, 749 orders were placed. By the end of the first day, 12,000. The public had never seen anything like it.

The DS was the brainchild of Flaminio Bertoni (styling) and André Lefèbvre (engineering), and it introduced technologies that wouldn't appear in other cars for decades. The hydropneumatic self-leveling suspension — using pressurized fluid spheres instead of metal springs — provided a magic-carpet ride that adjusted automatically to load and road conditions. The car could even be raised on three wheels for tire changes.

The aerodynamic body was sculpted for minimum drag, with a coefficient of 0.38 — exceptional for 1955. The front end was a slim, shark-like profile with no conventional grille. The rear wheels were covered by spats. Every panel was detachable without tools, using a system of clips.

Other innovations included power steering, power brakes, a semi-automatic gearbox operated by a single stalk behind the steering wheel (no clutch pedal), directional headlights that turned with the steering, and fiberglass roof and trunk panels. These features were commonplace by the 1990s — the DS had them in 1955.

The DS was also remarkably tough. President Charles de Gaulle survived an assassination attempt in his DS in 1962 — despite two flat tires from gunfire, the driver was able to accelerate away on the hydropneumatic suspension. The DS served as France's presidential car for decades.

Over 1.45 million DS/ID models were produced over 20 years. The DS is regularly voted the most beautiful car ever made and the most important car of the 20th century.