Today, I bring you the story of the Citroen DS 21 Pallas. One of the French engineering marvels of the world .
Owner Blake Siebe spent nearly five years searching for the right Pallas to buy. After acquiring this sought after ride, he made it his own and a standout at any car show.
I hope you enjoy this story. The photos and video are from Landin Williams and the folks at his new production company Machete.
I’m offering up your favorite Forza gifts to those who post about any of the hundreds of innovative features found in the Citroen DS or its variants.
Great write up. I am a big fan of “dare to be different” cars and the Citroen DS screams different even in stock form. This one, love the paint and that interior.
There really is nothing like that hydro-pneumatic suspension. I can imagine the chants of when the prototype drove its way around Paris–ds, ds, voila la ds!
The DS is one of my favorite car designs of all time. I have listed it in the wish list threads of every Forza game. I hope we see it in a Forza game one day.
Greetings to the entire community, very nice to find a flagship Citroën vehicle for years given to the style of the day. Well it is true that in addition to Atlantic different characteristics of a model sold in France:
-l’habitacle
-the rev counters
-the hubcaps
-the of chrome bumpers front and rear
-the chrome inserts doors
-hydropneumatic damping fluid
-optical aerodynamic Type
In France now we meet a lot of DS because this model quite common among enthusiasts and the Citroën France is much like the United States to pass a Ford Mustang in 1970, I think there has more than at home!
Many garage brand to continuously maintain these vehicles still rafters with care to see more than newer models elsewhere if we find an enthusiast who work there!
In addition to its accompanying history of political personality in France, the DS is also known for appearing in many films released in France as Le Samourai with Alain Delon, but also on Hollywood productions as “Back to the Future 2” version but futuristic as anything decades after the continuous DS model to the minds of filmmakers working!
To end the “petit ecran” as we say, a series highlighting a beautiful DS regularly with chrome in the American series The Mentalist.
I had the chance to sail on the ship through my grandparents and it is true that I recall even 30 years later! for sure there was room and front and rear, and his comfort was Royal, the view through the windshield long offered a magnificent view but if only one point would be to retain the DS I would choose: elegance. It could take away all the technological innovations that are on board but the elegance of the DS remain!
Your HVM often surprises and to rediscover vehicles from another time, but the concept still relevant. Good luck!
Wow what an amazing little car! My favorite touch would have to be the 60’s inspired vertigo rims which look spy film inspired. It must take an amazing amount of patience to search for 5 years for just the right car. If it were me, and I had cash in hand, I would be way too trigger happy and probably grab one of the first I saw!
Growing up in Germany for a portion of my childhood I definitely remember these cars. When I read this HMA I had to reach out to my dad and ask him what he remembered about them and I was also curious why we didn’t see many here in the states. He remembered taking a look at one for sale in 1970, brand new. He wasn’t in the market for one since he was mainly into Mopar muscle cars. But what he said stopped people in their tracks when they looked at one was the price combined with a limited dealer network. The car cost as much as a Hemi Cuda, and that car didn’t sell well because $4200, at the time, was too much money for most people. With the Cuda, it’s amazing that a $900 option stopped people from buying that beast. How economies have changed. But the same was apparently true for the Citroen. Most just couldn’t afford it.
But it was a technical masterpiece for it’s time. It’s amazing to me that a luxury car, at the time, was produced with a fiberglass roof to lower the center of gravity! And that it had directional headlights… in the 60’s! And that they were concerned with reducing understeer and unsprung weight! I didn’t think any production car company gave any thought to that until the 80’s or 90’s, and then, only in sports cars. Pretty cool. Much appreciation for this car and for this HMA!
I love these cars so much they are such a beautiful thing if you know what a real car is, back then cars was not just a car, the car its self had personality and just by looking at this car it makes you happy. with its U.F.O style body and its big windows. i’m not going to lie when i seen you put this on facebook i turned in to a 10 year old boy with giddyness cos i thought you was putting it in to forza 5 ( here is hoping)
This is such a good take on how you can give a car more personality by adding your own to it. this jut looks super cool. the flat purple and the wheels just looks great and the wheels just being moon disks is just cool, the inside looks great as well very clean and stylish with the carpet to match the wheels. thats the stuff we love.
That matte purple paint job with matte black trim really fits with the lowered stance and quirky wheels and interior. Looks like a time machine with the unusually cool rear window and the smooth fish like aerodynamics.
this car is a technical masterpiece for its time. everything about the car screams cool. one of my favorite features is this dashboard, mainly the stopping distance meter on the spedo. that is very unique and you dont see that on many cars. i would definately drive this car everyday and smile the whole time.
as far as gift request, whatever you would like to send sir. i would like to have a shelby daytona coupe.
The car of general de gaulle" the french president in the Sixties". In france this car is mythical. The car was product to 1955 to 1975, the innovation is the power steering, disk brake, hydropneumatic suspension, variable ground clearance and a lot of. in the sixties the person who can buy this car is for an elite and the price for maintenance is relatively expensive.Thanks a lot for this article.
When I first saw Siebe’s beautiful 1969 Citroen DS 21 Pallas, I first thought of the U.S. Spec 1971 Citroën DS 21 Pallas in the Mentalist television program. But your well written story of this search adventure cleared that up.
It was fascinating to see the directional headlamps being shown and seeing the hydropneumatic suspension lowering the car was cool. That’d be handy when pulling up to the drive-up window at your favorite fast-food joint.
Siebe did a great job on his DS. Love the paint job, love the hubcaps, and love the interior. The finished product is a work of art.
The hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension was quite a innovation. I know it has been mentioned, but I can only imagine the ride quality it could produce. Hydraulics throughout on this car from the suspension to the clutch and transmission made this sweet little ride a modern marvel.
Thanks for sharing John, great article about a great car!
Great article… and lots of memories!
My father actually owned one when I was a kid, in the late 70’s (we lived in the Lyon region, in France).
There were, as said in the article, a lot of innovations in this car. One that have not been mentionned was the low lights turning in the turns together with the wheels. That was quite a simple idea in fact - turning the wheels would turn the lamps the same way, but I’ve never found any other car who did this until quite recently, with the launch of the xenon lamps.
Another thing to mention, based on my own personal experience, is the counterpart of the fabulous suspension: it made countless of kids sick!
The suspension was indeed so soft that, outside of the motorways (and there were not so many in the late 70s in France), you had to be really strong against road sickness not to fill a collection of bags!
But on the other hand, I remember my dad making a u-turn on a beach of Nice (the ones without sand but only with pebbles), which no other car would probably have been able to!
Unfortunately he had to sell it, but I will always remember this dark-blue DS23 Pallas.
