The Most Incredible Car Ever Built
By Raza Ali

They really are bad shots", Charles de Gaulle dryly commented as he stepped out of his bullet ridden car, the presidential Citroen DS. The French President had just survived an assassination attempt by the OAS - a right-wing terrorist group - when his car sped through incessant machine gun fire and continued speeding despite having only three working tires. The Citroen DS, one of the most popular cars in the '50s had once again proved itself a master of car design, even though its engineers had not anticipated such a dramatic test of their claims.

The year 1955 was an eventful one: Chuck Berry gave fans Rock n Roll, James Dean made his debut in East of Eden, Narinder Kapany invented the optical fiber and the French car company, Citroën, unveiled the DS. The DS achieved what most cars never set out to accomplish. It was celebrated for its technical and design prowess as soon as it was unveiled. When it was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October 1955, 12,000 cars were sold on the first day of its showing, it made front page headlines of all major French newspapers and gained more publicity than any single news story since the death of Stalin. In short, the DS was an instant sensation.

	Designer Bertoni's Website
	Citroen DS Pictures

In 1957, the DS was awarded the best work of Industrial Art at the Milan Triennale. Designed by Italian-born Flaminio Bertoni, one of the most influential European automotive designers of the 20th century, the DS had a surprisingly minimal and elegant form. Extremely aerodynamic for its time (with a drag coefficient of 0.38), and lacking a front grille, the DS evoked images of a flying saucer. It was truly what is now called a cab-forward design with wheels pushed out towards the edges. Large expanses of glass, minimal 'A' pillars and the absence of 'B' pillars ensured a grand view of the outside. The interior of the car also mimicked the minimalist aesthetics of the exterior.

Apart of the aesthetic design, the DS had a host of ground breaking features. The front wheel drive DS had a hydraulic system that fed the suspension, semi-automatic clutch, disc brakes and power steering. The suspension, sporting a self leveling system, could be raised to around 7 inches in case of rough terrain, a little less than five for regular surfaces or practically dropped on the ground when parked or for loading / unloading. No jack required! This suspension mechanism resulted in an unbelievably smooth ride that was capable of quietly absorbing any imperfections in the asphalt before they ever reached the driver.

The power assisted steering was self-centering and assumed a straight-line position after the driver let go of it. The self-leveling headlights made driving on steep roads safer, and since they turned in response to the steering, the driver could see what awaited him around the corner. Added safety features included the first use of "crumple zones" - the zone of a car that absorbs energy upon impact - a stiff frame, and a protective panel (also known as belly pan) which ran along the entire underside of the car.

The speed, safety and design of the DS were strongly reaffirmed when it began winning car races like the Monte Carlo Rally, the Moroccan Rally and the Tour of Corsica twice. In fact, the '60s saw the DS clinching almost all the Grand Slams of Rally racing in many countries firmly cementing its crown as the leader of car design and functionality.

While the entire world celebrated the DS, the French took the most emotional liking to the DS (pronounced Déesse [day-ess] , which means, Goddess in French). French philosopher Roland Barthes devoted an entire article to the DS saying, "It is obvious that the new Citroen has fallen from the sky inasmuch as it appears at first sight as a superlative object … We must not forget that an object is the best messenger of a world above that of nature: one can easily see in an object at once a perfection and an absence of origin, a closure and a brilliance, a transformation of life into matter (matter is much more magical than life), and in a word a silence which belongs to the realm of fairy-tales."