High-Pressure Hydraulics by Citro?n

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D range 1970


No more ID : ID 19 become D Special and ID 20 become D Super.
The ID 20 success encourage Citroën to give more nervosity to its DS low scale. For the new D Special, the constructor associate the short gearbox ratios of the DS 21 with the short final drive 7x34 of the D Super ex-ID 20. On the 4th gear we have now 30 Km/h for 1000 rpm instead of 36 Km/h for 1000 rpm on the old ID 19. A little exaggerated, perhaps? The old DS engine don't like the high rpm. (4000 rpm : 144 Km/h for ID 19 - 120 Km/h for new D Special)
Electronic injection Bosch for the DS 21 engine, one of the first to get it with the Volkswagen 411.


D Special

All the models have the same new dashboard. Of course, there is some little differences like the gearshift for example.
Above : D Special
Below : DS 20 or 21.

New DS 21 IE motor (foreground, the specific interchange air-oil)

Interior DS hydraulic gearbox

DS Pallas

DS 21 IE

Production 1970 : 103.633

 

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Some DS


The number one

A handmade pre-serie model

The same without background for the catalog

A lottery organized by the constructor allow this happy student to win the millionth DS.
Shoted at the Citroën showroom 42, Champs-Elysées - Paris (disused today)

The millionth DS from Javel (right) to Champs-Elysées (left). It is a DS 21 IE Pallas.

The visitors of the motorshow 1969 could win the millionth DS by testing one model then by participating to the lottery.

The first car made at Aulnay sous Bois new factory is a DS in April 1973. (near Paris, disused today)

Javel April 1975, the last saloon is a DS 23 IE Pallas. The break is going on until 1976.

The last DS and those who made it...

 

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GS, DS, SM model 71


First Paris motorshow for GS and SM

The mysterious flat-four air cooled engine of the GS. "Damn, where are the spark-plugs !!!"

Early GS test




Early SM test

 

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DS 21 and 21 IE model 71 equiped with mechanical gearbox get 5 speeds. (option for DSuper)
DS 20 is no more available with mechanical gearbox.

One, two, three pedals according the model you are driving :
1 - DS hydraulic gearbox
2 - DS mechanical gearbox (1963-1970)
3 - ID, Dspecial, DSuper (1957-1970)
4 - DSpecial, DSuper (from 1971). All the D range receive the emergency-brake pedal of the DS hydraulic gearbox.

One of the last DS cabriolet. The production is stopped in summer 71 but, on special request, Henri Chapron will produce yet some units until the DS ending.




DSuper model 71


Production 1971 :
GS : 158.675
DS : 84.328
SM : 5.032

 

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NEW!
Enormous model Hachette-Collection DS 19 - 1956 - Scale : 1/6
Lenght : 80 cm - Width : 30 cm - Color : Aubergine (egg-plant), white roof, red wheels
Lights, suspension, motor sound operated by remote control
Front wheels operated by the wheel - 140 numbers!

 

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GS, DS, SM model 72

For 1972, one break GS joins the saloon

Break GS Confort

Below, left : Break Service glazed (Club)
Below, right : Break Service sheet-metal (Confort)

Break GS Club

Break GS Confort

Rennes-La-Janais factory : The new GS is assembled beside some Ami 8.

 

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From DSpécial to DS 21 Pallas IE
Below right : The new mossed wheel is reserved to the models with assisted steering

DSuper

Automatic Borg-Warner gearbox 3 speeds in option for DS 21 and DS 21 IE

DS 21 IE

New fixed-in handles also for the break

Above : 3 SM in Paris motorshow 71!
New Michelin RR wheels (Reinforced Resin) in option for the SM
Below : The sportive SM bodyworked by Frua is shorter than the original model.


Production 1972 :
GS : 195.138
DS : 92.483
SM : 3.992

 

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GS, DS, SM model 73


New GS 1220 Club

The interior


GS 1220 Club in front of its French competitors :
Peugeot 304 S, Simca 1100 S, Renault 12 TS

GS 1220 Club get a bigger engine, 1220 cm3 (7 CV) instead of 1015 cm3 (6 CV) for the old model that is always at the catalog in Confort version.
Only the monogram allow to identify both GS.

GS 1220 Confort

The basic dashboard of the Confort version without clock neither tachometer

GS 1220 Club

 

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Alignment of DS like in 1968 at Paris motorshow 1972.
Nearly all the range is presented. DSuper 5 is not really a novelty. It is the old DS 21 5 speeds with the finition of a DSuper.
With a bigger engine, DS 21 become DS 23 (2347 cm3 instead of 2175 cm3)


Some new monograms for 1973.




SM get a new V6 Maserati with the electronic injection.
(above, the old with 3 carburators dual-choke)

While the SM has the injection, Ligier JS 2 and Maserati Merak keep their three carburators but on a bigger V6, 3 Liter instead of 2670 cm3 (195 HP vs 178 HP and motor in central position).


Production :
GS : 223.067
DS : 96.990
SM : 2.619

 

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GS, DS, SM model 74


2 new models : GS Birotor and SM Automatique (V6 3 liter carburettors - automatic gearbox type Borg-Warner)


Early 1974, Citroën decide to kickstart GS downscale models by replacing Confort versions by the GSpécial as it already exist the DSpécial.
New silver monogram for the 6 CV, gold for the 7 CV. It is just a marketing operation.

The rotary-piston engine Wankel adventure
1 - Prototype M35 (1970 - 1971)


After the creation with NSU of the Comotor Company in 1967, Citroën launch the prototype M 35 sold to 260 selected tester-customers.
It is a kind of Ami 8 coupé bodyworked by Heuliez and powered by a mono-rotor engine (49 HP) longitudinaly fitted in front of the front wheels.
267 units made.


2 - GS Birotor (1974 - 1975)

 

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After the creation with NSU of the rotary-piston engine birotor Wankel and the building of a factory to make it at Alfortwiller (Sarre), Citroën think that it is time to market in serie a car powered by this new motor. It will be the GS Birotor presented at Francfort motorshow in autumn 1973.



The four strokes of the rotary-piston engine.
First Citroën front-wheels drive with transversal engine, the GS Birotor inaugurate also some mechanical organs used later on the CX (front axle, disk brakes, wheels...)

GS Birotor in front of "the bar aux six troënes", a journalistic joke!


"The truth about the GS Birotor" and inside the magazine : "the truth is not always good to tell".
Damn! The end of the constructor is near!


Where is it, this famous motor? The spare wheel is under the bonnet like on any GS.


Production 1974 :
GS : 170.829
DS : 40.039
SM : 294
Already 11.759 CX made late 1974!

 

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GS, CX, DS, SM model 1975


New on the Citroën stand : GS X and X2, GS Pallas, CX 2000 and 2200

CX is presented to the automobile medias in Swedish Lapony near from the Artic Circle in summer 1974.





Above : CX 2000
Below : CX 2200, available only early 1975

 

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Car of the year 1974

A local GS between both CX

The engine access seem better than on a DS but the spare wheel, it is barely impossible to lift it!

Structure body, a CX special feature


No, it is not a frame but a fake-frame, read below...


3 Citroën 11 CV at Paris motorshow 1974, but from spring 1975, GS Birotor and all the range D will be deleted (except the break), then the SM in summer.

Production 1975 :
GS : 218.005
CX : 96.778
DS : 847
SM : 115