Citroën DS - Citroen Di - Citroen Žaba

 

 The Citroën DS was manufactured and marketed by the French company Citroën from 1955 to 1975. Styled by Italian sculptor and industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni and the French aeronautical engineer André Lefèbvre, the DS was known for its aerodynamic futuristic body design and innovative technology, including a hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension.

The DS advanced achievable standards in automobile ride quality, handling, and braking. Citroën sold nearly 1.5 million D-series during the model's 20-year production run. The DS came in third in the 1999 Car of the Century competition, recognizing the world's most influential auto designs, and was named the most beautiful car of all time by Classic & Sports Car magazine.

Technical innovation – hydraulic systems

In conventional cars, hydraulics are only used in brakes and power steering. In the DS they were also used for the suspension, clutch and transmission, although the later ID19 did have manual steering and a simplified power-braking system.

At a time when few passenger vehicles had independent suspension on all wheels, the application of the hydraulic system to the car's suspension system to provide a self-levelling system was an innovative move. This suspension allowed the car to achieve sharp handling combined with very high ride quality, frequently compared to a "magic carpet". The hydropneumatic suspension used was pioneered the year before, on the rear of another car from Citroën, the top of range Traction Avant 15CV-H.
http://toplegendarycars.blogspot.com/2011/06/land-rover.html

LAND ROVER

Also, American luxury-car buyers at the time were conditioned to show off their new cars, the design details of which were changed every model year as a kind of stylistic planned obsolescence, but the DS' appearance did not change substantially in the 16 years it was available in the States.

US regulations at the time banned one of the car's more advanced features, its composite headlamps with aerodynamic cover lenses. At the time, all vehicles sold in the US had to have standard-size sealed beam headlamps; composite replaceable-bulb lamps weren't permitted until late 1983. And cover lenses, even clear ones, are not legal in the US. The first year of aerodynamic glass enclosing the headlamps on the DS was also the first year that feature was outlawed in the US: 1968.

La Citroën DS è un'autovettura di fascia alta prodotta dal 1955 al 1975 dalla Casa automobilistica francese Citroën.
Ancor oggi, a distanza di oltre 50 anni dalla sua presentazione, la DS non passa inosservata grazie alla sua linea estremamente anticonformista e alle soluzioni tecniche e stilistiche a dir poco rivoluzionarie.
Poche vetture hanno saputo imporsi nella storia del design automobilistico in maniera così decisa come questa vettura, oggigiorno considerata il capolavoro della Casa francese.


Presentata al salone dell'automobile di Parigi del 1955, la DS ha annoverato fin dalla sua nascita innovazioni tecnologiche che rimasero attuali sino al termine della produzione nel 1975. Alcune di esse sono state riscoperte da molte case automobilistiche solo diversi anni dopo la sua uscita di produzione.


La DS, et sa déclinaison simplifiée l'ID, fut commercialisée par Citroën entre 1955 et 1975, tout d'abord en berline puis en break et cabriolet.

Dessinée par le designer italien Flaminio Bertoni, en collaboration avec André Lefebvre, un ingénieur issu de l'aéronautique, cette automobile était révolutionnaire par bien des aspects. À l'origine, son long capot est prévu pour accueillir un moteur 6 cylindres, mais tant le 6 cylindres en ligne de la 15 que celui à plat ne purent être adoptés, pour cause de mise au point. Son nom de code était « VGD » (Véhicule de grande diffusion1) et fut l'« attraction » du salon de l'automobile en 1955. Elle est dotée d'une ligne extrêmement audacieuse, révolutionnaire et d'un confort intérieur remarquable grâce à sa suspension hydropneumatique spécifique à la marque. 

La DS comporte également de nombreuses innovations technologiques qui la démarquent du monde de l'automobile de son époque en Europe : direction assistée, boîte de vitesses à commande hydraulique, freins à disque à l'avant, pivot de direction dans l'axe et, à partir des années 1968-1969, phares pivotants et introduction de l'électronique (moteur à injection).