The Most Beautiful Car In The World Sets A Record

The Most Beautiful Car In The World SETS A Record

The Citroen DS, recently voted the most beautiful car of all time, has set a new auction sale price record at the weekend (7 February 2009) with a rare Citroen DS Convertible selling for Euro 337,500 (AU$647,165 NZ$823,383) at the Bonhams auction held in Paris at Retromobile, the world’s largest classic car show.

Judged by a 20-strong panel organised by the leading classic car magazine, ‘Classic and Sports Car’ and including amongst its members Giorgetto Giugiaro – voted Car Designer of the Century –Jaguar’s Ian McCallum and Gordon Murray the Citroen DS took the top spot as the most beautiful car of all time.

“The Citroen is a benchmark design,” said Editor James Elliot. “But we are still astonished that it came top when you look the sexiness and values of its rivals.”

Marcello Gandini, responsible for the Lancia Stratos and the Lamborghini Countach says of the Citroen DS: “At the time I think it was a complete folly, madness from a business point of view. But it was a really innovative car in 1955 A few people may have thought of all those beautiful ideas, but it was real bravery by Citroen to implement them all in one car.”

Giorgetto Giugiaro, whose designs include the Alfa Romeo 159, the Volkswagen Golf and the Maserati Bora, agrees: “The Citroen DS is the only example of a car really conceived ‘outside the box’. It is just impossible to imitate.”

In a remarkably long life, more than 1.5 million Citroen DS models were built between 1955 and 1975 from the design by Italian Flaminio Bertoni. But it was not just the design that set a new benchmark, with a host of technology that was simply from another world compared to what was available in 1955. This included unitary construction with bolt-on panels, self levelling suspension, plastic panels, power steering and brakes and power clutch, as well as an early application of aerodynamics in car design.

This combination of style, design and technology enabled the Citroen DS to take the top prize.

“I have always considered the fact that this car was first drawn in 1955 to be extraordinary,” said judge Peter Stevens, the designer of McLaren F1 and Lotus Esprit.

Of all the Citroen DS variants, the rarest and most sought after remains the Citroen DS Convertible designed and built by Henri Chapron. And, of this rare variant, the rarest is the 1973 variant, with just three built based on the Citroen DS23 flagship with the last of the line fuel injected engine. Auctioned at Retromobile, this particular car had been restored to ‘as new’condition with coach work in ‘Meije White’ with a black leather interior, with soft grey carpet and the lower dashboard is a trompe l’oeil, imitating varnished walnut. Under the auctioneer’s hammer chassis number 00FG6076 fetched a new record for a Citroen - Euro 337,500 (AU$647,165 NZ$823,383).

ENDS

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