Vintage Citroen SM garage

I've had a DS since the '80s and still have one, a 23 EFI Pallas...ocassionally the SM itch has been known to strike but it has been resisted.

Big Citroens are for life, there is nothing to compare with them, (which might well be not a bad thing)

As someone once said, The DS was the best car the Germans never made...

Michael
 
batterytypehah! said:
I think I would retire the Maserati engine after a few runs, and have the SM converted to electric. How cool would that be? I always thought if there was any justice in the car world, Citroen should have been first to market with a hybrid car. I've always found that the gen. 2 Prius looks like a modern GS. Just add a single spoke steering wheel and you got it.
Click to expand...

Have you seen the 1997 film "Gattaca"? By far the coolest thing about it are the electric DS's everybody drives ...

ds_cabriolet_1.jpg
 
batterytypehah! said:
Can you get those Bud Tugley US spec headlights converted back to the real deal?
Click to expand...

Yeah you have to replace the whole part at the front on each side, not massively expensive but the headlights in the US spec are much better as actual lights.

Yeah a £10 deposit.. though they might have been joking, come to think of it. Apparently you have to be careful as they assure me I'll be driving one before I know it!!
 
This thread certainly brought some fond memories flooding back!

Pittsburgh, PA -a cool autumn evening in 1973. As an 8 year old, I recall it starting unusually. My parents were all dressed up and heading out for dinner and a "movie." What was unusual? It was the middle of the week -not a typical Friday or Saturday!

Upon their return several hours later, I was summoned over to hear about this "movie." Dad went on and on about these fantastic contraptions that could go up and down and were nearly indestructible! Two of them had managed to survive a drumming through the dark recesses of African jungles in a race and had survived... I sat there wide-eyed listening to every word being accompanied by visions of Speed Racer and Racer-X blitzing through the jungle fending off all matter of villain!

Just when I couldn't take it anymore -or perhaps dad couldn't restrain himself any longer, he asked: "Would you like to see one?" What I didn't know was that a few feet away in the garage was a brand new SM in the "petrol blue" color (similar to pic4 in the OP, maybe a bit darker). I just about fell over. The chain of events was really overwhelming. I will never forget that night nor the car.

The movie they had seen was about the 1973 Rallye Côte d'Ivoire. ...they had not gone to the typical cinema, rather a promotional event at the local Mercedes dealer. They were launching their sales of the SM and had the movie and a single car present -dad had bought it on the spot and drove it home from the event.

We had the car through the 70's and it suffered a "color change" to white in about 1975 at the hands of my younger brother and his attempts to improve it with a belt sander and a can of spray paint. The car was sold to a friend of dad's who was not much later killed in an airplane crash. That was the last I knew of the car. I am sure it is out there somewhere!

Thanks for the memories, and of course, the wonderful shots!
 
Ohh dear, you made me drool! Driving a Xantia station wagon at the moment (not while typing though...) - a nice car, but compared to the SM, gulp...
 
Really great to hear all these stories. I guess the SM must be even more unique in the USA - it's a shame Citroen don't export there any more. Here's my C6 for completeness

4357489574_34305f0ce5_z.jpg


Nearly applied for a job in San Fransisco recently and thought I would export 'the 6' over there.. it's unusual enough in the UK, let alone the US... probably be a bit difficult to look after though!
 
^Parking in SF is a massive headache, I understand. What little I've seen of it bears this out for sure.

@ burancap - Great story, and it reminded me of a contemporary review that placed the SM and the Mercedes 600 on equal footing as the world's best cars. (I think it also mentioned that the SM "cheated" a bit by having practically the same outer dimensions, but only two doors.) I think it was in AMS in Germany; I read it much later in a Maserati book.
 
SM and another Citroên – from my fathers collection


Pictures taken in the early eighties. The man behind SM
is my father.


He collected only vintage Mercedes-Benzes, except for
these two cars, which he loved deeply...


The blue-one is a 15-Six Traction Avant from 1952.
„Six“ stands for the number of cylinders.


Meanwhile all the cars are gone, hope you enjoy the
pictures...


http://www.flickr.com/photos/46003143@N04/7007981021/http://www.flickr.com/photos/46003143@N04/6861863776/http://www.flickr.com/photos/46003143@N04/6861865582/http://www.flickr.com/photos/46003143@N04/6861861678/http://www.flickr.com/photos/46003143@N04/6861862130/http://www.flickr.com/photos/46003143@N04/7007978765/
 
I like the 2nd photo!

Richard G said:
I remember the first time I saw a C6, in Paris 2006. I nearly fell over.
Click to expand...

I kinda feel sorry for aussies in love with european cars, we are so getting fleeced over here. You do need to be in Europe to enjoy a classic citroen or alfa, the massive used market, the old backyard mechanic who can make it sing, the abundance of parts etc. Australia is only friendly for falcodores and the latest asian sensation.

I spend most my Uni years in Greece in a white DS. Not mine, the GFs. Incredibly comfy for, ehm, driving 😀
 
The SM looks great however the V6 engine is a big pain in terms of reliability.
Blown head gaskets are frequent and the accessibility to the engine components is difficult. If I had one I would definitly modify it with a different engine like a modern small block Chevy if it can be installed with the front transmission. I'm sure that can easily be done in the UK !
 
Worlds Collide...

Worlds Collide...

bobkonos said:
Just finished a good biography of Mike Hailwood, and he drove an SM back when. I love vintage Citroens, and my favorite/dream one is a DS Wagon (aka Break).
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Or Familiale...or Safari...depending on spec.
You would love a friend's DS23 Safari, then. The BVH DS23 was never officially imported to Australia, but he retro-converted his five speed into a four speed BVH (a massive job, the complexity of which is difficult to overstate). I helped him do a nut and bolt inside-out restoration to it a few years ago. I genuinely don't believe there is likely to be a finer Safari in existence anywhere on the planet.

Mike's SM is alive and well in New Zealand last I heard. It went down under with him when he emigrated there in the 1970s and stayed.

This site has a partial list of Australian and New Zealand SMs. Mike's car was a 2.7 litre five speed manual and is on the register. Here's a photograph of it. I think it might be the most desirable SM in the world (well, it is to me).

I must admit that, with the preponderance of North American members on this site--a part of the globe that perennially kicked Citroëns head in, in the marketplace, any time they tried to break into it--I'm a little surprised to find so much Citroën love here.

Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised, as clearly, many members are tuned in to the finer points of design, and I cannot think of another large scale automobile manufacturer who has demonstrated such an unwavering commitment to advancing the design of the automobile than Citroën. I'm certainly a fan of the marque and have owned a few, and maintained and repaired quite a few more, (but prefer to finesse cameras these days).

I sold my DS23 EFI five speed Pallas a few years ago when I decided to acquire a Hasselblad outfit, and I am generally OK with that, but there are times I encounter a D and have to reflect on what might have been... Thanks for the great pics too.
Regards,
Brett
 
ped said:
Thanks guys, can't wait to go back. They said they'll get some of the others out for a bit of a photoshoot.

There's a Maserati engined DS knocking about somewhere.
Click to expand...
The factory themselves used a DS development mule with the V6 engine installed to test prior to releasing the SM.

The historical context is that for a period in the late Sixties/early Seventies Citroën owned a majority stake in Maserati. Contrary to some accounts the 2.7 litre engine (the unusual capacity of which was a consequence of French vehicle taxation regulations) was designed by Ing. Alfieri at Maserati for the SM at Citroën's instructions. Only later did it find its way into Maserati's own Merak sports model.

It's a jewel of a powerplant that is unbelievably compact for its capacity but not without its quirks. Timing chain tensioners, jackshaft failure and valves dropping off are not unknown. They can be made to run relatively reliably these days thanks to a small but dedicated handful of specialists around the world, not least of which being Jerry Hathaway in California, of course, who achieved some truly insane performance figures from his own twin turbocharged example.

We have one resident example in Tasmania, a Rouge Granada five speed 2.7 litre with Bosch D Jetronic electronic fuel injection which I have been for a drive in. They're really quite special; sort of like a slightly tauter sprung D, that still has a phenomenal ride quality, but also goes like the clappers. The European front is the only one to have, though, I have to say, I don't know what the US legislators were thinking at the time!

Not an SM but here's a snap I took of a 21 Pallas a couple of years ago. Rolleicord V, Fuji Acros 100, ID-11. I'll have to have a look in the archives for some SM pics.

5220297360_b278e38264_z.jpg

Regards,
Brett
 
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