Quite possibly?? (1st and 3rd photos)
www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/picturegalleries/9552899/QE3-could-push-gold-up-to-2400oz.html#?frame=2347092
Saw a beauty (DS) today in Watford - not often you see a beauty there!
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Great characterful classic, I tuned a few, boring under the bonnet and boring to drive IMO.
I like that motorvan conversion and I like that Concorde model, plus the cabriolets of course.
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>> Quite possibly?? (1st and 3rd photos)
Not the 4th then? :)
www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/picturegalleries/9552899/QE3-could-push-gold-up-to-2400oz.html?frame=2347081
Last edited by: Focus on Thu 4 Oct 12 at 20:07
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Possibly the most ugliest car? Horrible looking.
Last edited by: Videodoctor on Thu 4 Oct 12 at 20:14
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Its not the worlds most beautiful car by some large margin, It wasnt even nice to drive (my father had one that I borrowed from time to time) but it was striking, had character, and I would make room on my drive for one any day of the week.
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>> Its not the worlds most beautiful car by some large margin........but it
>> was striking, had character, and I would make room on my drive for one any
>> day of the week.
>>
-^^-
This.
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Never driven one but was my dream car as a teenager having seen them 'pick up their skirts and run' on French holidays.
Undoubtedly an influence on my purchase of a BX (same design cues in headlamps and rear wheel shrouds).
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"Never driven one but was my dream car as a teenager having seen them 'pick up their skirts and run' on French holidays.
Undoubtedly an influence on my purchase of a BX (same design cues in headlamps and rear w heel shrouds). "
Sometimes Brompt, your posts are so close to what I think, that I think I must be posting under 2 names!!
The sight of the old DS's by the side of the road in France (resting and down on suspension) and then going along as smooth as silk on those rough French roads was a sight to behold. And then came the CX GT turbo - just as good. What could I afford - a second hand BX years later (with single spoke steering wheel and lights/indicators on side pods) with THAT suspension!
Couple of BXs and Xantias later the 2000 reg Xantia Exclusive is still going strong (touch wood!!) and I hope it keeps going a lot longer - much underated but still a really great car.
P
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I had a Xantia back in the late-ish 90s. Quite liked it apart from the seating position. You sat too close to the floor somehow. A little thing which irritated me was that from where I sat, you couldn't see the high beam light indicator light either. Apart from those it was a fine thing.
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>> I had a Xantia back in the late-ish 90s. Quite liked it apart from the
>> seating position. You sat too close to the floor somehow. A little thing which irritated
>> me was that from where I sat, you couldn't see the high beam light indicator
>> light either.
Shlort Ass Glasshopper.
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6' in my socks oh baldy elderly one ! ( with clap car )
:-)
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6' in my socks...
Medium-height locust, then. But I had the same problem in the unlamented Verso, despite the bar-stool seating position, so not a height thing, just poor design.
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>> I had a Xantia back in the late-ish 90s. Quite liked it apart from the
>> seating position. You sat too close to the floor somehow.
That's been my one quibble comfort wise too. With feet on floor knees are raised giving impression of lack of support under thighs. Can adjust it out with careful tweaking of seat and it's height but then Mrs B who's five feet nothing and short of leg has a turn driving and I've lost it again.
The BX OTOH by some miracle we both drove from same place.
Berlingo is like sitting in an armchair; almost over the pedals as in using a sewing machine treadle.
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>but it was striking, had character, and I would make room on my drive for one any day of the week.
Mmm, Lancer or DS, that's a difficult one - can I call a friend?
At least they didn't make it onto this list though:
www.chron.com/cars/gallery/50-worst-cars-49673.php
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How on earth could the Lotus Elan be among the worst 50 cars.
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Perhaps one of the most ahead of its time, but I wouldn't say the most beautiful. We each have our own favourites, but for me there's nothing to beat a 1939 Lagonda drophead.
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It was better to drive than Zero thinks. Different sorts of car - and the DS is nothing if not different - need different driving styles. What goes with a Capri doesn't necessarily go with a DS.
But he's right about it not being the most beautiful car ever. In my opinion anyway. But relative beauty is a matter of opinion. There are many convincing contenders.
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Who cares what a car looks like? Most people aren't going to buy a car so that they can stand and admire its looks. It's how it functions that matters.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Fri 5 Oct 12 at 07:04
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Have you ordered your Cube yet, L'escargot?
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>> Have you ordered your Cube yet, L'escargot?
>>
Not yet. I'll have an unaccompanied lengthy test drive next April.
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>> Have you ordered your Cube yet, L'escargot?
It's a right rectangular parallelepiped, not a cube.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Fri 5 Oct 12 at 09:03
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>>Most people aren't going to buy a car so that they can stand and admire its looks.
A neighbour of mine bought a new Ducati. He'd push it out of the garage and sit in a garden chair looking at it. After a couple of weeks I asked him if he was going to ride the damn thing, or frame it and hang it on a wall.
His missus put her foot down and flatly refused to let it live in the conservatory during the winter.
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As usual in the eye of the beholder but even if not the most beautiful the DS was the most striking and unusual car to own. It was when I had mine in the late 1970s and still is today for those that run them as classics.
I could understand how Zero might say they weren't nice to drive but boring Dog... not by any normal standard surely.
There were two aspects to a negative driving experience.
They needed to be in good fettle to feel right. People often didn't realise the suspension spheres needed re-gassing from time to time or they would bounce about, tyres were crucial needing the original Michelin 180HRx15 size asymetric XAS. Suspension height setting, free operation of the height correctors and proper setup of the automated clutch (on the common semi-auto) were also important to how the car felt.
Even if all that was spot on they took a particularly sympathetic touch to waft along in town or swoop across A/B roads at speed. With featherlight power steering, soft suspension, automated manual gears and that ultra sensitive travel free brake button someone who got in and expected to drive one like a Cortina would proceed up the road in a series of bounces, twitches and jerks.
Perfect car- perhaps not, magnificent motoring experience - without doubt.
Oh... but they did rust a bit.
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>> Perfect car- perhaps not, magnificent motoring experience - without doubt.
>>
>> Oh... but they did rust a bit.
>>
Good summary. I had 2, a Familiale 7-seater semi-auto and a D Super 5. I'm much more a fan of the simple unadorned post-68 saloon than all the Chapron and convertible derivatives.
Rust was a major feature of my ownership experience too.
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>> but they did rust a bit.
Fenlander understands the DS. Not many British people understand any Citroen.
The DS was so dominant in France that the Paris traffic took on its rhythms and still hasn't completely lost them.
It wasn't 'beautiful' but it was chic, like a girl with a funny lopsided short haircut. It wasn't nearly as aerodynamically good as it looked, but it was better than the bricks most people were driving.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sat 6 Oct 12 at 04:05
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>>Who cares what a car looks like? Most people aren't going to buy a car so that they can stand and admire its looks. It's how it functions that matters.<<
You're doing it again Mr Snail...
I still, after nearly eight years, look at the Prelude and think it's got something. So much so, I've decided to give up the disappointments of trying to replace it and run it on.
Although the XJS 'decapotable' doesn't get out much I certainly do enjoy just looking at it - so does almost everyone else around here, it appears.
I think the DS was futuristic and striking in 1955. I also think, apart from the Chapron decapotable, it's butt ugly.
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I used to live quite close to the former Top Gear presenter Chris Goffey, who I'd regularly see driving his about locally. They are certainly striking, and hugely interesting, but beautiful? Not to my eyes.
For me, the Italians have this sewn up. Just probing Alfa Romeo's post war history would be enough, and that's without Ferrari and Maserati.
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This does it for me and always will.
www.eaglegb.com/pages/eagle-etypes
(especially the first image - the black soft top)
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I can appreciate the lines of the ID/DS but for me the cars that turn my head at classic meetings are always the E-type and Aston Martin DB4/5/6. I'm very lucky to be often able to drive (OK, load) these beautiful machines at work most weeks.
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The world's most beautiful car?? - Dog
