Description
Despite the rather leisurely acceleration afforded by its four-cylinder engine, the DS was successful in motorsports like rallying, where sustained speeds on poor surfaces are paramount. It won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1959 and, controversially in 1966, after the disqualification of the BMC Mini-Cooper team. The Citroën DS placed fifth on Automobile Magazine’s ‘100 Coolest Cars’ listing in 2005. It was also named the most beautiful car of all time by Classic & Sports Car magazine after a poll of 20 world-renowned car designers. In 1965, a luxury upgrade to the DS, the Pallas, named after the Greek goddess, was introduced. This included comfort features such as better noise insulation, a more luxurious and optional leather upholstery and external trim embellishments.
This delightful numbers matching DS23 Pallas was first registered in 1973 and is one of only 33 known examples on British roads today. The DS has benefitted from a significant amount of work in recent times; the engine has been stripped and rebuilt with new piston rings, valves, liners and bearings, and a reground crank, and as such is just being run in, assisted by a newly fitted coil and spark plugs. The famous hydraulic suspension has been overhauled with a new pressure pump and belt, new pipes, a new centrifugal regulator and new suspension ball joints. To improve starting a new starter motor has been fitted, and to improve cornering new tyres have been added to each corner. Fuel delivery has been improved with rebuilt carburettors, new filters, and a new petrol tank pick-up. To keep everything cool a new radiator has been fitted, as has a new waterpump. The bodywork has also been subject to some cosmetic improvement, with a repaint in the original colour.
Finished in Blanc Meije with a Wine Red cloth interior, and showing just 49,000 miles recorded from new, this wonderful top of the range DS is offered with a Citroen Heritage Certificate, current UK MoT and UK V5.
