A GODDESS - THIS MORNING I SAW A GODDESS!

CITROEN GODDESS ALIAS DS 21 INTRODUCED 56 YEARS AGO

What a way to make my Saturday morning! I saw a Goddess!

She was "sitting down", that is to say, her suspension ( was it called.."hydrolastic," I think ?  NO, NO that was British Motor Corporation much later - it was "Hydropneumatic!!!)) was turned off so that the body appears to sit down almost to the ground. But, never mind her posture, she was still beautiful even after 56 years!

There never was a production car to match them for elegance and style. They represent the extreme example of the French combination of bold but complex engineering and the ultimate chic in design. Their introduction to the world market in 1955 created a huge sensation. When other designers whether in England, Germany, Italy or America, were struggling to digest the effects of the abandonment of mudguards, running boards,separate headlights and separate engine compartments and bold assertive radiator grills, Citroen literally bounded so far ahead as to almost leap out of the "ballpark"as the Americans would say. The Goddess was, and still is, something quite other.

To put the cherry on the cake, Citroen gave her this marvellous "hydropneumatic suspension". It was adjustable so that you could set it on "high" for rough country roads, or "normal" for City driving, and it constantly sought to keep the cabin level, thus evening out rough patches of road.

Now, "Goddess" or no, everything was not Paradise. When you pulled up on a hill and used the hand-brake when starting, the rear of the car would tend to "stand up" this takes a bit of getting used to. Also, when reversing, the swallow-tailed rear which necessitated a much narrower rear track than the front, created a tendency for the driver looking backwards out the window or relying on the rear vision mirror, to steer off to one side. Habit from "normal" cars builds into our senses the idea that we are reversing a rectangular vehicle - when that instinct is put with a vehicle tending towards triangular - you have trouble.

Anyway, whilst the motoring world and its clientele  - all of us - had our breath taken away by the Goddess, the rest of the designing world, lacking the talent to follow or improve, simply ignored the new beauty on the block. They sought to distract attention with cars that seemed to look the same front and rear, with cars that featured absurd fins and other ornaments. Only lately - say the last ten years - have they been forced into a new direction by wind tunnel tests and the need for greater economy. More and more cars are beginning to look alike.  While the Goddess just IS - in ageless beauty.

Patrick Jane in "The Mentalist" drives one - and he's always right!