Citroen DS Safari: Spotted
Estates don't come much cooler than a fully restored 1968 DS Safari with hydropneumatic suspension
The motoring sands tend to shift very slowly, and only occasionally do true revolutions occur. When they have occurred, though, quite a number of them have featured the name Citroen. For example, the 1938 Traction Avant was the world’s first mass-produced car with front-wheel drive and a monocoque construction, and the Citroen DS of 1955 had revolutionary zeal evident throughout its advanced engineering and meritorious design.
But the DS went further, much further. There was that beautiful and aerodynamic body, for one, from the pen of Bertoni; it was a work of art in itself, with its teardrop shape and flush undersides and wheels pushed to the far corners and its truncated tail and its differing track widths front to rear.
Then, underneath it all, you’d find the remarkable oleopnuematics, those high-pressure bubbles of squishable pleasure that assisted the self-levelling suspension, the steering, the brakes, the clutch and the gearchange. It was a magic carpet ride, this car. It was also futuristic, modern and bold, and chock-full of so many innovative and clever details both large and small that it would take a week to list them all. It was brilliant.
In time, known eventually as 1958, an estate version of the car appeared, and among other names it was called the Safari. In proper Citroen tradition, it looked like no other car, and it made the most of its capacious bodyshell to house a large amount of either people or belongings or, if you fancied, both at the same time. Better still, its hydropneumatics meant that it remained on an even keel, no matter how heavy the load in the back.
In my day, which admittedly is long since past, we small kids were all piled into the back of these things in huge numbers, the only limit being when one of us stopped breathing. The parents who owned such things tended to be what some today would call the liberal elite, and they’d all keep their cars in a suitably filthy condition, replete with dog hairs, as if cleaning a car were a slightly parochial affair best left to those who owned Cortinas. Think of these people as Volvo estate owners with attitude.
They’d also keep their DS Safari for many, many years, and indeed this fully restored, rare 1968 example is an original right-hand drive UK car, and has had only four owners over its fifty-year life. For £40k you could have perhaps the ultimate people carrier, as well as one of the most revolutionary, and of course one of the most thoroughly logical, cars of all time.
Mark Pearson
SPECIFICATION: CITROEN DS SAFARI
Engine: 2.2-litre inline four
Transmission: Four-speed semi-automatic, front-wheel drive
Power (hp): 100@5500rpm
Torque (lb ft): 121@3000rpm
MPG: 23
CO2: n/k
First registered: 1968
Recorded mileage: 61,000
Price new: n/k
Yours for: £39,950
Citroen also made a few extended 6 wheeled versions of these and they were specifically for the French press to deliver newspapers all over France. I remember seeing one of these in the UK (on the M25 I think); heaven know what it was doing in the UK.
Citroen also made a few extended 6 wheeled versions of these and they were specifically for the French press to deliver newspapers all over France. I remember seeing one of these in the UK (on the M25 I think); heaven know what it was doing in the UK.
I thought you had found a secret car 
Maybe you spotted https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qjCrzOzN30
I thought you had found a secret car Maybe you spotted https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qjCrzOzN30
https://petrolicious.com/articles/vintage-friday-w...
Point of fact, although everyone calls it a 'DS Safari', the estates were always to some sort of ID specification, the ID being the more basic version of the DS without all the hydraulic trickery. Early IDs only had the hydropneumatic suspension, but conventional steering, brakes and manual gearchange. All ID Estates had the power-hydraulic brakes and over the years the power steering and the semi-automatic gearchange became optional as well - by the end of production an ID Estate was virtually to the same mechanical spec as a DS, differing only in the trim and interior.
But everyone, even Citroen, just uses 'DS' as a catchall. If you're a real Citroen nerd you'll refer to the 'D-Series', which was the company's official designation because that includes all the variants - DS, ID, DW and D-Super.
Was the DS not designed by Robert Opron?
Edit- Bertoni did the original, Opron did the facelift..
The estate has proper wheelarches because its rear body structure is very different to the saloon. The saloon could have rear wheel fairings because the structure (an inner structural frame with bolt-on external panels) made it very easy to make the rear wing panel removable - just one bolt at the back which can be removed with the wheel brace. You need to do this to change a flat tyre, even with the DS's trick suspension. The estate couldn't have bolt-off rear panels so needed a full arch.
I don't see it worth the £40k either, but if I was in the fortunate position of having many millions I'd have it in a heartbeat.
Given the current state of our chaussees deformee, the IDea of a D-series seems to make increasing sense. And the concept of starting the engine and selecting 1st with the same lever is so moderne.
Point of fact, although everyone calls it a 'DS Safari', the estates were always to some sort of ID specification, the ID being the more basic version of the DS without all the hydraulic trickery. Early IDs only had the hydropneumatic suspension, but conventional steering, brakes and manual gearchange. All ID Estates had the power-hydraulic brakes and over the years the power steering and the semi-automatic gearchange became optional as well - by the end of production an ID Estate was virtually to the same mechanical spec as a DS, differing only in the trim and interior.
But everyone, even Citroen, just uses 'DS' as a catchall. If you're a real Citroen nerd you'll refer to the 'D-Series', which was the company's official designation because that includes all the variants - DS, ID, DW and D-Super.
Was the DS not designed by Robert Opron?
Edit- Bertoni did the original, Opron did the facelift..
The estate has proper wheelarches because its rear body structure is very different to the saloon. The saloon could have rear wheel fairings because the structure (an inner structural frame with bolt-on external panels) made it very easy to make the rear wing panel removable - just one bolt at the back which can be removed with the wheel brace. You need to do this to change a flat tyre, even with the DS's trick suspension. The estate couldn't have bolt-off rear panels so needed a full arch.
No mention made of the slightly agricultural nature of the engine whic really doesn’t sit with the futuristic design of the body, but hey-ho, at least I guess it makes for easy maintenance.
There used to be one on the same street as my parents friends near Sloterdijk in Amsterdam.
Typical ‘never was it’ cool and slightly bohemian owner, I eventually blagged a ride in it, and it confirmed all the good things written about them. But it did confirm the gruff engine too.
I offered to buy it on the spot and drive it back to Blighty but the owner wouldn’t part with it, saying that other than a CX Safari / Familiale / Break or whatever they were called there, there was nothing else that could do what the DS did.
No mention made of the slightly agricultural nature of the engine whic really doesn’t sit with the futuristic design of the body, but hey-ho, at least I guess it makes for easy maintenance.
There used to be one on the same street as my parents friends near Sloterdijk in Amsterdam.
Typical ‘never was it’ cool and slightly bohemian owner, I eventually blagged a ride in it, and it confirmed all the good things written about them. But it did confirm the gruff engine too.
I offered to buy it on the spot and drive it back to Blighty but the owner wouldn’t part with it, saying that other than a CX Safari / Familiale / Break or whatever they were called there, there was nothing else that could do what the DS did.
I thought you had found a secret car Maybe you spotted https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qjCrzOzN30
Tissier (and others) did Ds, too, and XMs.
Digital printing (and the internet) has removed the need.
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