One-of-34 Citroen DS 21 'Le Caddy' for sale

A design so pretty, buyers paid over double that of a DS to own one

The DS must have been an absolute dream to work on as a coachbuilder (or carrossier) in the mid-1950s France. Not only did it evolve the Traction Avant’s revolutionary unibody design, it effectively rendered the bodywork benign which, as you probably know, meant it could be driven about perfectly fine without doors, wings or even a roof. All designers had to do was dream up a new look, fabricate the body panels, bolt them onto the DS’ skeleton chassis and bam! A bespoke barge with a vastly inflated price tag for the French elite.

This proved particularly popular with coachbuilder Henri Chapron, who began chopping up saloons and converting them to drop tops that Citroen brought him about to design and produce a factory-backed Decapotable (convertible). The partnership spawned a barrage of DS specials, including a limousine built for the then-President of France, Charles de Gaulle, after his first presidential DS was blown up in an assassination attempt. It’s said he didn’t like the replacement and continued to use a regular DS 21 instead - but I digress.

What we have here isn’t a presidential car, though I’m sure if this had been handed to Monsieur de Gaulle in the first place it likely would have seen more use than what he ended up with. This is the Citroen DS Le Caddy, an ultra-limited drop-top that’d serve as the two-seater (with a decorative rear bench) version of the marque's smash hit. Though not the first DS cabriolet to come from Chapron - that’d be the independently-converted ‘La Croisette’ - it did put right some of the obscurities of the original car, namely swapping out the blanking panel for the rear door a single-piece wing. Le Croisette was pretty, Le Caddy was downright jaw-dropping.

Original cars were built to DS 19 spec, though later examples like this 1965 model were based around the DS 21. This meant an increase from 1.9 to 2.2 litres, unlocking a decent 31hp in the process. It still only produced 106hp, and Chapron had zero interest in mucking about anything that didn’t directly result in his creations looking more beautiful. And how stunning does this example look? Those tan leather seats contrast perfectly with the metallic maroon finish, while the dash features the optional (and very rare, so says the ad) Jaeger instruments. The old-school yellow headlights top off this wonderful slice of French nonchalance perfectly.

There’s good reasoning behind why this Le Caddy looks as impeccable as it does. The car was restored ‘to concours standard’ in 2006 and, nine years later, was presented at the Chantilly Concours d’Elegance. No mention of whether it won anything, but merely being allowed through the gates at such a prestigious event is a testament to the work - and upkeep - that’s been carried out. More recently, it’s been upgraded with a modern ignition and charging system by Citroen specialist Andrew Brodie Engineering, just to make sure that the miles ahead are as trouble-free as possible.

Of course, there’s a hefty history file to go along with it, including copies of the original sale as well as French and Italian registration papers. As for the price, well, that’s going to require a call to the seller, but with the ad claiming a production run of just 34 (and other sources stating figures as low as 28) expect it to hand over a chunk of your hard-earned. If you’re after an even rarer DS, then take a look at this one-of-three DS Majesty. Or better yet, grab both. After all, a head of state always needs both open and hard-topped presidential cars in their fleet.

See the original advert here

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BogleDog64

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87 months