It's a weird obsession, I admit. But a few years back I realized I had to have a Citroen DS before I die. And since we never know how long we'll be on this planet, it made more sense to do it sooner rather than later. I spent two years finding this car and it turned into a great road trip with my son Maxx to pick it up in Reno and drive it home to Austin. Of course, it's complete lunacy to drive a 40+ year old French car across two deserts and the Rockies sight unseen, but with only a few minor mishaps, it made it. If you're a Citroen fan, send me your pics and stories. I post em for you.Road Trip rainbows.
They happen. But you need to get out and find them.
So I realized at some point that I wanted to posses one of these strange machines before I die.
Bucket List if you will.
Then the more I thought about it, the more I realized that if you have something on your bucket list, why wait. You could die tomorrow. Or next week. And all those Bucket List goals would be little nothings left on a scrap of paper that die with you.
I took two years to learn everything I could. I searched the usual places. Craigslist. Ebay. Every Citroen Web site I could find. I learned the best years, what to look for, what to avoid. I now know more about these crazy cars than anyone really should.
Craigslist came through. I was looking in the listings in Sacramento and I found her. The picture wasn’t good, but all the things I wanted were there. Later year, green fluid (it’s important), Euro spec with the swiveling headlights, five speed… It was perfect. Low miles and excellent body and interior. It needed nothing.
Hi Chris – I aree with you about Bucket Lists (and I love rainbows).
My wife Hilly and I had a (very rare) Slough UK built ID Safari for 12 years. We travelled all over Europe in it with two small children, spent a fortune on it and then I sold it – Hilly never really forgave me.
Anyway, a few years later (when Hilly was very ill with cancer), I decided we should have another DS. I sold 3 other cars to raise some money and make space, and bought a LHD 1968 ID19 from a friend who runs a Citroën garage locally.
The car was in pieces (restoration started), but I could see it was a very good basis. He finished the restoration and got it ready for the road (I pretended to help and did some of the interior).
It’s a bit of a custom job (I used original Citroën colours for the outside, and weird materials off Ebay for the inside). The main thing about it is that however great it looks (eye of the beholder and all that), it’s wonderful to drive – and that’s what all old cars should do.
Hilly’s OK now (working harder than ever), and we use the ID19 whenever possible. It served as wedding car for my niece in Scotland a few weeks ago – she’d never seen it before, but she absolutely loved it. I don’t think a R*lls R*yce would have been quite the same . . .
Click the “Old Cars” button on the web site above, and then click on the relevant text link to find 4 pages of detail about the ID rebuild. Each thumbnail on the left links to big photos with more info.
The are also text links to info and photos about other interesting Citroëns (some of which we still have) there as well. Lift any photos you want to use.
The strangest thing is the I sold the Ami 8 Cabrio to a Dutch fellow – via a US Citroën web site!
If you ever come to the North of England, come and stay. Sadly, I’m unlikely to ever make it to the States – I hate flying. If I could drive all the way I would.
Following an e-mail from Fearghal Murray in Ireland with a link to your web site, I wanted to send you some more nice photos of the ID19 doing wedding duties – but I can’t see anywhere to upload them to. Maybe I haven’t looked properly.
I appreciate you might not want to let all viewers have your e-mail address, but maybe I could send them that way?
I love your site – packed with great stuff (I’m a Graphic Designer).
All the best from the UK (it’s still the UK – by the skin of its teeth),
Dan, Hilly, Annie (18) and Tom (16) Fletcher