A superb and rare photo of the magnificent 1968 Citroën DS , as photographed for the publicity campaign that Citroën with the new Concorde airplane.

The French Citroën DS, in production between 1955 and 1975, was styled by Italian sculptor and industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni. The DS was known for its aerodynamic futuristic body design and innovative technology, including a hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension. The DS advanced achievable standards in automobile ride quality, handling, and braking. Citroën sold nearly 1.5 million D-series during the model's 20-year production run. The DS came in third in the 1999 Car of the Century competition, recognizing the world's most influential auto designs, and was named the most beautiful car of all time by Classic & Sports Car magazine. After 18 years of development in secret as the successor to the venerable Traction Avant, the DS 19 was introduced on 5 October 1955 at the Paris Motor Show. The car's appearance and innovative engineering captured the imagination of the public and the automobile industry almost overnight. In the first 15 minutes of the show, 743 orders were taken, and orders for the first day totalled 12,000. Far from being just a fascinating technology in search of a purpose, contemporary journalists were effusive in noting how the DS dramatically pushed the envelope in the ride vs. handling compromise possible in a motor vehicle. To a France still deep in reconstruction after the devastation of World War II, and also building its identity in the post-colonial world, the DS motor car was a symbol of French ingenuity. It defied virtually every automotive design convention of that era. It also posited the nation's relevance in the Space Age, during the global race for technology of the Cold War. Structuralist philosopher Roland Barthes, in an essay about the car, said that it looked as if it had "fallen from the sky". The high price tag, however, hurt general sales in a country still recovering from World War II, and a cheaper submodel, the Citroën ID, was introduced in 1957. The ID shared the DS's body but was more traditional mechanically: it had no power steering and had conventional transmission and clutch instead of the DS's hydraulically controlled set-up. A station wagon variant, the ID Break, was introduced in 1958. Outside of France, the car's radical and cosmopolitan design appealed to non-conformists. An American advertisement summarised this selling point: "It takes a special person to drive a special car". The DS was historically significant for many reasons, one being that it was the first mass production car with front power disc brakes. It also featured hydropneumatic suspension including an automatic levelling system and variable ground clearance, power steering and a semi-automatic transmission, and a fibreglass roof which reduced weight transfer. Inboard front brakes (as well as independent suspension) reduced unsprung weight. Different front and rear track widths and tyre sizes reduced the understeer typical of front-engined and front-wheel drive cars. As with all French cars, the DS design was affected by the tax horsepower system, which effectively mandated very small engines. Unlike the Traction Avant predecessor, there was no top-of-range model with a powerful six cylinder engine. Despite the rather leisurely acceleration afforded by its small four-cylinder engine, the DS was successful in motorsports like rallying, where sustained speeds on poor surfaces are paramount, and won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1959 and 1966. The DS placed fifth on Automobile Magazine "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, including Giorgetto Giugiaro, Ian Callum, Roy Axe, Paul Bracq, and Leonardo Fioravanti. In conventional cars, hydraulics are only used in brakes and power steering. In the DS they were also used for the suspension, clutch and transmission, although the later ID19 did have manual steering and a simplified power braking system. At a time when few passenger vehicles had independent suspension on all wheels, the application of the hydraulic system to the car's suspension system to provide a self-levelling system was an innovative move. This suspension allowed the car to achieve sharp handling combined with very high ride quality, frequently compared to a "magic carpet". The system used—hydropneumatic suspension—was pioneered the year before, on the rear of another car from Citroën, the top of range Traction Avant 15CV-H. The 1955 DS cemented the Citroën brand name as an automotive innovator, building on the success of the Traction Avant, which had been the world's first mass-produced monocoque front wheel drive car in 1934. In fact, the DS caused such a huge sensation that Citroën was apprehensive that future models would not be of the same bold standard. No clean sheet new models were introduced from 1955 to 1970. The DS was a large, expensive executive car and a downward brand extension was attempted, but without result. Throughout the late 1950s and 1960s Citroën developed many new vehicles for the very large market segments between the 2CV and the DS, occupied by vehicles like the Peugeot 403, Renault 16 and Ford Cortina, but none made it into production. Either they had uneconomic build costs, or were ordinary "me too" cars, not up to the company's high standard of innovation. As Citroën was owned by Michelin as a sort of research laboratory, and were a powerful advertisement for the capabilities of the radial tyre Michelin had invented, such experimentation was possible. Other models produced by Citroën were based on the utilitarian 2-cylinder 2CV economy car (that contained some of the most advanced independent suspension chassis engineering in the world). The Ami also designed by Flaminio Bertoni attempted to combine the styling of the DS with the advanced chassis of the 2CV. It was very successful in France in the 1960s, but less so on export markets because of its controversial styling, and by being noisy and underpowered. The Dyane, was a modernised 2CV with a hatchback, to compete with the Renault 4. Citroën finally did introduce the Citroën GS in 1970, which won 'European car of the Year 1970' and sold a spectacular 2.5 million units. But it was still underpowered by a flat-4 air-cooled engine, the intended Wankel rotary engined version did not reach full production. The DS remained popular and competitive throughout its production run. Its peak production year was 1970. Certain design elements like the somewhat narrow cabin, column mounted gearstick, and separate fenders began to seem a little old-fashioned in the 1970s. Citroën invested enormous resources to design and launch an entirely new vehicle in 1970, the SM, which was a thoroughly modernized, much wider, faster and more expensive car than the DS. Though the SM construction was conceptually similar to the DS—a platform frame with many pieces spotwelded together, mid-engine, front wheel drive, detachable front fenders, hydropneumatic suspension, rear fender skirts, and trailing arm rear suspension—it is an entirely different car. On the SM, the roof and rear quarter panels were welded on. Few parts are directly interchangeable between the two cars, but the DS and SM were both assembled on the same production lines at Quai André-Citroën, Paris. Unlike the DS, the factory never authorized a convertible model, since Citroën felt the roof was integral to the structure of the SM. Despite all this, the SM had to fulfill another purpose beyond just modernizing the DS — it had to launch Citroën into a new grand tourer market segment. This meant that unlike the DS, the SM was not designed to be a practical 4-door saloon suitable as a large family car, the key market for vehicles of this type in Europe. Typically, manufacturers would introduce low volume coupés based on parts shared with an existing saloon, not as unique models — a contemporary example being the Mercedes-Benz SLC-Class. The SM's high price, driven by its Maserati engine and limited utility of the 2+2 seating configuration, meant the SM as actually produced could not seize the mantle from the DS. The DS was finally phased out in 1976 after 1,455,746 cars were produced. The DS was replaced as the large family or executive car in the model range by the CX. The development and launch of the CX in the wake of the 1974 oil crisis, bankrupted Citroën and forced them into a merger with Peugeot, to form PSA Peugeot-Citroën. The DS was primarily manufactured in Paris, France — with other manufacturing facilities in the United Kingdom, South Africa, the former Yugoslavia (mostly Break Ambulances), and Australia. Australia constructed their own D variant in the 1960s at Heidelberg, Victoria, identified as the ID 19 "Parisiene." Australian market cars were fitted with options as standard equipment such as the "DSpecial DeLuxe" that were not available on domestic European models. Until 1965 cars were assembled at the manufacturer's Slough premises, to the west of London, using a combination of French made semi CKD kits and locally sourced components, some of them machined on site. A French electrical system superseded the British one on the Slough cars in 1962, giving rise to a switch to "continental style" negative earthing. After 1965 cars for the British market were imported fully assembled from the company's French plant. The British built cars are distinguished by their leather seats, wooden dashboards, and (on pre-1962 cars) Lucas-made electrics. Within some parts of the former Yugoslavia a few examples are still in use as taxis. In the USA, the DS's price in 1970 ranged from US$4,066 to US$4,329. The DS's appearance did not change dramatically in the 16 years it was available in the States. US legislation also banned one of the car's more advanced features, aerodynamic headlamps, now common in US automobiles. The first year of aerodynamic glass enclosing the DS's headlights, along with driving lights turned by the steering, was also the first year those features were outlawed in the US. The VW Beetle and Jaguar XKE had aerodynamic faired glass over their (fixed) headlights until the same time. The DS was sold in the United States from 1956-1972. Ultimately, 38,000 units were sold. The DS always maintained its size and shape, with easily removable, unstressed body panels, but certain design changes did occur. A station wagon version was introduced in 1958. It was known by various names in different markets (Break in France, Safari and Familiale in the UK, Wagon in the US, and Citroën Australia used the terms Safari and Station-Wagon). It had a steel roof to support the standard roof rack. In September 1962, the DS was restyled with a more aerodynamically efficient nose, better ventilation and other improvements. It retained the open two headlamp appearance, but was available with an optional set of driving lights mounted on the front fenders. In 1965 a luxury upgrade kit, the DS Pallas (after Greek goddess Pallas), was introduced. This included comfort features such as better noise insulation, a more luxurious (and optional: leather) upholstery and external trim embellishments. In 1967, the DS and ID was again restyled. This version had a more streamlined headlamp design, giving the car a notably shark-like appearance. This design had four headlights under a smooth glass canopy, and the inner set swivelled with the steering wheel. This allowed the driver to see 'around' turns, especially valuable on twisting roads driven at high speed at night. However, this feature was not allowed in the US at the time, so a version with four exposed headlights that did not swivel was made for the US market. The station wagon edition, the Break (called the ID Safari on the UK market) and "Familiale", was also upgraded. The hydraulic fluid changed to the technically superior LHM (Liquide Hydraulique Minéral) in all markets except the US. Rarest and most collectable of all DS variants, a convertible was offered from 1958 until 1973. The convertibles were built in small series by French carrossier Henri Chapron, for the Citroën factory. The DS convertibles used the break (station wagon) frame, which was reinforced on the sidemembers and rear suspension swingarm bearing box. In addition, Chapron also produced a few coupés, non-works convertibles and special sedans (including the 'Prestige,' same wheelbase but with a with a central divider, and the 'Lorraine' notchback). The suspension system of the Citroen DS was very special. In a hydropneumatic suspension system, each wheel is connected, not to a spring, but to a hydraulic suspension unit consisting of a sphere of about 12 cm in diameter containing pressurised nitrogen, a cylinder containing hydraulic fluid screwed to the suspension sphere, a piston inside the cylinder connected by levers to the suspension itself, and a damper valve between the piston and the sphere. A membrane in the sphere prevented the nitrogen from escaping. The motion of the wheels translated to a motion of the piston, which acted on the oil in the nitrogen cushion and provided the spring effect. The damper valve took place of the shock absorber in conventional suspensions. The hydraulic cylinder was fed with hydraulic fluid from the main pressure reservoir via a height corrector, a valve controlled by the mid-position of the anti-roll bar connected to the axle. If the suspension was too low, the height corrector introduced high-pressure fluid; if it was too high, it released fluid back to the fluid reservoir. In this manner, a constant ride height was maintained. A control in the cabin allowed the driver to select one of five heights: normal riding height, two slightly higher riding heights for poor terrain, and two extreme positions for changing wheels. [The correct term oleopneumatic (oil-air) has never gained widespread use. Hydropneumatic (water-air) continues to be preferred overwhelmingly.

This is a very nice and very rare non period photo that reflects a wonderful era of Citroën ‘s automotive history in a wonderful way. This is your rare chance to own this photo, therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 9" (ca. 20 x 23 cm).  It makes it perfectly suitable for framing.