Back in September last year, I unfortunately crashed my DS. Since then, I was able to track down a NOS bonnet, some good used bumpers and other parts and strip the rear of the car. The cars paint was faded so instead of having the repairers match faded paint, I will pay extra to repaint the whole car. My current plan is...
The Traction Avant had a number of small issues that were impacting the overall drivability of the car. The car is now much nicer to drive after resolving them. The original engine driven fuel pump had been bypassed by a very noisy electric pump There was severe vibration on braking Front suspension was worn Valves were out of adjustment on #2 causing poor...
The photo below shows the various components that make up the C Pillar trim and boot hinge. My trims are on OK but not perfect condition. It is also clear how poor the previous paint job was with the over spray evident in the picture. All the parts will need a good clean and polish before being put back on the car. Despite being...
The next step to prepare the DS for paint was to remove the bumper bar. This also allows the number plate panel to be removed which needs to be repainted as well. In theory the whole bumper assembly can be removed by detaching the mounts, but I was not able to get the out. Therefore, I removed each piece of the...
All these years I have owned the DS I assumed the boot lid was fibreglass. Fibreglass reproductions are available in Europe for those who want a cheap way of replacing rusted or damaged body panels. However, the DS19 had an aluminium boot lid until May 1957. The previous owner mentioned it was Aluminium, but since these boot lids are so rare I didn’t...
A few months ago I managed to damage the front of the DS while parking it. Insurance will cover the repair to the front of the car, but instead of having the insurance repair match the faded paint, I would prefer to have the front of the car painted well and then pay extra to have the rear panels painted to match. So...
This week features a great ad highlighting the Hydropneumatic suspension of the Citroen DS. This car has its ups and downs. Moody? No. French, and logical. When road conditions change, you can change the height of a Citroen car to suit the road. Citroen can do it, and only a Citroen. Deeply rutted road, heavy snowdrift? Uo you go, and pull away with plenty...
After my unfortunate DS crash I was able to locate a new old stock bonnet for my DS. The bonnet for the DS is aluminium which makes repairing the current bonnet rather difficult. I have heard that at least in 1955, this was the largest single aluminium panel on a car, but I don’t know if this true or not. I can...
This weeks ad focuses on how innovative a car company Citroen was before it was merged with Peugeot. The two cars shown are very similar to my two Citroens – the Traction on the top and the DS21 below it. They are not quite the same as this is a French made Traction and the DS21 is a Pallas model unlike mine. ...
Today I went to the Citroen Car Club meeting to get the historic rego signed for my Traction Avant. I am not often able to attend these meetings so it was good to catch up with the members. The club had a raffle at the meeting and I even won a prize! I took the DS and it was running really nicely on...
This weeks ad a great summary summary of all the safety features of the DS and a nice cutaway. These days they try and sell cars with lifestyle shots, but this ad delves deep into some of the technical features. The Citroen… a safe car you should look into. Safety “No Spoke” steering wheel. Rugged hemi head engine, built to maintain high cruising...
Today I started troubleshooting a potential engine issue in my Traction Avant. When the engine is hot, it will sometimes smoke out of the valve cover and there is a single pulse of black exhaust like it is being caused by one cylinder. My first test was to check the compression of the engine, quite easy on a traction engine as the spark...
This weeks ad is interesting that it tries to take the biggest weakness of the DS – the engine and try and turn it into a strength. I prefer the other ads that focus on its real strengths like the economy, suspension etc. In sales trying to turn a weakness into a strength can work well, but not sure if this approach...
This weeks ad covers the launch of the DS21 – still on the 2nd nose. The introduction of the DS21 started to address the concerns about the lack of power in the DS, the main point of criticism over its 20 year life. The car was originally supposed to have an air cooled flat six, but that never panned out.
Today was the 2016 French car day. As usual a good day out, including my Traction Avant taking out 1st place in the pre-1955 category. Attendance was down this year compared to last year as the weather was a bit iffy this morning. But it turned out nice enough in the end. A humorous side show was a member of...
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