The DS should be ready to be collected next week. All the panels are back on including the NOS bonnet. The front of the car looks pretty much as it should now. Just minor adjustments for panel fit left. The painted wheels also make a massive difference. The rear wings are also now done and adjusted. I’ll be doing the...
The new DS paint is almost complete and it looks amazing! The car is completely transformed with a professional paint job and a nice colour. In addition, the wheels are sporting their correct grey. I’m really happy with the decision to change the colour and to have the back of the car done. Its not going to be cheap, but there...
Despite having no luck with the normal European suppliers, I was able to source much better C Pillar trims for the DS locally through the Aussie Frogs Forum. The DS C Pillar trims are a key part of the design, and fit in under the indicator trumpet. As my car is a DS21 Comfort, the trims with the ‘thick’ corrugations are correct. ...
I have landed on a colour. My DS will be Rouge Massena. I prefer this colour to the Rouge Carmin for such a big car. It is less ‘pink’ in the sun and the darker red will look rather classy. Generally I prefer to keep cars original, but in this case it wasn’t really a good option. My DS...
The DS is now repaired and is in the process of preparation for paint. Not only did work need to be done to fix the damage from the crash, but previous repairs had to be put right too. The paint that was previously on the car was not well prepared. The car was not rusty, but there was minor surface rust...
The DS is almost ready for paint. Most of the work has been on the doors and rear wings. Both rear wings are pretty much ready and the doors are not far behind. There are a few areas of the car that are still having minor repairs done, such as this corner of the roof. Of the red colours available for the...
The doors have now been removed from the DS to prepare them for paint. The DS makes this easier than most other cars as the panels are all unstressed and fairly easy to remove. It also makes a colour change easier as the underlying chassis is black and its only the removable panels that have colour. The doors were in pretty good shape....
The repairs to the DS continue to progress well. The crash damage is now repaired and the new parts I was able to get for the car have all been fitted and seem to fit well. They will now be removed for painting. The restored bumpers and NOS bonnet look great! It looks like a car again. The reproduction undertray and...
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 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...
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...
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...
When I purchased my Citroen DS21, what attracted me to it was that it was the model I wanted and virtually rust free. It provided a solid foundation, but needed a bit of attention on some cosmetic items to get it where I wanted to be. This post is meant as a summary of some of the improvements that I have done since I...
The front indicator lenses on the DS were badly cracked and discoloured, so it seemed like a good idea to replace them. They are available aftermarket and are quite easy to change over. I had started what I assumed would be a quick job a while ago, but the new lenses used spade connectors instead of bullet connectors and I did not have...
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