The Car, She is a Citroen

Behold, one of the most awesome French cars ever made: the Citroen SM (1970-1975).

Now bask in its magnificence.

Citroen has been around since 1919. Until recently, they were known as a company that defied common sense and made cars that were completely insane.

Or, "quirky."

All the same, the SM is a very good looking car.

It looks like an airplane's fuselage. It's rounded, low to the ground, and suggests speed even when its standing still. The SM is a perfect example of the European grand tourering automobile.

You get in it, and go on a long, comfortable trip. Then you're swathed in style and leather while blasting down the road at over a 100mph.

So what's so crazy about that?

Well, the insanity starts under the hood.

Those green bulbs are part of the suspension system, what keeps the car down on the road and absorbs all the bumps in the pavement. Most companies use shock absorbers (gas filled tubes) to do this.

Citroen used a pressurized liquid. That's what's in those green bulbs.

There were more of those bulbs in back and the entire system worked to keep the car level and at the correct ride height. The system self-adjusted based on how much weight was in the car.

The steering was controlled by the same system and adjusted the amount of effort it took to steer based on speed. It took almost no effort to go through a parking lot, but took more grunt at over sixty.

Just for the record, the hydraulics were all mechanical, no computers involved.

So even though Citroen's crazy engineering is reason enough to own the SM, it's still a gorgeous car. The interior is just as stylish as the exterior.


That gearshift, which is for a manual, is a work of art.

Sitting in this for a thousand miles wouldn't be a problem at all.

However, the leather seats and curved dashboard feel like they should be clouded by cigarette smoke. It would be their natural environment in the '70s.

The idea of having a French styled, hydraulic cushioned, front-wheel drive Grand Tourer is shiver inducing.

Until it breaks down at least. Which it inevitably will because it's a French car.

But such is life.