1966 Citroën DS 21 Décapotable by Chapron

Originally ‘Sable Noir’ in colour, this gorgeous car adopted its new colour of ‘Sand’ (or just ‘Sable’, which, as you know, is French for sand) in 1971 at around the time it made an appearance in an episode of ‘Freewheelers’, a children’s television programme of the era.

In 1976 it was bought by the vendor, a now retired engineering surveyor who has been its careful, diligent and expert curator ever since.

He has carried out minor repairs, routine servicing and jobs such as cleaning the hydraulic filters himself, but has always sought the best advice and expertise for anything more substantial or time consuming.

At some point in the 1980s, the car was fitted with a replacement 1972 Safari chassis.

In 1985 the car’s engine was rebuilt, the hydraulic pipes and wiring loom renewed and various cosmetic jobs carried out - all courtesy of DS specialist Dave Myers of Shropshire.

The car went off to marque specialists Centreville for a major restoration in the mid-2000s. They stripped the car right down, sorted out all and any corrosion and did any necessary welding.

Some time later, and with some £76,000 of work either paid-for or pending, Centreville went into liquidation and the vendor had to go down a legal route to recover his car and some of the costs.

The car later went to Autolaque of Abergavenny, who set about restoring the bodywork some 15 years ago.

When they’d finished, Autolalque, who are bodywork people, not mechanicals people, handed the car over to a local respected classic restorer, Larry Bishop, who spent 13 months reassembling and restoring the car, sourcing hard to find parts from specialists in the UK, France and the Netherlands as necessary.

During that time the car had a new black fabric hood fitted to the frame.

The car then spent several years going nowhere in a dry garage before the vendor finally asked Larry to recommission the car, get it into the best possible version of itself, and sell it on his behalf.

This period involved commissioning Citroën Classics to completely renew the wiring loom and tackle a number of mechanical jobs, all of which are itemised in the documents section.

The result of all this hard work, eye-watering expenditure and on-going care is a car with the aesthetic grace and presence to make jaws drop at a range of about 1000 yards.

It is simply sublime to behold and it starts, drives, stops and handles every bit as sublimely as it looks.

It is not in concours condition, but it is properly sorted and in very good condition – dynamically, mechanically and aesthetically.

And it drives, as expected, with a super-smooth and forgiving pliability that would make a magic carpet ride feel like driving across a ploughed field in a Series I Land Rover.
 

The enclosed ‘Berline’ version of these cars had made people fall to their knees in the street and look to the skies for evidence of an alien invasion.

It was years ahead of its time and made its contemporary competitors look about as modern as something you might find in Fred Flintstone’s garage.

But Monsieur Chapron’s extraordinary Décapotable version must have seemed even more other-worldly and surreal.

Even 60 years on, this car’s silhouette is like nothing else on the road - then or now.

The exterior is every bit as good as it looks.

The smooth, elegant sculpted flanks are untroubled by any dinks, dents, creases, folds or ripples of consequence.

The panel gaps and shut-lines are consistent and even, which is quite an achievement given the sheer size, shape and dimensions of the decidedly idiosyncratic panels, boot lid and bonnet.

Whether the hydraulic suspension is ‘up’ or ‘down’, the car’s long, elegant stance affords it a profile that’s as low and sleek as a 1930’s transatlantic liner.

The black fabric hood, which was replaced around 13 years ago, goes up and down as it should and forms a tight, taut, seal with the rest of the car.

A few superficial stowage creases aside, the hood is in excellent order and the rear screen is as clear as the waters of a chalk stream.

Underneath the shiny and unmarked hub caps, the wheels have been sprayed in the correct ‘mushroom’ colour (yes, including the inside-facing aspects), as has the air box.

The car has 5 brand new Michelin XAS tyres (the DS was designed to use this tyre) and new tubes.

The chrome work is beyond reproach in most, but not all, places. There is some blistering and tarnishing to the chrome ring around the offside ‘frog-eye’ headlight and there are one or two spots of foxing and tarnishing on the rear bumper.

From what we can see, the car is reassuringly free of rust and rot in the bodywork, and the only corrosion we saw anywhere was in the form of a small patch of bubbling on the edge of the bonnet nearest the windscreen.

There is a shallow dink atop the n/s/f wing, a spot of blistered paint atop its offside counterpart, and a couple of scuffs and scrapes to the bodywork between the bottom of the vast boot lid and the rear bumper.

We also noticed a couple of scratches on the passenger side of the windscreen.
 

The interior looks to us to be highly original and is in generally outstanding condition.

The soft, cream leather front seats are beyond comfortable and are as enveloping and cossetting as a goose down duvet on a crisp morning.

Even though this car would be ideal for a drive down to the South of France, we imagine that the supremely soporific combination of the seats and the suspension would have all the occupants nodding off before they’d got to Dover.

Front and back (where there’s surprisingly little leg-room, despite the car’s immense size), the leather upholstery is in first-class condition and we found nothing to complain about.

The hood-lining is in decent nick as are the carpets and mats.

The door cards, which are trimmed in the same sumptuously soft cream leather as the seats, are very good.

The highly distinctive dashboard (Citroën really liked to do things differently) is in fine fettle and all dials, gauges, knobs, buttons and switches look to be in decent order, as do the steering wheel, gear lever and other controls.

There’s some staining to the interior of the glove compartment and a couple of cracks to the plastic dashboard trim above it.

Finally, we noticed some bagginess to the trim above the instrument binnacle.

The vast and cavernous boot is clean, tidy and in very good condition.

It contains a cover for the hood (when stowed in the ‘down’ position) and a yet-to-be-fitted set of rubbers to go between the doors and the wings.
 

The fascinating engine bay is clean, dry and orderly, and the car’s undersides are reassuringly possessed of what appears to be a great deal of structural integrity.

We know that recent (at least in terms of mileage) work on the car includes, but is not limited to: new tubes and tyres; new brake pads, rear brake shoes and finned cooling drums; new clutch assembly; new rear heater unit; replacement radiator; new battery; full exhaust system; and new rear suspension boots.

The car was recently serviced and has new oils and filters.
 

This car comes with all sorts of history, ranging from detailed invoices, to photographs, to hand-written accounts of work carried out, to newspaper and magazine cuttings.

It even comes with a copy of what might just be the world’s most niche book – ‘Citroën DS Décapotables - Known Right-Hand-Drive Versions’, by Paul Vincent Wilmot.

Unsurprisingly, it’s quite a slim volume.

To celebrate one hundred years of the founding of Citroën, the car was shown at the Citroën Centenary Event, Coombe Park, Coventry, in June 2019 and at 100 Ans Citroën, La Ferté-Vidame, Eure-et-Loire, France, in July of the same year.

The vehicle has been shown at many Citroën events in UK and Europe, including the D Rally at Little Horwood, Buckinghamshire, in June 2024.

The vendor has been in contact with the family of Henri Chapron, who are fiercely protective guardians of their illustrious forbear’s work, legacy and trademarks.

They have sent him through some manufacturing details, an archive of provenance and a certificate of authenticity for this very car.  

Need we say more?

You may be wondering just what sort of person would have bought such a mould-breaking, one-of-a-kind work of genius?

Well, Peter Cook had a Décapotable, and given that he was himself a mould-breaking, one-of-a-kind genius, that seems entirely fitting and appropriate.

Like Peter Cook, however, the DS 21 Décapotable had its flaws - in the Citroën’s case, a tendency to develop galloping rot in the chassis shortly after it left the showroom.

But this wondrous example had a replacement chassis fitted some while back. It has also had all and any necessary welding taken care of and has been expertly restored back to fine condition by people who had the passion to match their expertise.

We really don’t expect to see another one of these fabulous cars any time soon.

And even if we do, unless it’s escaped from a museum or private collection, the chances of it being as good as this one are slim to vanishing.

What a car.

We are happy to offer this car for auction with an estimate in the range of £120,000 - £140,000.

Viewing is strongly encouraged, and this lot is located at Bonhams|Cars Online HQ. Viewings are STRICTLY BY APPOINTMENT and we are open weekdays between 10am - 12pm or 2pm - 4pm. To make a booking, please use the ‘Enquire About This Vehicle’ button on the listing. Feel free to ask any questions, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.