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outbreak of the Second World War, a revolutionary looking
4.5-litre Bentley styled by the French Georges Paulin and with
bodywork from French coachbuilder Pourtout had made news
at Brooklands where it achieved the quite remarkable distance
of 114 miles within an hour. Called the Embiricos Bentley, after
owner André Embiricos, this was a true supercar, decades before
the term entered use. Original drawings from 1939 for the car that
would eventually become the DS bear a remarkable resemblance
to the Embiricos Bentley, which is also often cited as the ancestor
of the R-Type Continental.
The drag-reducing effect of streamlined styling was enhanced
by non-standard bodywork. For the Bentley, everything was done
to lessen the weight of what was, for all its high performance,still a full four-seater luxury saloon car. The plush armchair-like
seating associated with Rolls-Royce motoring was replaced with
functional, yet elegant, bucket seats. Armrests were an extra.
Every ounce counted: even though a wireless was included in
the price of the car, it was only fitted at the customer’s request.M
ore advanced still, the Citroën was designed,
to quote Bobbitt, “to make full use of the
latest engineering materials technology to
the extent that everything before it would be immediately
obsolete”. Aluminium and even fibreglass panels were used to
keep down weight on the avant-garde “caisson” construction.
Hydropneumatic suspension permitted the car to run on three
wheels if need be and smoothed out the potholes of
post-war French roads. What Barthes called the “empty
steering wheel”, with its single spoke attaching it to the
steering column, looked positively futuristic and the
swivel headlamps seemed to challenge the very
laws of physics. Hydraulic power assistance offered
fingertip control and rapid braking: the DS was also
an early adopter of disc brakes.
Although united in their aerodynamic styling,
performance, prestige and modernity, these
remained two very different vehicles, representing
two very different cultures. While it benefited from
wind-tunnel testing, the Bentley was still a stately
home on wheels, hand-built by H. J. Mulliner, one ofTOWER OF STRENGTH
Clockwise from above: Citroën DS designer, Flaminio Bertoni;
Eiffel Tower emblazoned with Citroën, July 1925; 1955 DS; DS 7
Crossback SUV with Paris Fashion Week logo, June 2019; original
DS controls. Centre: DS 3 Crossback interior.
Below, from left: de Gaulle’s presidential car after the
assassination attempt; de Gaulle at a military awards ceremonySEPTEMBER 2019
09-19Citrone-Bentley.indd 46 22/07/2019 12:00