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launch of the Citroën DS19. The DS, soon punningly known
as the Déesse (goddess), was the future on four wheels.
Advertising made much of its flying saucer styling—it was an
otherworldly object. As Barthes put it: “It is obvious that the new
Citroën has fallen from the sky inasmuch as it appears at first
sight as a superlative object. We must not forget that an object
is the best messenger of a world above that of nature.” In other
words, if God were a motorist then he drove a DS... except that
I imagine organised religion was simply too bourgeois for the
iconoclast Barthes. The DS was the automotive manifestation
of the period of post-war growth that economist Jean Fourastié
named Les Trente Glorieuses.
Across the channel there was similar, if less intellectual,
hyperbole in response to a British automotive launch. “This
Bentley is a modern magic carpet which annihilates great
distances and delivers the occupants well-nigh as fresh as when
they started. It is a car Britain may well be proud of, and it is sure
to add new lustre to the name it bears.” The “modern magic
carpet” described by Autocar magazine was the Bentley R-Type
Continental. By the early 1950s, Britain was beginning to put
wartime austerity behind it. The Festival of Britain in 1951 had
been a focus of national celebration and a showcase for Britishinnovation and technology. In 1952, the world’s first passenger
jet entered service: the Comet, built by British firm De Havilland.
In 1953, the youth and beauty of the new Queen combined with
centuries of undimmed pageantry to produce the spectacle of the
Coronation, watched by millions around the world. On 29 May,
the conquest of Everest was announced. The R-Type Continental,
the two-door, four-seater, gentleman’s express par excellence was
the chariot of choice of the dawning new Elizabethan age.T
his year Citroën and Bentley celebrate their
centenaries, and although production of the DS
and the R-Type Continental ceased long ago, their
influence continues to be felt. Arguably the most famous and
representative vehicles of their respective marques, the two cars
represent a high point from which the international prestige of
their parent nations begins its decline.
The two cars dazzled a drab post-war world. For motoring
it was a time of prelapsarian innocence: crash-testing did not
dictate design, the three-point safety belt did not exist, and
environmental guilt was a concern for an unborn generation.
Thus the mid-century motorist was free to indulge in daydreams
of stylish, high performance motoring. And at £7,608 3s andFUTURE PROOF
In celebration of its centenary,
Bentley has unveiled the EXP
100 GT concept car: an
intelligent and sustainable
vehicle that reimagines the
future of luxury grand touringVANITY FAIR EN ROUTE SEPTEMBER 2019
During the early 1950s, you could notconsider yourself a millionaire playboywithout a BENTLEY CONTINENTAL09-19Citrone-Bentley.indd 44 17/07/2019 14:11