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691970 Citroën Décapotable
Sold, $ 2 63, 200
When Citroën unveiled its
DS sedan in 1955, it took the
motoring world by storm with
some 80,000 preorders by
the time the weeklong Paris
Motor Show wrapped up. The
car was advanced for its day,
with available fuel-injected
engines, an innovative single-
spoke steering wheel, and a
self-leveling hydropneumatic
suspension. It was also an
instant design icon, even more so
when French coachbuilder Henri
Chapron designed this open-roof,
two-door version three years
later. Early cars were hand-built,
limited-production versions until
Citroën saw the potential and
upgraded Chapron’s factory with
high-volume tooling. Production
numbers soared, but still just
fewer than 1,400 were built by
the time production ended in- This was a well-restored
car in a great metallic red color,
and it sold like it.
GOODING &
COMPANY
Total automotive sales:
$ 22 ,047,9 80
Cars sold:
78 of 89
( 88 percent sell-through)as something of a Brass Era
supercar. As Bonhams pointed
out, in an era when biplanes
topped out at less than 50 mph
and the speediest U.S. trains
hit perhaps 60 mph, the four-
cylinder Raceabout’s top speed
of 100 mph was even more
ridiculous than the 230 mph or
so that today’s top supercars are
able to reach. Built to be raced
but also drivable on the road, the
Raceabout is a car worthy of being
mentioned in the same breath as
the Ferrari 250 GTO or McLaren
F1. Brass Era cars featured heavily
in Bonhams’ Amelia Island lineup
this year, and this was one of the
sale’s stars.