yes I know this is a 2cv forum but you´re friends now, and I trust your opinion.
someone has just offered me an exchange for my cortina mk 3 for a DS.now the cortina is worth nothing in GB but here its as rare as hens teeth and there are rumours that the king used it in 1972 during the olympics. anyway. theres a bloke who reckons its cool and wants to swap for a bit knackered ds with french plates (means reregistering etc)

bear in mind the DS is the god of gods to me, a dream car that I always wanted to have.

does anyone have any experience of them, running costs, parts, resale value etc


just testing the water as this has caught me by pleasant surprise

cheers chaps sig

Hi Sig

I own two cars, a 2cv for 26yrs and a ds for 22yrs. Both have been the daily driver on and off.

The DS needs to be in a good level of mechanics to use every day.
Tappet clearances make starting and running a huge difference. I adjust them every few months.
123 or equivalent electronic ignition is trouble free and a worthy investment.
Before I drove my ds it was engine out to reinforce the H pillars on the chassis, timing chain, clutch.
Parts are available and not overly priced.
I would be prepared to replace the accumulator sphere $120, and get new diaphragms and regas the suspension spheres. Then there is the steering rack and HP pump which really wants an aftermarket steel body to ensure it doesn't crack and keak again.
As long as the chassis is sound I think you have the skils to keep the body looking good.

There's a start I lost part of the thread as I'm on a mobile..

Do it, it's your dream car

Harley

great I knew someone on here would be in to both the icons from citroen!

from the shady pix the guy sent me there looks to be not much rust, but I´ve read that the sills and boot are the place to look. there is a chap locally who has one also so I guess he´d be a good source of local contacts etc.so on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being impossible) how hard would you rate the mechanicals to fix at home??

heres a pic of the thing

I have had several ds'es over the years, Looking at the pics it is a pallas (which is the most luxues) version there is and it has a manual gearbox....

See it like this if you replace the clutch in your 2cv it is a 3 hour job, in a DS it will take you 3 days... (I've done it a few times so I now what I'm talking about)....

Maintaning a Ds cost you 5 times the money a 2cv will cost you...

But they are übercool.....

They will be very hot inside too (in Spain) because the engine is almost at your shoes...


Take a got look at the sills (behind the cover plates) outside, the innerwings at therear.

Unscrew the rear fender (leftside) (1 bolt) take off the cover and take a look at the


hydraulic leads, lhm bags at the rearaxles, take a very good look at the rearaxle mountings inside the boot and outside. Iside the boot you can take a cover away which covers the backaxle and hydraulicleads.......

As said before a will take a long way when several things need to do not like your 2cv...

Making a poor DS roadworthy can take easily 2 or 3k doing it yourself

(engine overhaul, gearbox overhaul, steeringrack overhaul, hydraulics overhaul, brakes) front-suspension, propshafts
then comes welding, making it shiny a.s.o.


But they are übercool te drive......... so it is up to you.....

Lift the rubbers of the frontscreen (at the top middle) and see if it is rusty there, then you need to lift the whole roof and whil take a week of wo of welding, take a good look along the whole roof..

Be sure the side windows fit good and work properly ( they may not wiggle outwise) idt will cost you lots of money again...

I thought the roof was aluminium or something for the centre of gravity..yet the roof is rustable?? why?

brilliant info lpgo...if I get it what will you do to me if I put a visor on it?? ---(joke !)

Yep i worked on Citroen for 35 years including DS
I love Ds and really want one
But would not have one due to Excessive time / money required for normal driving maintenance

Geo got it right

You had better have very deep pockets to own one!!

Pony

Roof itself won't rust - it's fibre glass. BUT, what it's attached to will certainly rust. ie the frame.

Whip the rear wings off, you can see the bolt at the back near the bumper. You can then assess the rear half rust.

Walk away.

Go for it!