Project Citroen DS | £18,995
Start Date: 23rd September 2008
Birthdays have usually been marked with buying a slightly more personal piece of stock for the Eclectic fleet and just over a year ago we bought a Citroen D Super on Stu's birthday. The 'Goddess' has been one of his favorite cars and was even the subject of his design thesis at university. It was, therefore, a poor show that he had reached thirty five before coming close to owning one.
We weren't looking for a perfect car, but one that could be used as a rolling restoration allowing us to build our skills and try out local restoration contacts before letting them loose on our clients cars. UND 171K proved an instant hit. She drove really well and had a years MOT and tax and had been restored some years ago, so although tatty seemed to be in good mechanical and physical health. Although faster and more prestigious cars were always kicking about there was usually a fight for the keys when either of us were going on a long trip and over the winter we covered about 4,000 miles in her, but it was clear that we would have to strip her right back and treat the tin worm that was attacking her...
February 15th 2009
Well the time has come...We are feeling guilty for having run the D Super all winter and it is time to send her off for some love. Matt is going to remove the front and rear wings, the covers that run along the sills and dismantle the boot to see how much of the 'surface rust' has gone below the surface....
1st March 2009
Well is could have been a great deal worse! Basically the Goddess has gone in all the usual places, that is, every where mud and water collect inside the wings, at the base of the arches and around the water gullies either side of the boot. The really great thing about a DS is that to take off the doors, front and rear wings requires just 1 hour with a socket set and a screw driver. Once removed it is easy to see what needs doing and easy to get enough access to repair the car. The main chassis is in great condition and has layers and layers of protective Waxoil so all that is required here is a clean up and a re-application!
17th March 2009
Matt has had a busy couple of weeks either fitting replacement panels or fabricating new parts which is his favorite pastime. One of the biggest problem areas was the back of the car where years of road debris had collected and rotted the rear away. Matt carefully cut the problem areas out and hand fabricated new parts for the DS. The photo's below show his handy work.
28th March 2009
With all the welding now completed the DS is off to Andrew Brodie to sort out the only two mechanical short comings. The first is that at some point the starter has been modified and she starts with a switch and not on the key and the other is a good sized leak from the hydraulic pump. Over the winter she has consumed about four litres of LHM, most of which has found its way on to the driveway at home so we are looking forward to her coming back with out a thirst!
5th April 2009
The DS is back with us and now drives very well, doesn't have any rot, doesn't leak LHM and starts with the key. We are going to use her for a little while whilst we decide what to do with the paint work and the interior.
August 2nd 2009
It is time to send our DS off for some paint so it is off to C&N Customs for the full works. So it is off to see the boys and decide what the new colour scheme will be...
20th August 2009
Once delivered to C&N, the first job was to strip the DS back by removing the trim, lights and glass so that we could check if there was any further rust to be dealt with...and there was! Around the windscreen surround the water had rotted away the metal surround, so before the rest of the car could be prepared for paint they needed to fabricate a new one.
1st September 2009
Now we were happy that all the rust had been found and either cut out or treated it was time to start preparing the panels. They are big, flat pieces of metal on the DS and over the years had picked up all sorts of little dents and marks in them. All the bodywork was removed from the car and the doors stripped so a cold dent man could take out the worst of the dents before the panels were DA'd back to provide a key for a skim of filler to be applied where ever necessary.
20th September 2009
With the car fully prepared for paint it was time to decide what colour she should be finished in. We have decided on a Nissan colour called Graphite Metallic (code KK4). The car was moved into the spray booth and the bonnet and roof were painted on the car. The rest of the panels will be painted off the car and then attached after the paint process is finished.
1st October 2009 - Interior
There has been a great deal of time spent deciding what we are going to do with the interior. Both of us like the 'French shabby chic' style that the car had, with its cracked leather, but these seats were never standard fit in the later D Super and they are pretty much at the end of their useful life so we have scanned all the classifieds and found a good set of OE seats to refit. they are going to require a little TLC to get them into the correct shape so we have sent them off to All Wheel Trim to get them finished off. Meanwhile we have chosen a red carpet to go through out the car to give the otherwise somber interior a bit of a lift.
5th January - Finishing Details
There is a massive glass area to the DS and we have decided that our rear passengers need just a little privacy from the outside world so we are having some subtly window tints fitted. These will be fitted by Mark at Bespoke Privacy. Whilst we are adding the final touches we are going to put a decent CD/Radio and 'Pod' speakers in, this will fill the nasty hole in the dash that a previous owner has left us with and give the passengers something to listen to whilst being wafted along.
10th January - A little bit of fun!
We thought we might just add a little bit of airbrushing to the front wings - so we have chosen a pair of 30's Ladies to adorn the car, depending on the new owner they can either stay, or be removed!
3rd February 2009 - Finished!
The D Super has now been MOT'd and is ready for us to start to use as the weather permits, it will be very nice to have her back in use again - it has been a long project!
Watch this space!