The windows in a Citroen DS are frame-less. This means they need careful adjustment so they seal properly and wind up and down to the correct height. When my car was painted, the panels were refitted much better than before – they now generally line up! A proper panel alignment meant my doors were in slightly different positions than before the paint. Not only...
The Citroen DS has easily removable front wings. They can be removed in a matter of minutes for various maintenance jobs. Instead of one big plug like you would find on other cars (e.g. a Mercedes-Benz), individual bullet terminals need to be connected up for all the wiring to things like indicators, headlights, horns etc. Turns out that when my car was painted, the...
The paintwork on the DS is now complete and the car is ready to be re-assembled. I have the car back in my warehouse. To re-assemble I need to: Re-fit the four door cards, rear seats and carpets Polish the boot hinges, fit the boot, C pillar trims etc Polish and re-assemble the rear bumper Re-fit the lights and rear number plate...
The DS should be ready to be collected next week. All the panels are back on including the NOS bonnet. The front of the car looks pretty much as it should now. Just minor adjustments for panel fit left. The painted wheels also make a massive difference. The rear wings are also now done and adjusted. I’ll be doing the...
The new DS paint is almost complete and it looks amazing! The car is completely transformed with a professional paint job and a nice colour. In addition, the wheels are sporting their correct grey. I’m really happy with the decision to change the colour and to have the back of the car done. Its not going to be cheap, but there...
Despite having no luck with the normal European suppliers, I was able to source much better C Pillar trims for the DS locally through the Aussie Frogs Forum. The DS C Pillar trims are a key part of the design, and fit in under the indicator trumpet. As my car is a DS21 Comfort, the trims with the ‘thick’ corrugations are correct. ...
The painting is starting on the Citroen and its looking great! I’m really happy with the colour, Rouge Massena. It looks much nicer than the Rio Red that it was painted previously. Its a lovely deep shade of red that really suits the DS. So far, the roof is painted as is the underside of the bonnet and valence. They will be...
I have landed on a colour. My DS will be Rouge Massena. I prefer this colour to the Rouge Carmin for such a big car. It is less ‘pink’ in the sun and the darker red will look rather classy. Generally I prefer to keep cars original, but in this case it wasn’t really a good option. My DS...
The DS is now repaired and is in the process of preparation for paint. Not only did work need to be done to fix the damage from the crash, but previous repairs had to be put right too. The paint that was previously on the car was not well prepared. The car was not rusty, but there was minor surface rust...
The DS is almost ready for paint. Most of the work has been on the doors and rear wings. Both rear wings are pretty much ready and the doors are not far behind. There are a few areas of the car that are still having minor repairs done, such as this corner of the roof. Of the red colours available for the...
The doors have now been removed from the DS to prepare them for paint. The DS makes this easier than most other cars as the panels are all unstressed and fairly easy to remove. It also makes a colour change easier as the underlying chassis is black and its only the removable panels that have colour. The doors were in pretty good shape....
The repairs to the DS continue to progress well. The crash damage is now repaired and the new parts I was able to get for the car have all been fitted and seem to fit well. They will now be removed for painting. The restored bumpers and NOS bonnet look great! It looks like a car again. The reproduction undertray and...
Back in September last year, I unfortunately crashed my DS. Since then, I was able to track down a NOS bonnet, some good used bumpers and other parts and strip the rear of the car. The cars paint was faded so instead of having the repairers match faded paint, I will pay extra to repaint the whole car. My current plan is...
The Traction Avant had a number of small issues that were impacting the overall drivability of the car. The car is now much nicer to drive after resolving them. The original engine driven fuel pump had been bypassed by a very noisy electric pump There was severe vibration on braking Front suspension was worn Valves were out of adjustment on #2 causing poor...
The photo below shows the various components that make up the C Pillar trim and boot hinge. My trims are on OK but not perfect condition. It is also clear how poor the previous paint job was with the over spray evident in the picture. All the parts will need a good clean and polish before being put back on the car. Despite being...
The next step to prepare the DS for paint was to remove the bumper bar. This also allows the number plate panel to be removed which needs to be repainted as well. In theory the whole bumper assembly can be removed by detaching the mounts, but I was not able to get the out. Therefore, I removed each piece of the...
All these years I have owned the DS I assumed the boot lid was fibreglass. Fibreglass reproductions are available in Europe for those who want a cheap way of replacing rusted or damaged body panels. However, the DS19 had an aluminium boot lid until May 1957. The previous owner mentioned it was Aluminium, but since these boot lids are so rare I didn’t...
A few months ago I managed to damage the front of the DS while parking it. Insurance will cover the repair to the front of the car, but instead of having the insurance repair match the faded paint, I would prefer to have the front of the car painted well and then pay extra to have the rear panels painted to match. So...
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