Auto Plus article no. 32 on "L'album de la DS" and Paul Magès

In this document

This page comes from Auto Plus no. 32 of 19 April 1989 p. 67, signed by Philippe Bracquemond. It consists of two parts.

A reading note on "L'Album de la DS"

Dated 30 December 1983, this note discusses a book — "L'Album de la DS : événement et symbole" by Jacques Borgé and Nicolas Viasnoff (216 pages, 280 photos, EPA, 190 F). The article reviews the innovations displayed by the DS at the 1955 Paris Motor Show: hydropneumatic suspension, hydraulic clutch, power steering, self-levelling, a "virtually non-existent" brake pedal, and a plastic roof.

It reports two anecdotes attributed to the book: as early as 1938, Citroën allegedly considered sidelights using the luminescence of glow-worms; and Paul Magès allegedly experimented with the DS suspension on the 2 CV "as early as the post-war period" — which is confirmed by the collection, which dates these first tests from May to July 1946 (Notebook of the first tests of the 2 CV with hydropneumatic suspension). Magès is described there as working "like a craftsman", "without plans", "without a degree", from memory, on "small scraps of paper usable only by him".

One anecdote reports a summons of Magès by general management after L'Auto-Journal had revealed the shapes of the DS in advance, accusing him of having let documents leave his office — to which Magès allegedly replied that no documents existed, everything being done from memory.

The article "The General's favourite"

This second text discusses the place of the DS as the car of the Fifth Republic, and reports — a passage highlighted in red — that De Gaulle owed his life to the road-holding of his DS during the Petit-Clamart attack, despite two flat tyres p. 1.

It specifies the technical evolution of the DS: restyling of the front in 1967 with faired-in headlights following the movements of the steering wheel, engine power increasing from 75 horsepower (140 km/h) to 141 horsepower with electronic injection on the DS 23 (190 km/h) p. 1.

A quote from Magès is reproduced in the caption of his portrait: "We dreamed of a car as flexible as the 2 CV but which does not lift its rear" p. 1.

Context

The DS, presented at the 1955 Paris Motor Show, remained in production until 1975. The Petit-Clamart attack against General de Gaulle, in August 1962, is a well-documented historical episode where the road-holding of the presidential DS effectively played a notorious role — the account on the page is part of this collective memory, without it being possible here to verify the technical details beyond what the article reports.

Archivist's perspective

This press page, published nearly six years after the release of the book it comments on, illustrates the way in which the legend of Paul Magès — the self-taught engineer working "without plans" — was built in the mainstream press p. 1.

The handwritten annotation in red, isolating the passage on the Petit-Clamart, suggests that a reader or a member of Magès's entourage wanted to highlight this episode, which is flattering for the hydropneumatic suspension.

This archive usefully complements other press clippings dedicated to Magès kept in the same "Auto-Plus" collection.