Draft letter from Paul Magès to Mr. Sarre and interview plan of 11 May 1969

In this document

Draft letter to Mr. Sarre (p. 115, 117)

Dated "5.5.69" in red ink p. 115, this handwritten and crossed-out draft is addressed to a certain Mr. Sarre. Magès mentions a possible "firm and contradictory position" to come, and introduces himself immediately with a certain gravity: "with forty-four years of presence at Citroën there can be no doubt that I am old" p. 115.

He looks back on the launch of the DS 19, deemed "prepared with insufficient means," with a "massive sale (including in the USA) without any preparation of dealers and agents" p. 115. He indicates having taken stock with Messrs. Bercot and Bruneder on the difficulties encountered, noting that incidents on the suspension were rare, "especially before the untimely change of oil had been made" p. 115, and that the braking had posed "only little trouble" thanks to long tests p. 117.

On the other hand, he points to the automatic clutch gear shifting: despite the tests conducted at the BEA and the Lab, "one should have expected trouble with customers," as the network had not been trained p. 117. He draws a general rule from this: never launch "a new technique in large series" without a low-rate preliminary with the network — a rule he also applies to the M28 engine, which "would have benefited well from the pre-series assembly on the AK" p. 117.

Interview plan of 11 May 1969 (p. 119-122)

This plan traces Magès's career at Citroën: entry on "21 August 1925" at 17 and a half years old, "Gutenberg" assembly methods in 1929, stints in the Methods, Transport, and Control departments, then appointment as "Quality Engineer" on 25 September 1940 and "Design Engineer" around October 1942 p. 119. Follows a list of his technical achievements: braking distribution, 2 CV suspension, hydraulic braking, hydraulic suspension and road holding, development of the "VGD (DS)", power steering, gear shifting, automatic clutch, servo-controlled anti-roll p. 119.

The sheet "The Post-Lefebvre Era" p. 120-121 mentions the technical succession entrusted to Messrs. Cadiou and Seznec, a "Lefebvre-Magès tandem" described as "tough," reactions against the Wankel engine, and the 780 engine (4CV) program intended to be mounted on the AM modified from 1970, due to lack of budget for a new engine, a new suspension linkage, and a new body p. 120-121. He also mentions a reorganization of the BEA from October 1966 and the completion of a prototype ("the O proto") whose quality met expectations, despite the strike p. 121.

Sheets on leave (p. 116, 118)

Two typewritten pages, with no apparent link to the rest, detail the summer factory closing dates (from 31 July to 1 September, with variations depending on the number of leave days) p. 116, as well as a scale of mandatory leave days for employees hired since June 1968, and the rules for accumulating annual leave/marriage p. 118.

Context

The historical context sheds light on these notes: Pierre Bercot was running Citroën at that time, and André Lefebvre, the brand's historical engineer (Traction Avant, 2 CV, DS), passed away in 1963 — the "post-Lefebvre era" therefore refers to the reorganization of the design office that followed his disappearance. The AM program corresponds to the project that would become the GS, launched in 1970, while the "780" flat-four engine evokes the research conducted in parallel with the Wankel engine, then in vogue at Citroën via Comotor. The DS 19, released in 1955, had indeed experienced difficult commercial beginnings, particularly linked to its hydropneumatic suspension, a radical innovation for the time.

Archivist's perspective

This composite file is valuable because it juxtaposes two rare registers for Magès: assumed professional autobiography (the career plan, p. 119) and muffled internal controversy (the letter to Sarre, p. 115-117; the notes on "the post-Lefebvre era", p. 120-121). It seems that Magès is preparing an interview where he intends to defend his record and draw methodological lessons from the commercial failures of the DS, while claiming a decisive influence — via the "Allera-Magès" duo — in the unexpected success of the 1968 prototype p. 121.

The presence of the sheets on leave p. 116, 118, with no thematic connection, suggests a filing assembly rather than a folder designed as a whole — probably sheets slipped together due to physical proximity in the archives.

This document usefully complements the notes by Paul Magès on the clutch and gear control of the DS, since it looks back retrospectively, eight years later, on the same automatic clutch difficulties mentioned in the letter to Sarre.