Letter from the Citroën importer in Bangkok reporting serial failures on DS (31 May 1963)

In this document

This letter is addressed on 31 May 1963 by Siam Motor Supplies Co., Ltd., the exclusive Citroën and Panhard importer in Bangkok (Thailand), to the export department of Société Anonyme André Citroën, for the attention of "Mr. PELANNE". It is signed by J. Paris, Manager, and bears a receipt stamp "5 JUNE 1963".

The report of serial failures

For about 8 months, the importer's workshop has been seeing warranty returns of height correctors (ref. DS.435-02d) that now only last "from 2 weeks to 3 months", in a proportion of "1 in 2" p. 34. The pressure regulators (ref. DM.391.03d) "often last 1 to 3 months" and "sometimes 3 weeks" p. 34.

The author specifies that previously, these parts had a much longer service life: the height correctors "lasted 18 months to 2 years" and the regulators "from 6 to 12 months" p. 34.

A phenomenon that goes beyond Bangkok

The importer reports having observed the same problem in Phnom Penh, "where air humidity is nevertheless lower" p. 34, thus implicitly ruling out a purely local climatic explanation. He adds in a postscript p. 35 that repairs to regulators, which previously lasted "4 to 6 months", now only last "a few weeks", a phenomenon also noted "for about 8 months".

The author highlights the commercial urgency: this situation "is harming us at a time when sales of the 1963 ID.19 were starting well" p. 34, and asks for the opinion of the parent company's technicians.

Period annotations

Handwritten annotations accompany the document. One, in the margin of the body of the letter, suggests a lead: "Does this change in the shape of the components not occur since the 12-volt equipment?" p. 34. Another, in red on page 35, bears the single word "Oil", underlined. We also note the mention "N. Magès — for information" p. 34, as well as names (Braziani, Dore, M. Berger) and follow-up dates that are not explicit as they stand.

Context

The transition of the automotive electrical system from 6 to 12 volts was a general technical evolution at the turn of the 1960s for several manufacturers, including Citroën on the DS/ID range. This change could affect the operation of certain auxiliary electrical or electro-hydraulic components, which could explain the hypothesis put forward in the handwritten annotation — but this link remains a lead mentioned on the document, not an explanation confirmed by it.

The DS/ID 19 was then exported all over the world, including to Southeast Asia, via a network of importers like the one in Bangkok, also active in Cambodia and Laos.

In 1963, Paul Magès had been employed at Citroën since 1925: having joined as a technical writer and then deputy head of the Super-Control (autobiographical notes), he joined the design office from 1939-1940 and developed the hydropneumatic suspension with which the DS has been equipped since its presentation on 6 October 1955. It is in this capacity that this type of technical alert from abroad is forwarded to him "for information".

Archivist's perspective

This document is a valuable testimony of field feedback coming directly from an export market, reporting a recurring failure up to the Parisian technical departments, and up to Paul Magès himself, whose name appears in an annotation p. 34, a sign that this alert was forwarded "for information".

It is part of a series of reports of incidents on the DS hydraulics that can be found in the same period in the Magès archives, such as the information from Los Angeles on DS incidents or the investigation no. 5.719 on hydraulic leaks. It seems that the reliability of height correctors and pressure regulators was, in the early 1960s, a recurring point of vigilance for Citroën engineers around the world.

The annotation on the switch to 12 volts, although not developed in the document, suggests that a precise technical lead was already being considered internally as soon as this letter was received.