VOLTE-FACE

Is it possible to swap out the beating heart of a Citroen DS for batteries, and still retain its je ne sais quoi? Mais, oui!

- PAUL HORRELL

Behind me, sitting in the big sofa of a back seat, I have passengers. They’re the ghosts of the DS’s creators, but the apparition doesn’t feel sinister. They are surely delighted, finally satisfied that after all these years this is exactly the DS they would have built were they able.

It’s beyond argument that the DS is one of the most beautiful cars ever. But also for its era the most advanced, both stylistically and technically. During its Paris show appearance, Citroen took 80,000 deposits, a record unbeaten until Tesla’s Model 3. Right from its 1955 debut it had high-pressure hydraulics for the self-levelling suspension, steering and brakes, which had discs mounted inboard to cut unsprung mass. It ran on radial tyres.

The monocoque body had demountable panels and a lightweight glass fibre roof. Later, that shark nose got faired-in headlamps that steer around corners.

But none of that is what we’re here to talk about. Because missing from that list of advances is the propulsion. The DS was meant to have a new flat-six. But Citroen ran out of money, so it inherited the boring pushrod four from the older Traction Avant.

So it makes perfect sense to replace that with the electric drive as Oxfordshire converter Electrogenic has done. You might think other electromods – perhaps evicting a wonderful Jaguar XK engine or a Porsche flat-six – are sacrilege, but surely you can surely get behind a transplant that gets rid of an engine the car’s creators never wanted. Or do you fear an electric drivetrain will subtract from the complex engagement of driving a classic? Carburetted engines cough and splutter; old gearboxes have weak synchro. Negotiating that lot takes skill. Wouldn’t a one-gear electro mod be duller?