[rollei_list] Re: VERY OT: Citroen French Official cars
- From: Emmanuel Bigler <Emmanuel.Bigler@xxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:00:51 +0100
Mark Rabiner a écrit :...
The French diplomats in France also drove around in Black Citroens I've seen
it in documentary footing a number of times as well as features. Seemed to
me to have been the official car of France.
Mark William Rabiner
Well, gentlemen, probably you should update your files about official
government cars in France ; the Citroën DS was actually the President's
car... but for de Gaulle ; this brings us back almost 50 years ago.
Le Général was a tall man and he enjoyed the comfort of the Citroën DS.
Unrivalled at the time, would comment the Citroënnists, the equivalent
for French cars of uncompromising Rollei TLR aficionados for film cameras.
De Gaulle even had a special "limousine" DS model custom-made for him,
the licence plate was 1 PR 75. (75 = Paris on old-stylme licence plates)
For those who know the influence that de Gaulle had on the French
institutions, it is not a surprise that, actually, black Citroën DS were
the official ministers' choice for many years.
There is a true dramatic story, now part of de Gaulle's legend, about
de Gaulle and the Citroën DS. In a sense, the self-levelling hydraulic
suspension saved the life of Mr. and Mrs. de Gaulle, their son and their
official driver.
One day, Le Général and Madame were leaving Paris for a private week-end
at Colombey-les-deux-églises, when they miraculously escaped from a
machine-gun attempt near Paris, the famous Petit-Clamart affair.
On paper, Le Général had no chance to escape, but the machine-gun
actually started to shoot a few seconds too late. The driver could see
the bullets bouncing and sparkling on the road just ahead of the DS ;
instead of braking, he pushed the accelerator down to the maximum, by a
miracle, nobody inside the car (le Général & Madame, their son and the
driver) was hurt ; a true miracle since the car was hit by numerous
impacts. The car was a regular DS, not at all a reinforced, bullet-proof
car.
The DS was able to ride on 3 wheels only, at a speed of 110 km/H (about
65 mph) one of the rear tires was flat after being hit by several bullets.
So you may understand why, speaking of a black Citroën DS with a
Frenchman, he will say "Ah ! La DS du Père de Gaulle !"
A funny and authentic anecdot : in the trunk, there were some chicken
for the family's dinner during the week-end. Probably live poultry. When
eventually the 3-wheeler-DS stopped in a safe place, the escort of
policemen on motorcycles stopped nearby and checked that the passengers
of the DS were safe.
Madame de Gaulle did not realize the miracle. She asked :
« J'espère que les poulets n'ont rien ! »(I hope that the chicken are safe)
« Ahem... Non madame, personne n'est blessé » (No madam, nobody was
hurt) answered the Chief policeman (in French slang "poulets" means :
the cops)
---------
Emmanuel from France
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