A guided tour round my Safari

[DSdriver]

Your tour guide for today is the surprisingly colour coordinated Mrs DSdriver

I expect some of our younger shiters have not come across one of these before, they are a bit thin on the ground nowadays, so I thought I would show you some of its gallic eccentricities, like the single spoke steering wheel as there were no seatbelts when the car first came out and this was a real safety feature. It was designed to give way as you fell against it.

The engine, which is mounted fore and aft but arse about face so the gearbox is at the front of the car over the driveshafts. In front of that in the nose of the car is the spare wheel which helps absorb impact in collisions. Trouble is it pushes the bonnet up so the accident looks a lot worse than it is.

That's enough about safety for now.

The car was designed at a time when French roads were even worse than the roads of south-east England today and has incredible suspension and very comfy seats. Headrests were available as an option but very few cars have them which, with the very thin pillars gives excellent visibility all round so no need for silly parking sensors.

The load area is quite narrow due to the overall teardrop shape, something to do with aerodynamics, but is very loooong with the rear seats folded down.

There should be two side facing foldaway seats under the rear floor but I have got this instead:

The suspension has five height settings, three of which are for road use, the others for changing a wheel, demonstration to follow later...

I will not be demonstrating the cars amazing ability to drive round on three wheels but I'll see if I can find a link on utube.

erm... needs a bit of a clean up in there and something better than a chunk of mdf to cover the hole (also on the list with the airhorns I mentioned in Wuvvum's thread

Still awake? Boring fact about the Safari: It was the only car made with three numberplates. They had a much better idea on the original mini, they just hinged the back plate so it hang down when the boot lid was open, however this car is French so they did this:

Split tailgate, the lower part folds down to extend the load platform, you can just see the other plate pointing at low flying aircraft.

Voila!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Hey nice one!!! Great idea for a thread too, a rare glint of actual CONTENT, hopefully we'll be able to turn it into a flame war or grump about modern cars/drivers soon though.

 

Do you use this DS every day for getting around then?

[KruJoe]

These are lovely and so much fitter than the saloons. Thank you for the tour... those were the days when car manufacturers, especially the French, came up with new and interesting ideas to solve the problems of the motorist.

May I request a picture of the engine bay to illustrate your description? Ta!

[RedSparrow]

Cool, lovely car.

I was thinking about these the other day, Back to the future part 2 was on and they had a couple as taxis in the future.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

That is a gorgeous car, I am incredibly envious.

 

Really, the only way it could be improved would be by hacking half the roof off and grafting on some Beetle lights above a wooden bumper.

[DSdriver]

Thanks chaps

It is my daily driver, and here is a picture of an early DS under the bonnet, not taken by me but I am sure you will find it much more informative than any of my pics.

[Wilko220]

That is a gorgeous car, I am incredibly envious.

 

Really, the only way it could be improved would be by hacking half the roof off and grafting on some Beetle lights above a wooden bumper.

 

 

It certainly is a fine car - thanks for sharing the pics with us all!

[eddyramrod]

^^Agreed! Extra points for regular use. One of my teachers at art college had a white saloon, I remember he traded it in for a new GS in 1977. A red one, in fact, SAF 85S, or something very close. How the hell do I remember all these things?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Whats it like on fuel, and how many miles do you do in it per year? I always admire folk who rely on old technology to get them around. Have you got it waxoyled and that?

[boobydoo]

I'd forgotten about them having two number plates at the back! They were quite a common sight when I was a lad....and all seemed to be owned by 'boffin' types with beard and glasses dressed in khaki shorts with knobbly knees.

[Pete-M]

That's ace. Ta for sharing.

[DSdriver]

...and all seemed to be owned by 'boffin' types with beard and glasses dressed in khaki shorts with knobbly knees.

Beard check

glasses check

knobbly knees check

khaki shorts check

Right on the money! Actually, new shorts are more beige. I was forbidden to wear the Khaki ones any more as they were falling apart.

[dollywobbler]

...and all seemed to be owned by 'boffin' types with beard and glasses dressed in khaki shorts with knobbly knees.

Beard check

glasses check

knobbly knees check

khaki shorts check

Right on the money! Actually, new shorts are more beige. I was forbidden to wear the Khaki ones any more as they were falling apart.

 

Beard check

glasses check

knobbly knees check

khaki shorts - er no

boffin type - well, I did get some GCSEs...

 

Clearly this is why I am DS fail.

[Justin Case]

....and all seemed to be owned by 'boffin' types with beard and glasses dressed in khaki shorts with knobbly knees.

 

Quickly checks in mirror:

 

Beard er no

Glasses reading

Knees one knobbly one not

Khaki shorts er no (please see above)

 

Even so I still would want one I think that it is a gorgeous car and still looks futuristic forty years on, thanks for giving us the tour

[freebird]

An absolute peach!! It really needs topping off with a red tartan blanket for the back seat tho.

How proud must you be driving that about!!

Totally brilliant.

[Shep Shepherd]

Beautiful!

[Lufthansa-Terminal]

Very nice and as you expect I have not seen one up close before. Would love to see up close pics of the camera car version on here so we could compare and contrast the two versions. Thanks for sharing.

[Father Ted]

Teh Secks.

 

That is all.

[retrogeezer]

Lovely cars and a lovely example, I'm rather jealous of folk that can own cars like this (in a nice way!)

[ProgRocker]

Very nice indeed.

 

I'd love to own one of these, or maybe a CX one day.

[Autoplas]

Is the item in pic 4 an anti-tank mine ?

[Pete-M]

Is the item in pic 4 an anti-tank mine ?

 

Yes. Citroen has a deal with the French military to dispose of surplus WWII ordnance, it also raised the amount of German content in the DS making it eligible for sale in the Fatherland, so every third DS was fitted with a land mine. The C4 was named after a high explosive, and most are classed as being time bombs.

 

It could just be an LPG tank...

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

What a fine motor!

 

Do a lot of them survive back in France?

[DSdriver]

Is the item in pic 4 an anti-tank mine ?

 

Yes. Citroen has a deal with the French military to dispose of surplus WWII ordnance, it also raised the amount of German content in the DS making it eligible for sale in the Fatherland, so every third DS was fitted with a land mine. The C4 was named after a high explosive, and most are classed as being time bombs.

 

It could just be an LPG tank...

 

This made me rofl, fortunately coffee cup was out of range. In reply to Monsieur Bolleux question yesterday which I missed and to put Autoplas' mind at rest that I am not a French terrorist about to blow up British lamb/cheese/beef* it is an LPG tank. The car was used by the previous owner to travel a lot on the continent (he is Polish) so was ideal for him with the extended cruising range and extra economy around London where he lives. Hence also the KPH speedo in case any of you clocked (sorry) that. In my limited experience and poor record keeping (it is difficult when you keep changing or forgetting to change over) it does over 30MPG (also not helped by k speedo/trip) but there is a price to pay, and that is performance, it has the acceleration and pulling power of an 803cc Morris Minor on gas. It will get up to just over 70 on the motorway and stays there until you reach a big hill. It is in very good condition underneath and I will be dosing it with Waxoyl as and when. It lives outdoors at the moment as we are still looking for a garage locally and will be doing about 8-10 thousand I expect.

 

Not sure how many left hookers there are in UK and France but I have only so for found 21 right hand drive registered for road use by DVLA.

Since buying it there has been one "red light of Doom" incident when a supposedly burst proof (off an XM) LHM return pipe split. Recovery was done very efficiently under my insurance and repair changing back to DS part was done free by the garage that I bought it from. the only known issue at the moment is a shagged driveshaft which will be dealt with as soon as they have reassembled my blue saloon after it's recent snog with a Sprinter van.

[trigger]

Stunning!, I think these a such a good looking car and i can imagine that it's a easy car to live with day in, day out as it's so versatile, How easy is it to get spares for?

 

Great thread btw, this is what Autoshite is about.

[John F]

That's a lovely car!

[HillmanImp]

As much as I like everyhting about these, I have never fancied one as a car myself, not sure why. The price of them is pretty prohibative these days TBH.

 

If I ever start smoking Gitannes I will hit one though. I already have a Safari suit so half the picture is already there.

[scooters]

brilliant - we had one as the famly car in the mid 70's Dad loved it

 

if you die can I have it?

[scooters]

some of the familys I knew who had these when I was a nipper the:

 

Beard, glasses, knobbly knees, khaki shorts check could apply to both the lady and the gentleman...and the lady would frequently also have

 

Hairy Oxters

 

[wuvvum]

The price of them is pretty prohibative these days TBH.

That depends on which version you want. Convertibles are mental money these days, but the pickup version can be had surprisingly cheaply.