My Citroen DS

"It goes back to when we were kids," says Phoon, now the proud owner of a pair of the sleek French cars. "There was a family friend who had them and when we went out to dinner or somewhere else when it came time to leave we all used to want to go home in their car.

"To be honest, I think it was just that they were so different. They were like nothing we had ever seen before."

There was to be a considerable hiatus between Phoon's childhood infatuation with the DS and actually getting one into his garage, but when push came to shove there was really only one car fate was going to send the way of the 43-year-old accountant.

"It was really quite a strange thing. In 2005 I decided I needed a hobby and I actually started looking for a Mini as that is what I learned to drive in. While cruising the net the Citroens started popping up ... that was that. I never actually went to look at a Mini."

The car Phoon settled on was a 1974 DS23 non-Pallas automatic with airconditioning. "It is pretty asthmatic, to say the least, especially when you put the air-conditioning on, but the really funny thing is that if I had been buying it in 1974 it is probably exactly the specification I would have wanted."

Phoon says that after finding the car it became a full-on obsession. "Within six months of getting the first car I had just gone completely nuts," Phoon says. "I went to Paris with a load of other Australian Citroen owners, joined the 50th birthday celebrations (for the DS in 2005), took part in the rally ... it was just fantastic."

Having paid $15,000 for the car and spent, by his own estimation, a further $25,000 on lavishing anything on it that it needed, there came a point when there was nothing left to improve.

"I had done everything I could on the Blue car ... everything it needed it got. There was nothing left to fiddle with and I needed a project. That is when I got the second car in May."

This time it was a 1972 DS21 Pallas fuel injected 5-speed manual.

The DS was the result of an 18-year development program that culminated with the unveiling of the DS19 at the 1955 Paris Motor Show. On the first day more than 12,000 orders were taken and the DS's place in automotive folklore was assured.

What really set the DS apart in its day and for some considerable time after was a raft of innovative safety and comfort features such as the hydropneumatic suspension, directional (swiveling) headlights, the single-spoke steering wheel, front disc brakes and differing front and rear track widths.

At its peak, the Citroen DS was made in France, Britain, Australia, South Africa and the former Yugoslavia. A total of almost 1.5 million cars were made during its 20-year life with a peak of 103,633 sales in 1970.

"They are fascinating cars. Aesthetically, you can just sit and stare at them for hours and technically they have as much to give as you are willing to explore and then some," Phoon says. "They are really a car that rewards somebody who wants to put a lot into it."

While there are only about 1000 registered Citroen DS left in Australia, Phoon says restoring and maintaining one is not a difficult task. "That is actually very easy. The Dutch are the biggest enthusiasts in the world and they have factories that reproduce just about anything you could want.

"It is also a huge advantage to be a member of the Citroen club. That is where you learn things and on the tech days there is always somebody leaning over your shoulder ready to offer advice."

Citroen DS
Years made: 1955-1975
Number made: 1,455,746
Price when new: approx $8000 (1974 DS23) Price now: $20-25,000 (concourse)