1974 Citroën DS 23 IE Confort

Lot 27
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Estimation :
25000 - 45000 EUR
1974 Citroën DS 23 IE Confort
French registration title Mythical car with a still modern line Recent body work Maintenance followed since 2007 Interior completely restored in 2017 Purchased in 2009 by Pierre-Henri Mahul Highly collected and very easy to use I met Pierre-Henry before I really knew the man he was. Always smiling, and jovial, he was a modern man in a world that would soon no longer exist. The Jacques Savoye garage in the XVIIth arrondissement was a jewel in the heart of Paris, when all the big manufacturers were rushing to leave the city. At his head he was imported Morgan, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, TVR and Wiesmann on an exclusive basis before becoming the official Ferrari and Maserati dealer in Bordeaux. If I may say so, he single-handedly made the Morgan the most French of British sports cars! The passion crossed our paths many times during the races where he exercised his talent for speed. I was 25 at the time and his way of embracing the world impressed me... his generosity behind the wheel too! Nine Tour Auto, all the editions of the Le Mans Classic, including an overall and performance index victory in 2004. Five Tour de Corse, four Monte Carlo Historique, but also the Carrera Panamerica, the Gran Premio de Argentina or the London to Peking and the London to Capetown, not to mention his adventures through Jordan, the Baltic or the Emirates. I can say today that I know Pierre-Henry and I thank him very much. His cars are in his image, beautiful, powerful for some, historic for others, but all ready to take the road. “It is the enjoyment, not the possession, that makes us happy”, said Montaigne, and I believe that this quotation illustrates well the way in which he has enjoyed each of them. I leave it to you to discover them. As for you Pierre-Henry, it doesn’t matter which way you go now, but be careful...  From my early childhood, adults used to ask me to recognize cars in the street. My status took a new turn, a sort of family recognition one day in 1962, I was three years old and we were at the traffic lights in our turquoise Peugeot 404. My father at the wheel, his father sitting next to him, me in the back, my father asks me if I know the car in front of us. Without hesitation I answer: “It’s the new Ford Taunus”. “Of course, it’s written on it” said my grandfather, but my father added with pride: “Yes, but he can’t read...”. A few weeks before, I had memorized his pretty almondshaped rear lights in the Auto-Journal that my father used to buy and of which I was only able to understand the beautiful drawings by René Bellu. In the 1960s, we spent our holidays in Spain on the Costa Brava, where there was a permanent parade of all the cars in Europe. What a delight it was for me to discover each year, in real life, the cars that I had only seen in the press. I remember the emotion of discovering the new Jaguar XJ 6 4.2l, dark green with its light beige leathers and its varnished wooden dashboard with multiple buttons. I wanted one of these when I grew up! There were also a lot of old cars that I had never seen in Auto Journal: old BMW 2600s, DKWs, Glas, Borgwards, Opel Kapitans full of chrome and of course Mercedes and British cars! Very few Italians apart from Fiat, very rare Ferrari or Maserati and some Lancia. The chic Italians did not have to come to Playa de Aro. It was the British who had the most interesting and bizarre cars, the Germans and the Swiss the neatest. The Belgians were the only ones with American cars, which impressed me but did not really attract me... until the Ford Mustang appeared. At the same time and on these same shores, I discovered the sea and sailing, which was to become my other guide in life... All these cars that marked my childhood I wanted to own, from my first one, a Triumph Herald 1200 convertible, followed by a Floride, English cars of all kinds and a number of Alfa Romeos with a Maserati Mistral at the top, then half a dozen Peugeot 504s and 604s in Africa and Algeria. I had owned about a hundred cars before I bought my first garage in 1987. At the time I was not really aware of the classic car phenomenon, they were just (more or less) beautiful second-hand cars that I could afford and which I changed often because I drove a lot, always fast. After fulfilling my dream of sailing around the world, I was lucky enough to take over my in-laws’ garage, Jacques Savoye, and thus gain access to the most beautiful car brands and the most beautiful races in the world. How many rallies, circuits, evenings spent with the mechanics to make tomorrow a new race start? How many beautiful meetings and unforgettable memories? Today, at the turning point of my third life, in order to free myself to prepare the challenge of the Global Solo Challenge 2023, the non-stop solo round the world race which, after my Cape Horn in 2021, will be the high point of my life as a sailor, and also thanks to Gautier Rossignol, whom I have known all my life and who is also a collector and a pilot, I have agreed to become reasonable and to sell a part of my collection. I hope that these cars that I love will bring you all the pleasure and satisfaction that each of them has given me.
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