Citroën GT 19 Bossaert - The divine Frua Coupé

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert - The divine Frua Coupé

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Created on January 9, 2023

Text:

Stefan Dierkes

Photos:

Osenat

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Pietro Frua, Archiv: Roberto Rigoli (Familie Frua), Turin

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Citroën

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- Courtesy Artcurial

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - Disadvantage for Chapron: Compared to the Frua design, Le Dandy and Co. look rather clumsy

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1960) - a two-door DS coupé by Pietro Frua with a shortened wheelbase and modified roof pavilion/rear end

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1960) - idiosyncratic modification of the Citroën DS by Pietro Frua

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1960) - Distinctive air scoop on the hood and Corvette-like emblem with crossed flags

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1960) - In comparison with the ID sedan, the significantly longer rear overhang is striking

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1960) - The blue coupé in Paris between two French women and an ID

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1960) - Prototype No. 1 at the presentation in Montlhéry

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1960) - Nardi steering wheel as a stylistically confident foreign body in the Italo-DS

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1961) - Prototype No. 2 in Turin. The indicators comply with Italian regulations

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1961) - Prototype No. 2 in Turin. With DS wheel covers but white ID steering wheel

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - Pietro Frua cleverly quoted the lines of the sedan, but made them more playful and sleeker

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - From the front, the coupé can only be recognized by its less curved roof

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - The bumper is similar to that of the sedan, but not identical

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - Thanks to the short wheelbase, the handling is considered nervous to treacherous

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - Auxiliary headlights were popular long before the Pallas models

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - Slim Carello tail lights in timid tail fins

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - En avant Citroën: The double angle points dynamically in the direction of travel

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - Frameless side windows like on the saloon

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - This example is based on DS mechanics, recognizable by the semi-automatic transmission and the "mushroom"

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - Near-standard cockpit with single-spoke steering wheel. The gearshift can be operated with two fingers from the steering wheel

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - "Tableau Jaeger" with six round instruments from the DS accessories

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - Standard DS engine with 80 hp from a displacement of 1.9 liters

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - A modification of the model name that is as simple as it is ingenious

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - Hector Bossaert was unable to sign his name to 20 cars

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - A touch of commercial vehicle: only the Break has cut-out rear wheels

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - The "sombrero" hubcaps of the 1965 DS Pallas are not quite historically correct

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - The wheelbase was shortened, the doors extended

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Citroën GT 19 Bossaert (1963) - the only surviving one of 11 cars built by Hector Bossaert

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Citroën DS 21 Cabriolet Bossaert (1966) - offered as lot 27 at the Artcurial en Scènes auction in Paris on June 17, 2019

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Summary

Hector Bossaert was dissatisfied: his Citroën DS needed to be lighter and more agile. So the racing driver took the origin of the word "coupé" to heart, cut a generous 47 centimetres from the floor assembly of the goddess and had the rear end redesigned by Pietro Frua. The result was one of the most beautiful special bodies for the big Citroën, which gave the French sculpture a dash of Italian lightness, but unfortunately only eleven were built. This article tells the story of the GT 19 Bossaert, showing the prototypes in historical photos and the only surviving example in current photos.

This article contains the following chapters

Racing driver and DS tuner Hector Bossaert
Presentation in Montlhéry
Small series production by three companies
End after only eleven examples
Only one Bossaert coupé has survived

Estimated reading time: 9min

Preview (beginning of the article)

When Citroën presented its Traction Avant successor, the DS 19, at the 42nd Paris Motor Show in 1955 (October 6-16, 1955), the car was a sensation. The "Déesse" (French for goddess), as the abbreviation of the revolutionary car was pronounced, was visually and technically far ahead of its time. Aeronautical engineer André Lefèbvre was the driving force behind the project and its technical innovations, such as the hydropneumatic suspension with level compensation, the hydraulically operated clutch and assisted disc brakes as well as the single-spoke steering wheel. The Italian designer Flaminio Bertoni, who had been working for Citroën since 1932, was responsible for the exterior and interior design. The fact that he created more than just a car was demonstrated two years later: in 1957, he was awarded the Honorary Prize for Art and Aesthetics for the DS at the XI Milan Triennale of Decorative Arts.

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