In the shadow of Henri - The other Citroën DS cabriolets
12/22/2022
When you say "Citroën DS Cabriolet", you mean "Chapron". Even though they accounted for just 0.1 percent of total DS production, the coachbuilder from Levallois produced by far the largest number of goddesses. The 1365 so-called Citroën factory convertibles with standard saloon equipment were joined by the somewhat more exalted Chapron creations named "La Croisette", "Le Caddy" and "Palm Beach" in 52, 34 and 32 units respectively.
This made Henri Chapron the most eager, but by no means the only DS tailor. Occasional cabriolets based on the large Citroën models were also produced outside the Paris region. For example, the Swiss coachbuilder Beutler exhibited an open-top version of the ID Confort at the 1959 Geneva Motor Show. The rear was still very much based on the saloon. The Thun-based company concealed the gap between the rear doors, which were no longer required, with a vertical chrome strip, as Chapron did with its first models.
As early as 1957, the German coachbuilder Autenrieth from Darmstadt anticipated the line of the factory convertible offered from 1961 with one-piece flanks and a trapezoidal cut-out for the rear wheel. Only the turn signals on the rear corners were not yet the ultimate in aesthetics. It is said that three examples were produced, one of which is said to have survived. The white Beutler convertible posing on Lake Thun in the factory photo (above) is now in Belgium. Another red example based on the ID is in French-speaking Switzerland.
Reutter from Stuttgart even presented a four-door convertible in 1960, but it was as little used as the open four-door from Heuliez, which was presented at the Paris Motor Show in October 1962. Perhaps the most beautiful, or at least the most Italian style, was the Bossaert Cabriolet with recessed and covered headlights (below), which was created in early 1964. In contrast, the 1966 model from the same company looked more like a factory convertible after a rear-end collision.
