Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Citroën DS Le Dandy Coupe by Chapron - Series 1 (1960-65)

Henri Chapron established his reputation as an automotive sartorial guru back in the 1920s, tailoring beautiful bodies for French luxury cars such as Talbots and Delages. While his domestic rivals later made the faux pas of underestimating the monocoque revolution, Chapron revelled in it. He re-clothed the fashionable DS in a variety of ensembles (despite its unitary construction, its roof and body panels were unstressed); one of the most curious was the 2+2-seater coupe Le Dandy. 1960 saw the launch of Le Dandy - effectively a hard top version of Le Caddy notwithstanding that that model was available with an optional hard top.

Along with Le Caddy and Concorde, the rear wings were redesigned in 1965 (Series 2).

The Le Dandy was produced between 1960 and 1968, with around 50 examples created – each with their own flourishes of haute couture. (classicdriver.com & citroenet.org.uk)

Series 1 (1960-65)



































(Photos from autowp.ru,  jsl210.com, flickr.com & allsportauto.com)