When I was a kid, several uncles and aunts drove DSs. Usually third nose. I was amazed by those fish bowls with lights in them and thought it was great that they would rise after starting. My father’s Skoda 110 R Coupé didn’t do that. The seats weren’t as soft in those either and it sprung a lot stiffer (but otherwise I have very fond memories of that car too).

One of my uncles always drove a recent DS or later CX, and took good care of the cars. He thought they were beautiful. The others drove models that were a few years old and were already rusting and that they could buy for next to nothing, the depreciation on DSs was enormous at the time. If they started to be technically difficult, they simply bought another one.

The DS, I think it’s the most beautiful car ever designed. Just because it never gets boring, every line is spot on. I rarely sell or buy them, but I couldn’t ignore this one. It was in a customer’s collection and had to go. Although beige is not my favourite colour and I could have done without the Pallas trim, the car still enchanted me.

Car people sometimes use strange terms. Rock-hard, expresses that it has no rust (applicable). Honest, indicates that it is an unmolested car that has nothing to hide (applicable). And sometimes a car looks at you, which can best be summarised as that you have a click and that a lot about the car appeals to you (also applicable).

So it came to our garage. We got it running, the engine hummed so beautifully. We sat in it, the seventies leatherette interior was so comfortable. We drove a block, the rest fell into place. When DS specialist Auto Renaissance also added a few finishing touches – also very impressed by the car – it became completely fantastic and we were happy to display it in our showroom.

Unfortunately, we know very little about its history, except that it was repainted once, never had to be welded or restored, the gearbox was once replaced by a much finer 5-speed gearbox and it once came to the Netherlands, became F again and then came to the Netherlands again.

Sit in it and it feels like you’re wearing a swell hippie dress or cool flaired jeans, you’re immediately back in the seventies. Start it and it feels familiar right away. Drive it and you’ll feel what I meant with honest in the previous statement. Perhaps it will look at you too and you’ll rock-hard fall for its charms.