Valuable Classics Part 2: Citroën DS Chapron and “Usine” – The goddess blows her top

At the start of DS production, a convertible version was already planned. The strong platform of the car provided a good starting point for a cabriolet. Citroën chief designer Flaminio Bertoni did make a draft, but other projects initially took priority and therefore production was postponed.

Development and Design

The well-known coach-builder Henry Chapron decided to pick up the thread Citroën had left dangling. In 1958 this lead to a convertible called “La Croisette” and a coupé version by the name of “Le Paris”. In autumn 1959 a second convertible “Le Caddy” followed. In the following years, a very small numbers of other versions emerged all based on the DS and ID: the coupés “Le Dandy”, “Concorde” and “Le Leman”; the convertible “Palm Beach”; and two limousine designs “Majesty” and “Lorrain”.

These vehicles were built to order by Chapron in Levallois-Perret, a suburb of Paris. Chapron received no help whatsoever from Citroën. Without an official collaboration, Chapron had to buy finished vehicles and completely convert them. This made the cars he produced extremely expensive. He was also denied distribution through the Citroën dealer network. No wonder a meagre 289 conversions were produced until 1974.

Citroën DS/Id “Usine” – Highly sought-after Rarity

The production numbers of the factory produced “Cabriolet d’Usine” look quite different. The “Usine” was primarily designed by Bertoni and not Henry Chapron. Nevertheless, the production was carried out at the Chapron studios, meaning the collaboration was now official and the vehicles Chapron built could be sold through Citroën dealers.

A grand total of 1,365 Cabriolets were produced, 483 based on the DS 21, 770 on the DS 19 and 112 on the ID 19. For the “Usine”, Citroën delivered chassis with all the mechanical parts. In Levallois these were completed with the interior, hood and special body parts (such as, doors, rear section and trunk lid). Interestingly, Citroën supplied four front doors, which Chapron managed to lengthen by 10 cm compared to the ones used for the production sedan.

So many special features came at a price of course. The factory cabriolets were about twice as expensive as the limousines at the time. Still a good investment as they are about four to five times more expensive nowadays.

Price performance data courtesy of:

Photos Cargold & ClassicCarsForSale

Author: Classic Trader

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