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"DS 27"
A 2,7 litre, V 6 powered DS

By the end of the Sixties, Citroën had recovered from the problems that had beset it since the death of its founder. 30% of all new car sales in France were Citroëns - some one and a quarter million cars annually.

To capitalise on its position as a market leader, the company decided to build a true flagship, not just for Citroën but also for France - a showcase for the new found optimism, the kind of vehicle that André Citroën had enviseaged with the 22CV Traction , a Grande Routière in the tradition of the great French pre-War marques such as Panhard , Bugatti, Delahaye, and Delage. With the demise of the Facel Vega, France had no prestigious vehicles to compete with the likes of Mercedes and Jaguar.

The DS Sport or Projet S was the starting point for this project. Although very good performance had been extracted from Citroën's venerable four cylinder, it was felt that the new car should employ a six cylinder powerplant. Thanks to the French fiscal system, cars with engine capacities in excess of 2,8 litres were heavily penalised. The design of such an engine, lightweight, powerful and with relatively small displacement was not within Citroën's capabilities. Fortunately, the solution was found when Citroën signed the PARDEVI accord whereby Fiat took over Michelin's 49% stake in Citroën and acquired Maserati from Orsi on 25 October 1968.

Signor Dottore Alfieri removed two cylinders from the legendary 4 146 cm3 Maserati Indy V 8 and reduced the bore and stroke to achieve a 2,670 cm3 V 6.

In 1967, prior to the signing of the PARDEVI agreement, the Bureau d'Etudes had built this V6 DS coupé. The Maserati engine developed 192 bhp @ 6000 rpm. Maserati had been tuning the Sainturat engine as part of the DS Sport programme.
A second protoype was built in 1968.

Both of these cars were built by Ets. Chausson for the Bureau d'Etudes following a design study produced in 1966 and the car below and right was rallied by M Waldegaard.

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