I wanted to wait until I had the title in my hand, so dropped off a check today and got title to this interesting project. 1972 Citroen SM 5 speed with the 2.7 Maserati V6 engine. Definitely an interesting car on many levels, purchased it from the long time owner (had it since 1984). 66K miles, been garaged since he had it. Last on the road in 2015, had current tags and maintenance records. Car needs a good cleanup, paint work and the interior cleaned and some seat seams resewn, but overall a beautiful example of this French/Italian super car from the 70's.
It was taken off the road due to rust in the gas tank clogging the fuel filter, tank is fine, just needs acid cleaned, etched and sealed, I brought the tank back home with me to get that done and then we will go back in a few weeks to wake it up and bring it home.
Can't say I was in the market for one, but this was one of those "heard from a friend" deals that no one knew about, so when I got the call, are you interested in an old Citroen, my answer was no, but don't tell me it is an SM.......
Plans are to get it back on the road, enjoy it this summer and then likely will paint it before I decide how far to go with it.
cool car! There is, um, a lot of stuff going on in front of that engine, no? I'm not familiar at all with these cars, so maybe it's an illusion...?
I had no idea those were Maserati-powered.
Very cool.
In reply to golfduke :
That's the transmission. It's a mid-engine, longitudinal, FWD car, so the transmission sits in front of the engine. All the green spheres are reservoirs for the hydropneumatic suspension.
maschinenbau said:
In reply to golfduke :
That's the transmission. It's a mid-engine, longitudinal, FWD car, so the transmission sits in front of the engine. All the green spheres are reservoirs for the hydropneumatic suspension.
FASCINATING! I did not know that this even existed, this is awesome.
One of my favorites. Love them, can't wait to see how this pans out, but in the mean time. Any chance of more pics of the garage/greenhouse it's in. Interesting building.
A former employee of mine had a father who worked at the local dealer when they were new. He was a small man, and as a result got all of the SM warrantee work. There was a lot. There were stories
Factory book time to replace an instrument bulb was 17 hours
I think I know which bulb you mean, as I read on one BAT auction someone saying that a light on their dash worked that normally is dead on most of the SM's. 17 hours would explain that quite well. I got all the factory shop manuals with the car, will be quite an interesting project for sure.
In reply to Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) :
Thanks, I always thought they were cool too, but never figured I would own one. The gentleman I bought it from has a really cool house built into the hillside down outside DC. He is a retired nuclear physicist and had 5 Porsches and this Citroen. At 88 years old, he has been selling off the 356's and the 914/6 and had this Citroen left to sell. His garage has a pit, lift and the back glass wall in it. Really cool, sorry no pictures other than the car in his shop.
I agree, I wish the previous owner had not touched up all the surface spots with a different shade of green. I may see if my painter can just repaint sections of it and blend in the areas where he did this. Car is rust free, just surface rust areas from being 50 years old!
Iain Tyrrell did a nice feature on them (after Jezza and Hammond drove the car in Carnage a Trois): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKIsN3h3Rvk
In reply to dherr (Forum Supporter) :
Thx for the extra pic. Something about that color, angle, light makes the center flip up section of the rear deck look more pronounced than usual. I think one of the reasons I like them so much is, other than the utter coolness of the French, Italian mash up, the cool aero, amazing suspension etc. is the looks. To me it's a production embodiment of the end of the space race styling cues. It looks like it came off the set of a Gerry Anderson production set.
Very neat car! That suspension is wild.
Neat car , if you are ever out in Southern California , the Best of France and Italy show is the first Sunday of November ,
What a crazy car! It's like they flipped the body around on a 914.
jgrewe
HalfDork
3/30/22 9:33 p.m.
A friend of mine has one of these, I think a '75. He found out that it was one of the cars that was assembled by Ligier around the time of the bankruptcy. Really cool car. I helped him adjust the Webers one afternoon and went for a spin. Truly a car ahead of its time.
I'm thinking you got this car at the right time. This is another classic that is suddenly getting a lot of press, especially on TV and YouTube channels. I think you're about to see your investment go up in value rapidly. I'll bet if you're sympathetic with it's restoration you can keep it's value above your investment, not that you'd need that encouragement. But I've been waiting for these to take off and I think it's going to happen soon. Good luck with the project. I will be watching closely as it progresses.
Those that have driven these. What are the brakes like? I've heard it's basically a hydro pneumatic rubber switch on the floor with strange/no feedback. Are there brake 'upgrades' for a more normal system or is it not as bad as I've been lead to believe?
Calling that car 'stylish' is not descriptive enough.
Good luck with your ownership adventure!
Also, it looks like the driver side front fender is not attached. Did it wander off to get more Gauloises?
In reply to Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) :
I agree with that assessment on the timing. Again, I was not specifically looking for an SM, but when this came up at a very fair price, I could not resist. They do seem to be going up value wise and I will carefully choose my restoration steps to keep it from getting upside down. That has been my goal since I started Cars of My Youth and so far it is working :-)
I have not driven one yet, but from what I have read, they were the best stopping vehicle from their era. I understand it takes some time to adjust but there is feedback, it is just more sensitive to pressure than a traditional power brake system. Same with the steering, at two turns lock to lock, you drive this with a small inputs to the steering and brakes.
RandolphCarter said:
Calling that car 'stylish' is not descriptive enough.
Good luck with your ownership adventure!
Also, it looks like the driver side front fender is not attached. Did it wander off to get more Gauloises?
Fender was removed so he could service the hydraulics. The fender removes with few bolts and hooks to the A post on two pegs as it is designed to be easily removed for servicing the car. Fender is back on the car now.
I've always loved the way these looked, but they REALLY need the Euro headlights imo. Can't wait to see it back on the road!
Turbine said:
I've always loved the way these looked, but they REALLY need the Euro headlights imo. Can't wait to see it back on the road!
Already working on that, very hard to find and expensive but the look is amazing verse the US Federalized compromise.......
Owning one of these is a bit of automotive bravery I do not have but highly respect.
Good luck on your journey, these are such cool cars!
A great SM braking demo in this scene -https://youtu.be/2zS1SJhQSlQ
Burt before the Bandit...
One of the members of our local classic car club has an SM that he drives regularly - nice car. Citroens are fascinating cars from almost every angle in both appearance and engineering. Good luck with your project.
