The most beautiful French car of the postwar era is the Citroën DS Décapotable by Henri Chapron. The DS itself, unveiled at the 1955 Paris Motor Show, was already a revolution in form and technology. Aerodynamic and futuristic, it drew 12,000 orders on its first day. Roland Barthes called it “a change in the mythology of cars,” and decades later an international jury would name it the most beautiful car of all time. That acclaim was for the sedan, but the four-door was only half of Bertoni’s vision.
In Chapron’s hands the DS became whole. The Décapotable’s handmade doors were lengthened by four inches to balance the profile once the rear doors and B-pillars were gone. The one-piece rear quarter panels, reshaped tail, and lightweight fiberglass boot lid created a smooth taper that allowed the eye to travel uninterrupted from the low, raked windscreen to the trailing edge of the car. Reinforced sills and underbody bracing preserved the car’s structural integrity, ensuring the famous hydropneumatic suspension still delivered its level, unruffled ride. The proportions became classical without losing their modernity. Only 1,365 were built between 1960 and 1971, each hand-finished with bespoke trim in a choice of fifteen paints, thirteen leather colors, and three carpet hues. Seen with the roof stowed, a DS Décapotable is a finished composition in a way the sedan could only hint at.
The only French car that surpasses it is also the one that sets the ultimate standard of automotive beauty. The 1937 Talbot-Lago T150-C SS “Goutte d’Eau” Coupé by Figoni et Falaschi is widely regarded as the most beautiful car ever built. Only sixteen were made, each unique to its owner. Its flowing, aerodynamic form, all curves and taper, brought coachbuilt car design to the level of high sculpture. The Teardrop’s proportions and surfacing have never been bettered.
Every French design since is measured against it. The DS Décapotable earns its postwar crown because it approaches that standard, translating the grace and unity of prewar streamline moderne into a Space Age idiom without losing the engineering innovation that defined Citroën. In the hierarchy of French beauty, the Teardrop stands first, the DS Décapotable second, and no other design has come close.
Flaminio Bertoni’s Vision in Open Air
The DS’s original stylist, sculptor Flaminio Bertoni, always intended an open-top décapotable as part of the design program. The production four-door sedan was stunning, but the idea of a pillarless, wide-open DS was seen as the car’s purest form. Early on, practical challenges delayed Citroën’s official convertible; the DS’s complex new hydraulic systems demanded all of the factory’s attention in sorting out teething troubles. Enter coachbuilder Henri Chapron, who boldly stepped forward to fulfill Bertoni’s dream. In 1958, only three years after the DS launch, Chapron unveiled La Croisette, an unauthorized DS-based cabriolet he crafted on his own. Lacking factory support, Chapron had to purchase complete DS sedans, cut them apart, and re-body them as elegant two-door convertibles. Demand for these exotic DS conversions quickly soared. Citroën could no longer ignore the allure of a DS drophead, and by 1960 the company struck a deal with Chapron to build an official “Cabriolet Usine” for sale through Citroën dealerships. Debuting at the Paris Motor Show in 1960, the Chapron-built DS Décapotable immediately became the prestige model of the DS range, the most coveted expression of French motoring in the 1960s.
Design Perfection by Chapron
The transformation from sedan to convertible was no mere roof removal. Chapron’s modifications amounted to a complete re-proportioning and refinement of the car’s visual grammar. The front doors were lengthened by about four inches to compensate for the loss of rear doors, yielding an elegant, elongated profile. This change not only improved access to the rear seats but also crucially adjusted the DS’s proportions. The longer doors, combined with the lack of a B-pillar, give the convertible a sleeker, more grand touring stance than the four-door sedan ever had. With the top removed, the eye can trace an unbroken line from the low, raked windshield frame, expertly finished by Chapron to look as if it emerged from the factory that way, all the way to the tail. The absence of a roof dome means the Décapotable’s beltline and tapered rear fenders define the car’s shape, emphasizing the fluid, teardrop-inspired taper of the rear section, a direct inheritance from the French streamline moderne era. The DS cabriolet’s smooth flank and subtly finned tail pay homage to prewar French coachbuilders’ pursuit of the aerodynamic ideal, echoing vehicles like the Talbot Teardrop in spirit even as the DS’s form was resolutely modern.
Every contour of the DS Décapotable reads as finished. The standard DS sedan, innovative as it was, had a few quirky styling moments. The roof, often in contrasting color fiberglass, hovered over the body, and the proportions, dictated by having four doors and a high roof to accommodate passengers, were deliberately unconventional. The convertible, by contrast, resolves any hint of ungainliness. Its long bonnet and equally long, flattened tail establish a classic proportion, yet it remains unmistakably DS in surfacing and detail. The way the rear fender line flows without interruption through where the rear doors used to be gives the car a cohesive, unified look. In this form, the car’s avant-garde curves and planes come together in perfect harmony, from the gentle uptick of the rear fenders to the subtle taper of the tail. Beauty in automotive design is measurable in these very elements: proportion, line, taper, surfacing, and engineering integrity. By all such measures, the DS Décapotable achieves a sublime balance. It stands as a triumph of industrial art, so much so that fully authentic DS cabriolets are exhibited today not just at concours events but in art and design museums as exemplars of mid-century design.
Engineering Integrity
Chapron’s convertible conversion did nothing to diminish the DS’s famed engineering innovation; if anything, it enhanced the underlying structure. The DS’s unitary chassis was inherently rigid, but removing the roof still required reinforcement. Chapron addressed this with strengthened sills and underbody bracing so that the cabriolet retained its structural integrity. Far from a compromised adaptation, the Décapotable was engineered to be as solid as a closed car. Citroën’s factory approved these design changes, and the cars were sold with full warranty. The tail section was a single sweeping piece of coachbuilt bodywork, with a one-piece rear wing replacing the sedan’s separate rear door and C-pillar assembly. The rear deck was reconfigured to accommodate the folding canvas hood under a flush cover, and the boot lid itself was molded in fiberglass to achieve a precise fit and reduce weight. Chapron repositioned the rear indicators and trim to maintain the DS’s clean lines. The end result was so cohesive that many casual observers might never guess the convertible was an adaptation of a four-door design.
Mechanically, the DS Décapotable preserved all the groundbreaking technology that made the DS platform famous. The fully hydraulic hydropneumatic suspension remained intact and unaltered, granting the convertible the same magic carpet ride and self-leveling poise as its sedan sibling. The added weight of reinforcements was minimal, so performance and ride were virtually unchanged. Power-assisted steering, centrifugal brake pressure regulator, inboard disc brakes, and, on later models, steerable headlamps were all present. The DS Décapotable retained full engineering integrity; its aesthetic enhancements came without sacrificing its revolutionary functionality.
Each convertible was hand-finished to order. Buyers could choose from fifteen paint colors, thirteen shades of leather upholstery, and three carpet hues, giving seventy-six possible combinations. Chrome and stainless brightwork was tastefully added along the flanks, visually accentuating the car’s long, low stance. Unique deluxe wheel covers often adorned Chapron cars, and the cabin received top-grade materials, from rich leathers and deep pile carpets to finely finished dashboards. Chapron elevated an already premium car to a true coachbuilt luxury object, doing so with restraint that preserved the DS’s famously clean design.
Rarity, Legacy, and Influence
In period, these cars were extremely scarce and expensive. The price was nearly double that of a standard DS sedan, attracting an elite clientele from celebrities to heads of state. Citroën and Chapron produced just 1,365 factory-authorized DS and ID cabriolets in total over the model’s entire run. Of these, only 483 were DS21 models, making them especially coveted. Even after production ended in 1971, Chapron built a few final examples through 1973, with the last delivered in 1978.
The DS Décapotable proved that avant-garde engineering and timeless style could coexist in a production automobile. Its blend of aerodynamic modernism with classical grand touring proportions can be seen echoed in later French designs. Citroën’s SM carried forward some of its stance and taper, and Chapron’s SM Mylord cabriolets directly followed the Décapotable’s concept. It also revived the art of French coachbuilding in the postwar era, bridging the gap between prewar artisans and modern automotive design.
The DS is one of a handful of automobiles in major art and design museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This recognition typically references the sedan, but it implicitly honors the entire DS concept. In convertible form, the car is the purest realization of that vision. It stands as the modern counterpart to the Talbot-Lago Teardrop, different in era and technique yet united by the goal of transcendent beauty.
The Unassailable Hierarchy of French Beauty
Only the Figoni et Falaschi Teardrop of 1937 surpasses the Citroën DS Décapotable in beauty. The Talbot-Lago was a once-in-history masterpiece of hand-formed Art Deco coachwork, a product of unrestrained elegance. The DS Décapotable is the pinnacle of postwar French automotive design, where futuristic engineering met artistic flair in open air. One prewar icon and one postwar icon stand alone. The DS Décapotable fulfilled Flaminio Bertoni’s original vision of automotive perfection, brought 1930s glamour into the Space Age, and secured its crown as the most beautiful French car of the modern era. The matter is settled: Teardrop first, DS Décapotable second, and no others even come close.