‘IT DASHED THROUGH THE MARKETPLACE AND DOWN A FAST FOUR-MILE STRAIGHT – WHILE THE ATTENTION OF LOCAL POLICE WAS ELSEWHERE’
Piling along. Not really wafting, though we’re certainly surging between the bends. Yes, piling along feels about right. Long, straight French roads close to Le Mans, gently undulating countryside, old Routes Nationales, the kind of scenario for which Citroën developed the DS. Which is worth mentioning, as the Mercedes 450SEL 6.9 has very similar suspension, and possesses something the DS always lacked: suitable motive power. As Jay Leno said in the last issue of Octane: ‘A luxury car with a four-cylinder engine and 100 horsepower is going to be a tough sell.’ And this S-class has a V8. A very big V8.
It also represents the first of a new breed, one still going 50 years later: the (or ‘Special Class’) is now in its seventh generation (see 232). Predecessors such as the ‘Ponton’ saloon and the ‘Fintail’ had been available with six-cylinder engines, and its immediate predecessor had even come as an SEL ( or ‘fuelinjected long-wheelbase saloon’), but this was a luxury car for the modern age. And, while there
