Citroen SM

There are boring cars, there are beautiful cars, strong cars, big cars, and there is one intellectual car, that is the Citroen SM. It is not easy for intellectuals. Anyone who understands the SM says the model name SM stands for His Majesty. His opponents take the view that SM stands for Sado / Maso, which usually exhausts their supposed knowledge of the big coupe. Incidentally, Citroen says that the S stands for the S from the legendary DS model and the M for the engine supplier Maserati, in which Citroen was the majority owner at the time. In the meantime, the model name SM has become a fixed term that speaks for itself. And that is no coincidence, because the longer you deal with it, the more it pulls you under its spell.

“Rare, exclusive, beautiful and fast” wrote Autobild after an extensive day of testing and admitted to being “a milestone in car manufacturing”. It was and is particularly popular with architects, designers, gallery owners and other aesthetes – because it is independent in a fascinating way. It starts with the look of the body, the track width of which is a full 20 cm wider at the front than at the rear, and the body tapers in a correspondingly flamboyant manner. Even when stationary, the SM glides through the wind. If you park it, after a certain time it lowers and rests in a distinguished manner.

The image of a car’s rearview mirror was largely determined by the number of headlights in the 1970s. Bread and butter cars had two headlights, the luxury class had four and the SM had six as standard – two of which are used as cornering lights and this one even has eight. The completely glazed front is not made of simple Plexiglas, as is the case with the Ferrari Daytona, but of three artfully formed glass blocks weighing several kilos – that delights the aesthetes.

If at some point there is nothing left of an SM, the bumpers and the trunk surround are left over – they are sculptures made of stainless steel that can be draped as an art object on the designer sideboard. Speaking of designers, in the seventies such a spacey space design surged through France, which can be found here in the interior. The elaborate, leather seat covers and door panels, the oval fittings and, above all, the red warning eye in the dashboard. The instrument on the far right is a large red warning lamp, the hypnotic design of which is reminiscent of Kubrick’s 2001 Odysee in space.

But the measure of all things in a French car is seating comfort. Nothing relaxes like a totally comfortable seat. The leather armchairs have no profane height adjustment, but can be tilted to the desired angle like a rocking chair. The steering column is adjustable. The adjustable headrests are completely covered in leather – including the bracket. Once you have found your seating position, all you have to do is start the powerful Maserati V6 and be surprised! The SM, previously located in the heavy glider category, now claims to be a sports car with its sound. Rightly so, because its engine was also installed in the Maserati Merak.

The shift gate of the 5-speed gearbox is unique, extremely wide and horizontal and yet it is a completely normal, easy-to-use H-shift. It will take several days to discover all the details that his creators gave him in their endeavor to create an exceptional car.

Citroen was once a trend-setting manufacturer who produced ingenious models such as the Traction Avant, the 2 CV or the DS. Today, unfortunately, Citroen has been saved into insignificance. But here we still drew on the full, here you can feel that all constructors, designers and designers practically had a free hand. The specifications could have simply said: “Let’s build a two-door legend.”