Why the French are sometimes brilliant
And sometimes terrible.
Various hemp-clothed academics will say that you should never judge another culture, because what you think is wrong, with your culture’s eyes, is actually just different. Thus when the British turned up to India - a terrible thing all in itself - they certainly should not have rushed the first widow-burning they came across with a "This beastly stuff is going to have to end."
Now I don’t subscribe to this notion, simply because it hands immunity to the French. If there’s a people out there popping snails into their mouths, and thinking they can still make socialism work, then it’s my duty to call them idiotic. And so I have, tirelessly.
But I've realised the French may have deceived me. They are indeed unconventional, and revolutionary, but I’ve come to understand that normal is just another word for average. You don’t make the world’s greatest anything by being average.
And the fact is, the French have made some of the world’s greatest cars.
La DS.
There was the Citroen Traction Avant, which was so modern and versatile with its front-wheel-drive and monocoque construction, that it lasted 23 years from 1934, and got used and abused by both the French and German armies. There was the Bugatti Type 35, still the most successful racing car in the history of “Jehu, beat you to the city gate.” And of course there’s that piece of magnificence, the Citroen DS, with its swivelling headlights and a ride set-up so brilliant that Rolls-Royce peered over and asked Citroen for the recipe.
In fact, the DS is only surpassed by what’s frankly the greatest French car ever made – the Citroen SM; a fascinating Concordesque body set upon hydropneumatic suspension... with a Maserati engine.
La SM. La parfait SM.
And it’s the SM, more than the DS even, that brings me to another important point. You don’t make the world’s most beautiful car by being average either. And I could embark on a catalogue of all the beautiful cars that France has made, including as recently as the Peugeot 508 SW, but instead I’m just going to put it out there than the Delahaye 235 is more beautiful than the Aston Martin DB2, and move quickly onto the Bugatti Atlantic.
This is a car that came out in the midst of art deco styling – a fact which alone makes a thing beautiful. But the French took the design ethos to its most daring conclusion, and in the process, well... just look at it.
Yes, I’ll be the first to admit that it’s often all gone wrong and perverted. The French are responsible for some of the most hideously wrong cars ever, like the Renault Scenic RX-4 and the new Citroen Berlingo. But this is a symptom of the fact that when you live on the edge, when you’re experimental and flamboyant, you’ll either do extremely great things or extremely terrible things, or just extremely bizarre things - and they’ve done all three.
Because yes, the French invented eating snails. But they also came up with chocolate mousse and oysters mornay.
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Comments (92)
There seems to be very little middle ground with French cars, they are either utterly brilliant (DE, SM, 205gti) or bloody dreadful.
Precisely.
If I would have to give my honest opinion, it has been a while since their last truly brilliant car...
Do you know Avions Voisin?
I didn't, but I just googled it. Beautiful.
The French car industry was responsible for some of the best high end luxury cars before WWII. There were a few car brands we would call now premium or Luxury, paired with the coachbuilders who designed unique bodyworks (a bit like Ferrari's special cars, for those who find an Enzo not special enough)).
Most of it still existed during the early 50' , but all disappeared within a decade from there ownward.
Yes, the Delahaye 235 was the '50s, and I think that was the last of them.
Compare the DS, when it was released, to other cars in the same time frame. It was futuristic. The same could be said of the SM. And that's just on appearance alone. The 2CV and the Beetle were developed around the same time. Look at the chassis designs. The 2CV was amazing for such a simple car. If you want to jump up a few decades, the Renault 5 is technically a front mid-engine FWD car. The torsion bar suspension gave the car two slighty different wheelbases, side to side. Then there's the rear engined Twingo. I could go on. The French think outside the box sometimes.
Quite right.
Face Vega, beautiful, Citroen Xantia the most unreliable car I owned.
Facel Vega, indeed a beautiful marriage between France and the USA.
I once owned a 1998 Xantia, the 1.9turbodiesel. And my Xantia was one of the more reliable cars i've ever driven, over 10 years without major issues... I only traded it for a...
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