Not a million miles from you, there was a charming Citroën agency just outside Chiddingfold, where I stood alongside my father gazing into the tiny showroom at one of the first SM's to land in the UK. Still envisage it vividly. I understand my grandfather, the industrialist who had invited Citroën to build cars in Slough, drove the first DS in the UK. We've had countless hydraulic Citroëns since, but to this day I've not even sat in an SM - possibly just to preserve those moments I spent alone with my dad, sharing a common albeit reverently distanced fascination for the sheer brilliance of that car. Thank you for helping keep a very special recurring dream alive, Simon!
@@charliesoffer I think that would have been Allen Brothers. They had a good reputation with SMs and I understand they were in that area. Possibly Northchapel?
Marvelous. Well done in producing these films. You capture in all your films the very essence of Citroen adored by anoraks like me. I've been driving them for 50 years and they still amaze me. Currently my collection is stabilized with a CX,BX and Dyane which we all know to be the best 2CV ever built......only teasing. Oh to have one of each model. Thanks for taking the time to share these cars with us. All the Best.
Great review! Sorry for contradicting, but as far as I remember the DS had inboard disks at the front and drums at the back but the SM had disks on all four wheels.
Nice car - I know the owner remotely (I'm in the USA) as I have advised him about it in the past and recognized the car when this video was posted. I have the same car in gold near Seattle USA. One note - the injected SM uses a 2.7l engine (it does share the cylinder heads with the 3.0l engine).
Is this not a later 3l car? The turn signal indicators both light up, signaling to me it's a '73. I was thinking the injection system was added to the 3l, perhaps I'm mistaken?
@@CitEnthusiast All factory injected SMs were 2.7l. These are the “SC” series cars. All 3.0l cars left the factory with carburetors (“SD” series cars).
Oh boy, where do I start? The car is warm inside because the AC is OFF. A common modification of SMs is to put a switch on the dash so the compressor can be cutout, allowing the fan to run and blow unmodified air. That switch is the blue switch to the far left in the switch cluster to the right of the steering wheel. The engine is 90 degree so it's low enough to clear the very low hood (bonnet for you blokes). The SM style was already established when Citroën purchased an interest in Maserati. They did that solely to get an engine built, and selected Maserati because the company was in financial trouble and produced the only 90 degree V8 engines, which Citroën engineers were sure could be made in a V6 for the SM. The V6 was chosen due to CV taxes, they needed to keep displacement low (until they didn't and upped it to 3l). Yes, a V8 was cut down, but only for the purpose of demonstrating size. The V6 timing chains are completely different from the V8s, a clear clue that the V6 is not a cut down V8. As far as I'm aware the 3l never had fuel injection, so this has been retrofit, a good choice to be sure. The steering was the very first speed sensitive steering and is rightly praised, but I wish this car had the original steering wheel covering, this one has been made fatter with a cover. The windshield wipers are 'rain sensitive', but the speed does not vary. What happens is there is a contact system in the steering console that gets hot when the wiper motor draws enough amperage. When it heats up the wiper motor is put on the park circuit and once parked the wipers stop until that contact cools enough to re-engage, starting the wipers up again. Repeat. So it becomes essentially an intermittent wiper since it always makes one wipe, even if the windscreen is dry (no rain). So, an automatic interval wiper, not really a rain sensitive wiper. Some US cars had a similar system at the time, perhaps after the SM was introduced. Timing chains failed in the early days due to a lack of a chain guide on the long side, or perhaps a poorly designed guide. This is fixed with an updated guide and beefier chains, so not a problem in a modern rebuilt C117 engine. Rear brakes on the SM are disc, it was one of the very few cars in 1970 with four wheel disc brakes. He does not mention that the brakes are fully powered, the pedal only moves about 1/2 inch, you just 'think' how fast you want to brake, just as you 'think' where to point the car and it goes there. This car is lovely, but the door mirrors are wrong, the SM has a much more elegant mirror design. Those mirrors are from an early low-end CX. Many owners have trouble with the mirror being floppy, and don't realize it's fixed cheaply and quickly with the correct part in the ball socket. He doesn't even talk about the turning and self-leveling headlights, although he shows them at the end, but these were very advanced headlights of the day, so much so that the US banned them to protect US auto makers. My last point is that this car would benefit a lot from a modern engine management system, which is available. It started pretty hard for an injection engine, not uncommon for very early EFI, but that can be dramaticallly improved. I do appreciate that this video was made, it's a nice car. Just needs more exposure to really curvy roads, and some outside shots to really show off the car.
Bravo for the summary . Here some additional facts: - 1st car in the world with a glued windscreen - 1st car with optional super light wheels called RR . Technology licensed by Michelin who had taken control of Citroen after the lanuch of the Traction Avant in 1934. This technology was used bu the NASA for the wheels of the rover sent to the moon. - the geometry of the front suspension is very different from all other makes (and like the DS and GS) in the sense that when going over bumps, holes etc it does not induce any steering at all, and the car keeps going straight. and at the back , due to the horizontal arm, the suspension design makes the car to dive, compensating somehow to the transfer of weight to the front, reducing stopping distance and keeping the car more stable. - the hand brake is also working differently and act on the front brakes, so it is more effective should you need it to stop the car, vs hand brakes acting on the rear brakes. - No chrome in the SM, bumpers etc are made of stainless steel. They age much better. - 1st car in Europe with steering wheel adjustable both in hight and length. - 1st foreigner car elected in USA car of the year in 1972 -Plus, all the innovations included in the DS I own one , a 1972 SM injection Electronique with a lot of upgrades, somehow a restomod approach. I can confirm that it is a fantastic car to drive.
1. According to the history, SMs through 1972 had a 2.7 liter engine with carburettors. From 1973 it was either a 2.7 with fuel injection or a 3.0 with carburettors. So if this car really does have a 3.0 with injection, someone must have done an engine swap. 2. It's an irregular (odd-firing) V6 because it has 90º between the banks AND it has only three crank throws. There are lots of 90º (and 60º) V6s that have six crank throws and regular firing. GM had an odd V6 in the 60s and 70s, as did Peugeot-Volvo-Renault in the Douvrin engine (as in the Delorean). The later Maserati Biturbo was also odd-fire. 3. It doesn't torque steer because the transaxle is longitudinal. Torque steer in front-drive cars comes from unequal-length drive shafts that have different angles from the horizontal. Like the DS and Traction Avant before it, the SM has equal-length shafts.
The lost of that technologies, and an overall lost of the Citroën magic way to do cars, is in part a great deal to do with British public in general, and automotive "journalists" in particular, that repeatedly downplay on the brand and their products, calling them "quirky", "strange" and "very unconventional". What is the point of Citroën making the better cars like the XM or the C6 when people go out and buy Audi, Mercedes or BMW instead. After all businesses need to sell in order to make money and not go bankrupt.
@@FindingDrivingSpirit Of course its the most modern car of the era made in UK with a superb silky smooth OHC 6 cyl, superb hydragas suspension, great aerodynamics and a very good assisted steering. What do you want more? The German SM was the RO80 so what?
@@aaaabababa Its a Leyland Princess 2200 HLS with superb E Series OHC inline 6 and Hydragas suspension plus great aerodynamics, its the british SM equivalent. DS and CX sadly never had a smooth 6 cylinder engine.
@@Schlipperschlopper still not even close to being an SM equivalent at all, 110hp 4 door and not even remotely close to being in the same class of vehicle, wasn't even really competition agains the CX since the only thing that it really had going for it over the CX may be the engine, which has 2 cylinders more, probably making it smoother than the equivalent engine from Citroen (which btw, would have been the second smallest engine you could get apart from the diesels) , but still the M Series Engines in a CX were fairly smooth 4 cylinders, especially since they were mounted so far away from the cabin and the way they were mounted on the chassis and the way the body was mounted on the chassis.
Never heard of that (in fact, I think it would be REALLY hard given that the rover v8 rotates in the opposite direction. I have seen DS engines placed in SMs.
@@stuartstibbs2069 I believe that noise was to do with the belt driving the air conditioning compressor. It was certainly down at that end. We were advised not to use the air conditioner. For that reason I did not look into it.
Not a million miles from you, there was a charming Citroën agency just outside Chiddingfold, where I stood alongside my father gazing into the tiny showroom at one of the first SM's to land in the UK. Still envisage it vividly. I understand my grandfather, the industrialist who had invited Citroën to build cars in Slough, drove the first DS in the UK. We've had countless hydraulic Citroëns since, but to this day I've not even sat in an SM - possibly just to preserve those moments I spent alone with my dad, sharing a common albeit reverently distanced fascination for the sheer brilliance of that car. Thank you for helping keep a very special recurring dream alive, Simon!
@@charliesoffer I think that would have been Allen Brothers. They had a good reputation with SMs and I understand they were in that area. Possibly Northchapel?
@@charliesoffer Thank you for this extremely touching and poignant reflection!
Of course, it was Allen Brothers in Northchapel, which we passed so often en route to our holiday place in Middleton on Sea.
❤@@FindingDrivingSpirit
Marvelous. Well done in producing these films. You capture in all your films the very essence of Citroen adored by anoraks like me. I've been driving them for 50 years and they still amaze me. Currently my collection is stabilized with a CX,BX and Dyane which we all know to be the best 2CV ever built......only teasing. Oh to have one of each model. Thanks for taking the time to share these cars with us. All the Best.
Great review! Sorry for contradicting, but as far as I remember the DS had inboard disks at the front and drums at the back but the SM had disks on all four wheels.
@@Juergen_K You may well be right. I also realise that it’s a 2.7 and not a 3.0 litre. Let’s keep that under wraps! 🤪
I recently purchased a 1975 Citroen GS Pallas and I’m never out of it. 😂😂😂
Drove my dad's GSA around Italy. Obviously not the same thing, a bit underpowered, but the suspension was ridiculously good.
Love these cars .
Nice car - I know the owner remotely (I'm in the USA) as I have advised him about it in the past and recognized the car when this video was posted. I have the same car in gold near Seattle USA. One note - the injected SM uses a 2.7l engine (it does share the cylinder heads with the 3.0l engine).
Is this not a later 3l car? The turn signal indicators both light up, signaling to me it's a '73. I was thinking the injection system was added to the 3l, perhaps I'm mistaken?
@@CitEnthusiast All factory injected SMs were 2.7l. These are the “SC” series cars. All 3.0l cars left the factory with carburetors (“SD” series cars).
Oh boy, where do I start? The car is warm inside because the AC is OFF. A common modification of SMs is to put a switch on the dash so the compressor can be cutout, allowing the fan to run and blow unmodified air. That switch is the blue switch to the far left in the switch cluster to the right of the steering wheel.
The engine is 90 degree so it's low enough to clear the very low hood (bonnet for you blokes). The SM style was already established when Citroën purchased an interest in Maserati. They did that solely to get an engine built, and selected Maserati because the company was in financial trouble and produced the only 90 degree V8 engines, which Citroën engineers were sure could be made in a V6 for the SM. The V6 was chosen due to CV taxes, they needed to keep displacement low (until they didn't and upped it to 3l). Yes, a V8 was cut down, but only for the purpose of demonstrating size. The V6 timing chains are completely different from the V8s, a clear clue that the V6 is not a cut down V8. As far as I'm aware the 3l never had fuel injection, so this has been retrofit, a good choice to be sure.
The steering was the very first speed sensitive steering and is rightly praised, but I wish this car had the original steering wheel covering, this one has been made fatter with a cover.
The windshield wipers are 'rain sensitive', but the speed does not vary. What happens is there is a contact system in the steering console that gets hot when the wiper motor draws enough amperage. When it heats up the wiper motor is put on the park circuit and once parked the wipers stop until that contact cools enough to re-engage, starting the wipers up again. Repeat. So it becomes essentially an intermittent wiper since it always makes one wipe, even if the windscreen is dry (no rain). So, an automatic interval wiper, not really a rain sensitive wiper. Some US cars had a similar system at the time, perhaps after the SM was introduced.
Timing chains failed in the early days due to a lack of a chain guide on the long side, or perhaps a poorly designed guide. This is fixed with an updated guide and beefier chains, so not a problem in a modern rebuilt C117 engine.
Rear brakes on the SM are disc, it was one of the very few cars in 1970 with four wheel disc brakes. He does not mention that the brakes are fully powered, the pedal only moves about 1/2 inch, you just 'think' how fast you want to brake, just as you 'think' where to point the car and it goes there.
This car is lovely, but the door mirrors are wrong, the SM has a much more elegant mirror design. Those mirrors are from an early low-end CX. Many owners have trouble with the mirror being floppy, and don't realize it's fixed cheaply and quickly with the correct part in the ball socket. He doesn't even talk about the turning and self-leveling headlights, although he shows them at the end, but these were very advanced headlights of the day, so much so that the US banned them to protect US auto makers.
My last point is that this car would benefit a lot from a modern engine management system, which is available. It started pretty hard for an injection engine, not uncommon for very early EFI, but that can be dramaticallly improved. I do appreciate that this video was made, it's a nice car. Just needs more exposure to really curvy roads, and some outside shots to really show off the car.
@@CitEnthusiast thank you for bringing correction and greater detail. I’m sure people will appreciate that.
Correct door mirrors for UK at first registration cars, unique to SM.
Bravo for the summary . Here some additional facts:
- 1st car in the world with a glued windscreen
- 1st car with optional super light wheels called RR . Technology licensed by Michelin who had taken control of Citroen after the lanuch of the Traction Avant in 1934. This technology was used bu the NASA for the wheels of the rover sent to the moon. - the geometry of the front suspension is very different from all other makes (and like the DS and GS) in the sense that when going over bumps, holes etc it does not induce any steering at all, and the car keeps going straight. and at the back , due to the horizontal arm, the suspension design makes the car to dive, compensating somehow to the transfer of weight to the front, reducing stopping distance and keeping the car more stable.
- the hand brake is also working differently and act on the front brakes, so it is more effective should you need it to stop the car, vs hand brakes acting on the rear brakes.
- No chrome in the SM, bumpers etc are made of stainless steel. They age much better.
- 1st car in Europe with steering wheel adjustable both in hight and length.
- 1st foreigner car elected in USA car of the year in 1972
-Plus, all the innovations included in the DS
I own one , a 1972 SM injection Electronique with a lot of upgrades, somehow a restomod approach. I can confirm that it is a fantastic car to drive.
Bucket list essential
Super test. I want one!
1. According to the history, SMs through 1972 had a 2.7 liter engine with carburettors. From 1973 it was either a 2.7 with fuel injection or a 3.0 with carburettors. So if this car really does have a 3.0 with injection, someone must have done an engine swap. 2. It's an irregular (odd-firing) V6 because it has 90º between the banks AND it has only three crank throws. There are lots of 90º (and 60º) V6s that have six crank throws and regular firing. GM had an odd V6 in the 60s and 70s, as did Peugeot-Volvo-Renault in the Douvrin engine (as in the Delorean). The later Maserati Biturbo was also odd-fire. 3. It doesn't torque steer because the transaxle is longitudinal. Torque steer in front-drive cars comes from unequal-length drive shafts that have different angles from the horizontal. Like the DS and Traction Avant before it, the SM has equal-length shafts.
@@chasm6698 Thanks! Every day is a school day! 🫡
The lost of that technologies, and an overall lost of the Citroën magic way to do cars, is in part a great deal to do with British public in general, and automotive "journalists" in particular, that repeatedly downplay on the brand and their products, calling them "quirky", "strange" and "very unconventional".
What is the point of Citroën making the better cars like the XM or the C6 when people go out and buy Audi, Mercedes or BMW instead. After all businesses need to sell in order to make money and not go bankrupt.
Today sadly owned by the Chinese
The Leyland Princess 2200 HLS with Hydragas suspension ist the British SM
Ummm…no!
@@FindingDrivingSpirit Of course its the most modern car of the era made in UK with a superb silky smooth OHC 6 cyl, superb hydragas suspension, great aerodynamics and a very good assisted steering. What do you want more? The German SM was the RO80 so what?
@@Schlipperschlopper Comparing an austin princess to an SM is quite the insult.
@@aaaabababa Its a Leyland Princess 2200 HLS with superb E Series OHC inline 6 and Hydragas suspension plus great aerodynamics, its the british SM equivalent. DS and CX sadly never had a smooth 6 cylinder engine.
@@Schlipperschlopper still not even close to being an SM equivalent at all, 110hp 4 door and not even remotely close to being in the same class of vehicle, wasn't even really competition agains the CX since the only thing that it really had going for it over the CX may be the engine, which has 2 cylinders more, probably making it smoother than the equivalent engine from Citroen (which btw, would have been the second smallest engine you could get apart from the diesels) , but still the M Series Engines in a CX were fairly smooth 4 cylinders, especially since they were mounted so far away from the cabin and the way they were mounted on the chassis and the way the body was mounted on the chassis.
In the USA there are SM converted to Rover V8
Hmmmmmmm…that’s a little bit sad. But it’s another good engine.
Never heard of that (in fact, I think it would be REALLY hard given that the rover v8 rotates in the opposite direction. I have seen DS engines placed in SMs.
@@rolandfaragher-horwell1547 I think that I'm correct in saying that in the UK there is DS with an SM engine!
@@silkdestroyer correct! In fact, there are a few DS with SM engines out there.
@@silkdestroyer yes indeed! I’ve seen it!
Never heard a V6 sound so terrible 😮
Very strange. An exhaust leak ? See Iain Tyrell's video about the SM, the road test at the end.
Characteristic sound of odd fire sequence V6. Rough at idle, glorious at full chat
@@dDoOyYoOuUtTuUbBeENo, no exhaust leak. That is how they sound. Yes, I loved seeing Iain Tyrell cover the SM and enjoy his channel greatly.
Yep, some horrible rattling going on. My 2009 kia rio sounds better..😂🎉🎉
@@stuartstibbs2069 I believe that noise was to do with the belt driving the air conditioning compressor. It was certainly down at that end. We were advised not to use the air conditioner. For that reason I did not look into it.