Found! — A 1972 DS21 Pallas Jubilee Edition

by George Dyke….

Just when I thought I knew the location of every DS in my neck of the woods, another one popped up, stashed away in a garage in Burlington, Ontario for at least the last 35 years!  I received a call in mid-October from Pamela Edwards who wanted too know I might be able to find an appreciative new owner for a DS21 that was stored in her mother’s garage. Her dad, Brian Edwards, had passed away in 2022 and her Mom was now finally ready to part with what was his pride and joy.

She said it had not run for many years and that her Dad was not able to work on it in his latter years because he developed macular degeneration (an eye condition that causes blurred vision or reduced central vision, caused by the breakdown of a part of the retina). She, and her family, did not want to see it scrapped or parted out, and wondered if there someone in the Citroënvie club who could take on the project.

I went to look at it few days later, to discover it was a 1972 DS21 Pallas semi-automatic and the very rare Jubilee edition. Only 1,200 units were produced, and it can be distinguished by Burgundy colour glove box cover and matching Burgundy colour around the dashboard instrument cluster.

It had been exposed to at least 10 years of winter driving before given a pop-rivet fix to the lower body section in the late 1980s. 

The engine was not seized and all mechanical bits seemed to be in place, (even the exhaust gas re-circulation pump).  The interior was in remarkably good condition and the body, save for the lower sections of the doors and the fenders, looked to be rust-free.  In Canada at the time, the DS would have been sold with open sealed beam headlights. It looks like the glass covered European headlights were swapped in at some point as the surrounding trim to headlight pods is not stainless steel but rather plastic! The mirror mounted out on the fender (as one might see in Japan) was probably put there by Brian to cope with his ailing eyesight. There is a hole in the right front fender for the other mirror that was on hand but not fitted.

There were also loads of spare parts stored around the car that apparently came from a D-Special that Brian had disassembled.

In order the satisfy Pamela the family’s desire to see the car back on the road, I had to think of a way to inform Citroënvievie members about the DS and ensure that if one of them does take it, the car will actually fixed it up and not parted out.  

I came up with a novel way of achieving that objective, proposing the following;   

^{‘It appears to be a good candidate for providing the next owner willing to do the necessary mechanical and bodywork with a nice driver-quality DS. The car will be sold for $19.5K CAD (~$14K USD) but all of the purchase price will be held in escrow, by Citroën Autoclub Canada, and will be refunded back to the buyer as the necessary mechanical and body repairs are made to the car.  So, the DS is technically free to the buyer who makes the effort to get it back on the road.’}

As repayment could be fully realized when the car is saftied and plated,  I figured that at least $19K CAD would need to be spent on the car to make it a driver quality, decent running DS, and if the new owner wanted to make a restoration effort beyond that, the cost to that point is covered!

To assure that the reconditioning of the DS does not drag on, a time limit of September 30, 2026 to have the car safetied and plated, was placed on the deal.

Offers to purchase would be accepted up until Friday, November 14, 2025.  As it turned out, 6 people came forward to express interest and all offers were submitted and passed on to the family for the them to decide. The winner was Citroënvie member Will Hodgskiss from Kingston who has a lovely 2CV6 but always wanted to own a DS.

Arrangements were made for Will to come and meet the family along with me, and pick-up the DS on December 12.

Will booked a flatbed and our local Citroën specialist, Bernard Laborde, to show up 2 hours before the tow-truck to prep it for the tow.

Working his magic, Bernard verified spark with a new battery installed, sent fresh fuel to carb, initially with syringe and then an external can with a fuel pump. Once the engine ran, it was apparent that the carburetor jets were gummed, so a removal of the top of the carb and clean of them resulted in the DS running smoothly and actually rising and being able to be driven out of the garage on its own — and within 90 minutes from opening the hood! Amazing for a car that sat in an unheated (albeit dry) garage for at least 35 years!!

Here are photos and video of that momentous occasion:

Then it was off on the flat-bed to Will’s garage in Napanee (near Kingston) for a good going to over.

Will plans to have it on the road be the end of September and has offered to to the family, that he will bring the DS back to Burlington once completed and give them ride it. 

We will keep readers appraised of the ‘rejuvenation’ progress!