Atlas 1:43 1967 Citroen DS 21, Metallic Blue: Le Dandy, Henri Chapron

The Citroën DS is a front-engine, front-wheel-drive executive car that was manufactured and marketed by the French company Citroën from 1955 to 1975 in sedan, wagon/estate and convertible body configurations across three series/generations.

Noted for its aerodynamic, futuristic body design and innovative technology, the DS set new standards in ride quality, handling, and braking, the latter as the first mass production car equipped with disc brakes.

Italian sculptor and industrial designer Flaminio Bertoni and the French aeronautical engineer André Lefèbvre styled and engineered the car, and Paul Magès developed the hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension. Citroën sold 1,455,746 examples, including 1,330,755 manufactured at the manufacturer's Paris Quai André-Citroën production plant.

The DS placed third in the 1999 Car of the Century poll recognizing the world's most influential auto designs and was named the most beautiful car of all time by Classic & Sports Car magazine.

Henri Chapron (30 December 1886 - 14 May 1978) was a prominent French automobile coachbuilder. His atelier, created in 1919, was located in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret.

Chapron was born in Nouan-le-Fuzelier (Sologne), and began his career developing custom body designs for French luxury vehicles, like Talbot, Delage, and Delahaye, in the 1920s.

France ceased building vehicles of this type in the 1950s, due to tax legislation that made luxury vehicles prohibitively expensive in France (see Tax horsepower#France).

Chapron switched his attention to the recently launched Citroën DS. At first, Chapron purchased these vehicles and customised them as one-off creations. Many of these became unique convertible variants. He soon supplied Citroën directly, distributing a "Décapotable usine" (factory convertible) through their worldwide dealership network - 1,365 cars in all.

In 1968, Chapron made a special extended DS Presidential model for the government of Charles de Gaulle. In 1972, Chapron delivered two SM Presidential models to the government of Georges Pompidou. These gigantic 4 door convertibles were first used for the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to France and continued in use through the inauguration of Jacques Chirac in 1995.

Henri Chapron died in Paris in 1978, and the company itself survived for some time under the direction of his widow. Less than five months after Chapron's own death the company presented a Landaulet bodied conversion constructed for a rich Dutch customer, based on a lengthened Peugeot 604. There were hopes this might lead to a low but steady production of similar conversions, as had happened during with Chapron's lengthened specials based on the Citroën DS. That did not happen, but the company did produce some special luxury versions, with lavishly equipped interiors, of the Citroën CX. Operations finally ceased in 1985.