1972 Citroen SM

1972 Citroen SM

This car was Motor Trend's Car of the Year in 1972. Citroen listens to the beat of a different drum. My Uncle Eddy had a Citroen DS about a zillion years ago. They are kind of cool, mostly because they are different. Nobody else makes a car like Citroen. Wikipedia explains:

This car was unusual for France – production of luxury cars was heavily restricted in the country by post-World War II puissance fiscale horsepower tax, so France had not had a production vehicle in this market sector since before World War II. The SM had an engine of only 2.7 liters owing to these regulations; it was the first response to the luxury/performance sector since the export oriented Chrysler Hemi V8 engine Facel Vega in the late 1950s.
. . . .
Contemporary automotive journalists were effusive about the SM's dynamic qualities, which were unlike anything they had experienced before. The SM provided a combination of comfort, sharp handling, and braking not available in any other car at the time. The magazine Popular Science reported that the SM had the shortest stopping distance of any car they had tested.

Automotive journalists marveled at the resulting ability to travel for hours at 124 mph in comfort. In 1972 Motorsport (U.K.) noted ..."that rare quality of being a nice car to be in at any speed, from stationary to maximum." The touring range based on the SM's fuel economy and the large 24 US gallon fuel tank made long, fast, relaxing journeys possible.

The car had a sophisticated power steering system - DIRAVI. I found some technical descriptions and schematics of this system, but I think this picture does it better.

DIRAVI Components

 Since Wikipedia mentioned French horsepower tax, I'll tack on this little clip.

This is a wonderful scene
Pixel Drift

The clip is from the movie 1923, so they are talking about WW1. Funny how people will become so enraged that they will spend their entire fortune on destruction and then steal the country's future to buy more death and destruction. People shouldn't be in charge. I can't wait for AI to take over the world. Oh, wait, all that AI knows they learned from humans. They'll probably be more efficient at killing people, so maybe hoping for an all powerful AI isn't such a good idea.