Goddessing for beginners

After many years of admiring the classic Citroën DS – affectionately known as ‘the goddess’ around the globe – the opportunity to acquire one in good running order landed squarely in my lap, and after only brief hesitation I accepted the challenge. 

Longing to be a classic car collector, I had been looking for a ‘serious classic’ to add to my stable of one recent classic (a Chrysler Scorpion, marketed in the US as Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Sapporo, and elsewhere as variations on Mitsubishi Sapporo / Galant Lambda), but had something else in mind – although I wasn’t certain exactly what. To be honest, it hadn’t occurred to me that I could afford to buy a DS…but, life is full of surprises!

Today I collected my slightly shabby ’74 D Spécial from the Adelaide Hills and drove her to a new home, 400 kilometres away. This was, frankly, a roadtrip fuelled by nerves, as I had only test driven the vehicle for a short time around the suburbs at dusk with a speed limit of 60kph while wearing rose-tinted glasses; driving a goddess on a highway for hours was a different proposition, and it took much longer than usual, allowing frequent stops for adjustments, fuel, head-scratching, food and photos. 
These photos were taken at the hamlet of Yumali, which scarcely appears to support a human population. I had brought my green Matchbox Car DS – found at a swap meet earlier in the year (perhaps an omen of the surprise to come?) – along for the drive, having intended to take just such a ‘Mini-Me’ shot.