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.

Hi Simon please can you help we need to change the head lamp cover for the sm car any tips

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.

Ooh yes, I remember it so well. One of the best driving experiences I ever knew. We had the same model in that nice mid-blue colour. Active safety meant that you could get home on three wheels!! Fabulous car.

What would be the top end of that bad boy?

Drove my dad's GSA around Italy. Obviously not the same thing, a bit underpowered, but the suspension was ridiculously good.

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.

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).

Loving your content ❤ 1975 GS Pallas driver 😂

Oh my goodness it’s just totally the best automobile engineering heaven. 1975 GS Pallas daily driver chap ❤

Never heard a V6 sound so terrible 😮

I recently purchased a 1975 Citroen GS Pallas and I’m never out of it. 😂😂😂

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.

The Leyland Princess 2200 HLS with Hydragas suspension ist the British SM

In the USA there are SM converted to Rover V8

Super test. I want one!

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.

Bucket list essential

Beautiful!! The sound of my childhood. But just one thing, Simon... Six MUST be pronounced 'cease' ;) Love and blessings x

LOVE this, Simon! MY father drove DS safaris and my mother an Ami 6 estate in the sixties. You can only imagine the school playground conversations... :)

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!

Love these cars .

very interesting review of the SM :)

If you observe the shutlines a little more closely ,especially around the rear doors in this monocoque structure it will immediately become apparent that the gaps are unseemly ,and indeed not uniform: This is indicative of hull distortion/failure , to which the Traction Avant has been prone since its 1934 inception. This is the result of water accumulation in the curved confines of the boat-like hull, which blocked drainage vents have precipitated : Slough built cars are more prone to this than the French built models, reputedly the result of the British models use of inferior quality steel. This is frequently a contentious and specious argument : Any restoration will perforce entail comprehensive straightening and truing of the shell before reinforcement and repair of the rusted inner structures : Having run 3 of these gems, starting with a 1937 12/8 model , and later Slough built Light 15's of small boot and big boot configuration in the late 1950's and early /mid 1960's , I was well aware of the consequences of weakened hulls ... Priority must be given to restored structural integrity and its visual enhancement before the first spanners are turned on mechanical components ....and don't forget to replace those clunky Light 15 universal joints with later ID19 constant velocity joints : Je vous souhaite 'Bon Chance' !

No windshield wipers?

My dad,who usually had Austins,Vauxhalls etc went all avant garde and bought a 3 year old 1975 1220 Club,in bright orange with matching interior.Was my favourite of all his cars,and was reliable,untilrust unfortunately took hold a few years later.Would love to have one,or a GSA X3(if you can still find mint ones).

You pronounce AMI slightly wrong .

Interesting video-use a professional microphone !!

You popped over the speed bump at 30 mph but the speed limit was 20 mph .

I had a 1978 GS PALLAS, A fantastic car. Actually 1222 cc From Edward.

Just found this! What a great video. My life with Citroën includes 2CV's, BX'es, CX'es but unfortunately not the GS. I've loved them all for the reasons you mention and many more. Citroën has been designing cars with active safety since the early 1930'ies, long before it was even a talking point.. Too bad it hasn't been recognized... even today. Thank you for the trip - lovely👍

I love these. I have four of them. 👍

Doesnt look like it needs restoration!

I've got an Ami 8 and I drive it to work twice a week, and I absolutely love it. 10k kms a year is what I do with it.

You pronounce Ami as the French would say the word meaning friend .

What a legendary car...

From across the pond. Was totally taken with Traction Avant from watching films of the 30's and 40's ( possibly the Cross of St. Lorine or Casbah). Good luck on your project. Narragansett Bay

Wonderful! That’s One of the last 2cv AZS produced in Forest (Belgium) Rare right hand drive

absolutely

Had several of these in my younger days when you could pick them up cheap, even paid one guy £20 for one and he fetched the engine and battery from under the stairs, it had been in his garden for quite a few years but a couple hours later we drove it home. We drove them all over the Uk and the continent and never had one let us down. They were as mad as a box of frogs with their quirky engineering but amazingly comfortable and also retained the off-road capabilities of the early 2cv. In snow and ice, they really are brilliant and we had a lot of that back then so knew we could always get about even when others could not. Rust killed most of them sadly though we did manage to break one in half loaded with flagstones, still drove home in it though we could not get the doors open. Love every minute of them and sad to say they are few and far between these days.

Only the English Traction avant had a wood in the inside on doors and dashboard. The first Citroen to get a little bit of wood in the doors where the CX MK2 top spec models. Some Citroënistes consider the CX to be the really first Citroen to have large pieces of wood inside.

J'adore, merci.🥰👍

Did you shoot any footage of the restoration? Id love to see the process.

Love Citroens an this very quirky Ami 6…..such a special little car 😎👌🏽

I badly wanted one of these when I was a teenager. And still do!

Ami has the emphasis on the ‘I ‘ as you would pronounce Ami meaning French for friend .

You don

Great video. Very nostalgic for me as I learnt to drive in my dad's Ami 8 estate. It was our family car and the extra space transported all sorts of things with ease. I remember it as a very good car and clearly it is. Thank you

I can see aspects of it's British build. I've owned Wolseley 6/90's and the interior door handles look identical, so does the door trim material, and the of course there's all the wood. The passenger wiper knob looks a lot like a Rover P4 freewheel knob too.

It’s AMEEEEEE.