Description
For sale a much admired car photographed at Retromobile 2025 - magnificent! When Citroën presented the SM at the Geneva Motor Show in 1970, it was the result of many years of development. The result was an aerodynamic, avant-garde design by in-house designer Robert Opron, an optimised and extended hydropneumatic system and a compact, powerful engine developed by Citroën subsidiary Maserati.
The result was an unrivalled work of art, both fast (220 km/ h) and very comfortable thanks to its complex chassis, which did not prevent it from being called the "flying sofa". The following year, Henri Chapron, who had built more than 1, 000 cabriolets and numerous coupés for the DS, presented the SM as a cabriolet. Due in part to the complex manufacturing process, these models were twice as expensive as the coupé. Only five examples were made, and including later 'replicas', a maximum of eight. These vehicles are traded on the market at prices approaching €500, 000. Some 20 years later, a North German entrepreneur commissioned master coachbuilder and vehicle builder Norbert Waßmann of Zweibrücken in Saarland to convert an SM into a cabriolet. The result is the car shown here and the first of seven SM cabriolets produced by Waßmann over the last 20 years. The result is naturally very similar to the Chapron conversions, but Waßmann has gone his own way. The starting point was a 1991 coupé with first registration in March 1972 by a first owner. After conversion, the car remained in the same ownership until purchased by the current owner in 2023. The interior is still original, as is the technically obsolete 'Continental Edison' radio, which is a very rare feature. The car has matching numbers. The Weber carburettors have recently been overhauled and tuned by a specialist company, and the purchase price includes an original four-piece Louis Vuitton luggage set for the Citroën SM - a rarity. The suitcases have also been refurbished. However, this set was only available for the coupé at the time. The boot of the cabriolet is smaller due to its design. The Citroën was already registered in Germany with an H number plate. The speedometer shows just under 58, 300 kilometres - it will do 158, 300 kilometres. The Citroën SM Waßmann cabriolet can be seen and tested here in Bad Essen. If you have any questions about the vehicle, please do not hesitate to contact us. Verus classics sells the Citroën on behalf of the customer.
