Coffee & Classics Boulder, 9-26-21: A Spaceship and a Sting Ray Highlight a Deeper Field

The early morning light streamed in unearthly colors on the September 26 edition of Boulder's downtown classic car event, and it seemed for a minute we'd had an extraterrestrial visitor to go with nature's light show.  Then again, the photographer had not yet had his morning dose of caffeine …

When Citroen's DS 19* made its debut 66 Octobers ago, showgoers at the Paris Auto Salon were as stunned as if an alien spaceship had landed there.  Engineers Andre Lefebvre and Paul Mages had added self-leveling hydropneumatic syspension with adjustable ride height to Citroen's front-drive system, along with hydraulically-assisted brakes (with inboard front discs and trademark "mushroom" brake button) and power steering, along with a clutchless, hydraulically-assisted 4-speed semi-automatic transmission.  The DS (pronounced déesse, which means goddess in French) sat on a 123" wheelbase with short rear overhangs and was noted for cloud-like ride and grace under stress; one was credited for saving Charles De Gaulle even after its tires were punctured during an assassination attempt. Robert Opron redesigned the front end to include the aerodynamic, glass-covered directional inner headlights  in 1967.Citroen's design team also deployed the spare tire for energy absorption in front-end collisions, and specified the trademark single-spoke steering wheel so that with the front wheels pointed straight ahead, the rim would pivot inward, aiming the driver at the center of the car in a collision. The narrow A-pllars combined with a low beltline to provide unobstructed vision. The instrument panel with round gauges on this 1972  DS 21 could be the most conventional-looking element  in the car; less sci-fi than the sweeping, mid-century minimalism of Bertoni's original '56.*    Body designer Flaminio Bertoni sketched a low, sleek form with aerodynamic nose, flanks decorated only by a crease, and a minimum number of panels, with no visible rocker panels below the doors, or visible interstices between them. The rear fenders were removable by undoing a single bolt, and the adjustable-level suspension made changing a tire easy. Those tires, from the beginning, were Michelin radials; Michelin owned Citroen from 1934 to 1974. Bertoni added the rocket ship lights at the rear of the roof as a visual distraction after raising the rear edge of the fiberglass roof panel (a first on a production car)  to allow for additional rear headroom.    

By the time the DS 21 arrived in 1965, the sturdy pushrod inline OHV four (aluminum heads, hemispherical combustion chambers) was punched out to 2,175 cc and 109 hp.  Citroen introduced the DS 23, just under 2.4 liters, in 1973, the year after our '72 subject car. The DS had attracted 79,000 orders with deposits during that '55 Paris Salon; to attract  a still wider audience CItroen introduced the ID 19 in '57, still with hydropneumatic suspension, but with a manual gearbox and simplified braking system.  It was $500 less than the DS, or $2,800 in the USA in 1959...

Some cars showed up from earlier Coffee & Classics Boulder events, including the green Jag on the left, event organizer Mike Burroughs' immaclate red '95 AMG Mercedes C36 just right of center, and the black Ferrari 328 GTS barely visible on the right. We had better shots of the Ferrari in our July 27 post, and the AMG was here for the late June event, posted July 16.  It was surprising to realize that the AMG is now 2 decades old, almost old enough to be called a vintage car…

Already a vintage car according to the SCCA, your local DMV, and Chevy fans everywhere, the '63 Sting Ray was the first Corvette coupe (not counting show cars & earlier removable hardtops) and the only one with the distinctive split rear window, which allowed the rib formed into the car's fiberglass roofline to run from the windshield header all the way back to the point of the fastback, albeit at the cost of rearward vision.  GM management nixed the two-piece backlight for succeeding years of the fastback, which also featured doors extending into the roof, and side windows curved in plan...

This change probably did not please Larry Shinoda, who'd designed the shape of the 1959 Stingray racer for GM Styling VP Bill Mitchell that had all the essentials of the later Sting Ray except the chassis, which was the mule for the cancelled '57 Corvette SS* racer.  For the '63 chassis, Corvette project engineer Zora Arkus Duntov finally got fully independent suspension (transverse leaf springs rear, coils front), lighter weight, a shorter wheelbase (98", down from 102") and finally, in 1965, 4-wheel disc brakes, though fuel injection left the option list after that year.  It was the first production Corvette to be checked in a wind tunnel, but it would suffer from front-end lift through the '67 model year, the last one for this design.

After the otherworldly Citroen and the Chevy inspired by a sea creature, it took a Ferrari to bring us back to earth, sort of. Our Ferrari of the Month is a 575 Maranello, built from 2002-'06, which followed the successful and similar-looking 550 Maranello, the company's V12-powered 2 seater flagship introduced in 1996 to replace the mid-engine flat-12 Testarossa, featuring a 4-cam 5.7 liter engine with a 65 degree angle between cylinder banks, unlike the original Colombo and Lampredi engines (60 degrees). The 575 M was the first V12 Ferrari to offer the Magneti Marelli "automated manual" 6-speed transaxle in addition to a conventional 6-speed. Over 2,050 of the 575 M were built; around 1 in 9 had the manual gearbox. There were also half a dozen GTZ variants made by Zagato with their trademark "double bubble" roof. The GTZ version was, like the original handful of Ferrari 250 Zagatos*, hundreds of pounds lighter than the "standard" car shown here, which weighs about 4,200 pounds.  

Dan McCarthy brought another of his two '49 MG TC roadsters; this one is supercharged. Ron Farina brought the 2nd of his two 1962 Jaguar Mark 2 saloons…it seems like our English car fans like to have a spare in case of a strike or work slowdown by Lucas, Prince of Darkness.

Ron's green Mk. 2, however, has been upgraded to a 4.2 liter six from an '84 XJ-6. Originally featuring electronic fuel injection, Ron has returned it to carbs for a more mid-century look.  

The McCarthy TC has a surprise under the hood too, as it features a Shorrock vane-type supercharger, which was offered as an after-market accessory and became popular  after MGs equipped with them set speed records in 1951...

The Shorrock supercharger fits neatly next to the 1,250cc XPAG inline four; it offers about 40 to 45% more power than the standard 54 bhp.  In the Fifties and Sixties the Shorrock was the most popular blower used on English cars.

The condition of this 72-year old car matches that of its black and silver garage mate, which showed up at the August 29 Classics & Coffee...

19-inch wire wheels were a standard feature; the badge bar was a popular accessory intended for the display of car club badges, before decals took over the world...

The lime-green '72 Mini hot rod with Honda VTEC power was shown in detail in our post for Sept. 12, 2021, on the August 29 Coffee & Classics.  The somewhat-less-green '67 Jag next to it was the focus of "Boomer's Story: Buy an Old Jaguar; Save a Marriage", posted May 31, 2019.

The Alfisti showed up with GTVs and the 4C coupe below; it was as close to a new car as could be found. Introduced in 2015, the mid-engined turbocharged 16-valve, 1.7 liter four made 237 hp, and sent power to the rear wheels through a 6-speed automated manual.  Weight was in the Miata class, 2,465 pounds.  Prices were closer to Lotus territory, though, which accounts for rare sightings of the 4c on our streets.  The coupe was discontinued after 2019, and the soft-top spider after 2020…

So far we haven't seen a Coffee & Classics downtown without an Alfa GTV…or a Porsche.  

The MG, Austin Healey Sprite and Jaguars were not the only cars on view with power units from the Mother Country, as one participant brought this happy-looking Nash Metropolitan Series 56. Though the two-seater Metro had American styling (esp. after the two-tone Z-trim was added in '56), the car was assembled by Austin in England and powered by Austin inline fours.  Initially 1.2 liters (42 hp, about like a Beetle), the 85" wheelbase mini Nash received a 1.5 liter four with 10 more hp halfway through the 1956 model year. That makes this Metro a Series 56, and the mid-century color scheme, inside and out, was straight out of the catalog. 

The FuelFed crew plans another Coffee & Classics Boulder, and the final one of the 2021 season, for Halloween Sunday morning, October 31, with the lineup of cars forming at 8 along 8th Street just south of Pearl Street, and the festivities running until 10.  Mild and sunny weather is predicted for the last week of October, so there won't be a need for participants to mount their snow tires…probably.

*Footnote:  The design of Citroen's DS was featured in "The First Modern Car? Round Up the Usual Suspects", posted here on Sept. 26, 2020, and in "The French Line Part 3: Henri Chapron", posted Feb. 13, 2020. We showed the original dash design for the Citroen DS19 in "Instrument Panels: A Dash of Design", posted June 28, 2017.  The Corvette SS that donated its chassis to the '59 Stingray prototype was profiled in "Forgotten Classic: Chevy's Corvette SS Ran Before the Ban", on July.18, 2020.  The Ferrari 250 GT Zagatos were featured in "Body by Zagato Part 1: Ferrari and Maserati in the Fifties", posted March 31, 2020. Supercharged MGs from the classic era are shown in "Colorado English Motoring Conclave Part 1", posted Oct. 2, 2021. 

Photo Credits:  All photos are by the author.