1970 Maserati-powered Citroen SM - is it Wise to Meet your Heroes? 

He is the best dressed car reviewer in history! The anti-Clarkson!

Gentleman driving a gentleman‘s car. Thank you!

When I was 8 years old at the end of the 70s, there was a caramel-coloured SM in a village close to mine. This car looked like a space shuttle compared to the entry-level cars we were used to seeing. My parents had Citroens but 2CVs or derivatives of 2CVs. In 2003, André Turcat, the former Concorde test pilot, came to give a lecture at my school in Toulouse: he parked the same caramel-coloured SM near the amphitheatre. The other students were 10 years younger than me and this image didn't move them as I was... The SM represented the unbridled imagination of French engineers before the arrival of all kinds of constraints.

So so beautiful!!! And today...we have faceless monster-SUV everywhere.

Citroen made the most wonderful cars , cutting edge stuff, actually light years ahead of the competition.

Most of us will never get a chance to drive this amazing car. Compared to an SM, most modern automobile designs are hopelessly dull. Thanks for sharing the experience.

By god the thing is so elegant. They even went through with incorporating the number plates into the design, as not to ruin the lines.

Citroën fan here. This is classiest SM review I've seen. Well done!

Même en France, c'est encore une légende de l'automobile. In France, it's a legend for ever. Big up

My two humbler BX estates had some of those ride qualities. I miss the days when cars had genuine character.

As a child, my mother would take us to see a dentist in Montreal. I went to talk to him and told him that I saw a crazy car from a sci-fi movie not far on the street.Then, he told that it was his car and it was a green Citroen SM. The reinforced my impression that I already had with the DS that we saw at the Auto Show. Since the beginning, every modern ideas were quickly getting their way in the Citroen and on their factories.

The coolest feature is when you brake, the back end sinks down, keeping the car balanced.

Even today this Sm looks spectacular.

10 year old me: I want a Ferrari! Teen me: I want a Miura! Me now: I want a Citroen SM!

The SM will ruin you, drive it for a week and afterwards nothing else will be good enough.

I drove a Citroen SM a couple of times back in the early 1970's. They were glorious!

My Dad was a big Citroen fan in the ‘70’s. He had a DS & 3 CX’s, one being a prestige, all beautiful cars & very reliable. He did often enquire about the SM but didn’t ever follow it up.

The two of you were made for each other, it suits you very well! Chique but aristocratic chique !

Lovely old car, very elegant and very French in a good way.

The Citroën SM went to my favorite car ever in just half a year. My dad got me completely into Citroën over the last 2 years. I was already aware of Citroën before because he drives them and had a few Xantias because they were cheap to get. But in 2021 he got a C6, which really started my curiosity in Citroën, first the C6 only though. But last year I got totally sucked into the Citroën addiction and got a super nice Citroën C6 as my first car, which is not only a rarity but supposidly also the last ever C6 build with the 2,2 4 cylinder engine. Now I am waiting to be done with my apprenticeship to earn some Real money so I can get some. More Citroëns with hydropneumatic. First I wanna get something for daily driving, probably a third gen C5. But I also got a CX and BX on my list. I would love to get an SM, but the cost of getting one and the difficult and expensive maintenance makes it unattractive for me to get one of those beauties. But I won't 100% cross that option out. Who knows, maybe I will get the money for one some day.

Gladly surprised to have been recommended this video - a dapper gentleman driving one of the most amazing cars ever made. Awesome!

Gorgeous car, well done video. The moderator exudes class, excitement and a love for a great car.

It's such a Beautiful car!! It was the time when Citroen produced original cars, elegant, unique, with charisma and different from the rest!

What a gorgeous car. The reason it failed was the oil crisis of 1973. Terrible timing for cars not very on the economy side regarding gaz. Thank you for this lovely video.

Citroen and Maserati what a great collaboration. It really is a French specialty.

Remember seeing a dusty one in Beirut in the 90s. Looked so cool down on its lowest suspension setting with Arabic plates. Owning a CX is the closest I'll ever get to having one of these I think. Beautiful machine.

Bravo Mister Kevin Haggarthy for the excellent presentation of this report on the CITROËN SM. It's beautiful CITROËN SM is made for you! The best report on the CITROËN SM.

Can't stop seeing Burt Reynolds driving it off of the pier in The Longest Yard every time one of these in sight.

enfant j'ai le souvenir d'un ami de mon père qui venait avec cette MASERATI , oui il l'appelait comme ça et moi j'étais émerveillé de voir ce paquebot France arriver sur ces routes d'automnes , elle était si racée élégante majestueuse ! un jour j'en prendrai une pour remonter les temps anciens ou il faisait bon vivre merci monsieur Kevin excellente vidéo !

The SM along with the E-type and the LP400 Countach are I think the prettiest cars ever designed. They just flow and look beautiful and make you want to drive them or simply have them in your lounge to look and smile at.

I’ve just discovered you, mainly because of the SM. Great video, classy with a perfect allocution and a nice scenery. No fussy music, very enjoyable to watch. Bravo

I'm pretty sure that the Citroen DS had swivel headlights before the SM. So probably not a 'first' .

An elegant video for an elegant car. Thank you and bravo ! It reminds me of my first encounter with the SM. My father was driving a Renault as he was working for that company. No other car makers or cars could be considered acceptable for him except Citroën. And when he saw one ahead of him on the road he told me to look and I was in a state of shock : the car looked like à spaceship compare to anything at that time in France! This moment of time is still alive in my mind and I remember the music played on the radio. It was the Bee Gees with the song Tragedy which is a very climactic song. A perfect planet alignment!. What a car...

Such a beautiful car, it's always been in my lottery garage along with the DS Decapotable. Citroen made such beautiful and advanced cars back then.

Love the SM! I own an XM myself and am really into hydropneumatics, yet I have never heard about the suspension lowering when going at faster speeds! AFAIK the C5 equipped with the hydractive 3 system was the first model to change height according to speed :)

I used to drive a silver SM (ODP 591M) back in the late 70s in the West End of London. It's wonderful to drive and a real head turner. My all time favourite car.

Cette Citroën SM est magnifique 😎🎩 The Splendid blue of the body matches perfectly with the Brown leather interior Beautiful car indeed...to Cruise for long

Good video, just a point : the height corrector of the hydropneumatic system is totally mechanic, the clearance does NOT depend on the speed. Only the Citroen C5 adjust clearance depending on speed, with the third generation of hydropneumatique named " Hydractive 3"

In my young days, driving through Morocco through Atlas Mountains at steady 50MPH when a fleet of Police outsiders at huge speed in front of bright red Citroën SM driven by King of Morocco flashed past, pushing us off the road. Wow...hugely impressive. Very desirable car

One of Citroën ' s secrets / genius innovations: the notorious (green) spheres system...yeah the DS / SM cars were total masterpieces

My late father had a sm JUS843L what a great car. He rebuild the engine twice. With parts from Andrew brodie. Remember going to London to some strange garage under the rail lines. The place was full of Italys finest. We had a DS as well. Two cars ahead of their time.

Magnifique voiture, une légende en France, félicitation Monsieur.

A good match of an elegant reviewer with an elegant car - they're made for each other.

Lovely. I was 13 yrs old, when I saw the SM at the Los Angeles Auto Expo. I was blown away. I ended up owning one for 15 yrs, as well as a DS Pallas & DS Safari. Part of their failure was the ’73 oil crisis. You can likely add their price and (in the U.S.) poor dealer service support

Snap! I laughed aloud at your introduction as I have that same Corgi Whizzwheels SM sitting on my desk today, I've had it since the late 70s as a boy. Alas, I have yet to drive my dream car. One day.

I have one, wonderful car, unfortunately I inherited it from my father and he had an accident with it shortly before his passing, I don't think we'll ever be able to have it in as great a condition as it was. It was originally restored by my father to an incredible extent, it was always the best one in meetups. Word of advice if you ever drive one, be careful with the direction, it's extremely sensitive, much more than what you would be used to when at low speed, my father use to say this car has to be steered with the thumbs haha.

The SM was the first Citroen to have headlights that swivelled, the 1960s DS was. Hydrophobic Suspension and Self-centred Steering was also used on the DS. Same with the brakes.

Stunning car and a stunning colour too. Its classy and brilliant. Amazing what Citroen achived with this at the time.

Duesenberg had driving lights that turned with the steering wheel in 1929. They probably weren't the first though but it was on a production car.

My dad had 3 DS , the most comfortable car of the century, the turning lights were all installed on the DS. He dreamt of an SM but it was just too expensive .

Makes you wonder why Citroen don’t revisit some of their earlier designs FFS.

As a child I had a love for a sm citroen I had a Weekend job cleaning the new cars in a citroen an fiat garage in footscray, one day the sm came in weirdly it took all day cleaning that car as was pretending to drive it I still look back fondly thinking what a great day I had

Great intro to a great car! Thanks for this, well done in actually getting to drive your dream car, very few of us do! Fabulous car, I well recall a mate of mine driving us along a main road many years ago and a Citroen SM shot past almost silently and we were both very impressed. Very few seen these days and the innovations these cars had as mentioned in the video were world beating technology at the time, and STILL a fantastic car. Great video, thanks.

Very envious of your luck to drive an SM and a nice review of this unique car, I had a CX estate for a couple of years and it was so nice to drive. I always smiled starting it up first thing in morning the rear suspension lifted first then the large bonnet raised up to driving height and away you go. The self centering steering was really helpful when parking, I wish more cars today with electric power steering had this feature. It was also the best car I have used to tow a caravan the self levelling suspension kept the caravan level, and the long wheel base made it very stable and was hardly ever affected by crosswinds or passing HGVs on motorways.

Very nice made review! The problem seemed to have been mainly with the engine that broke down very easily and repairs came at exorbitant cost. It was later sort out, the maserati engine timing chain tensioner had a tendency to break in rough pull push situations which caused the engine to break valves and pistons. They fixed that in the following years, but the reputation was badly damaged. For the image driven high value "jet set" audience that surely was a no go. Many design and technical features of the SM lived on in the close following Citroen CX cars and seem to have worked relieable. CX Line cars were built up to 1991, so nearly 30 years without significant changes. The hydraulic steering systems of SM and CX were exceptional. Go through a 3 cm deep one sided puddle with a normal car and you feel how it tries to turn your steering wheel. Got through the same puddle with a CX and you feel nothing - it takes the straight line withoud irritation. That maybe bad for occasional drivers, but I think its great for experienced drivers that don't need that feedback to make road condition decisions. I once took a trip in a 120 horsepower CX Break (stationary wagon) that covered the distance of 1200 km (745 miles) in 10 hours, including heavy rain on a span of 300 km. (That's where the special hydraulic steering shines: no irritation forces from the street ever reach the steering wheel) After that I stepped out of the car with agile body tension. I wasn't tired at all ! Starting point was a camping site in Rome, finish was a little village in Austri, including a short break we took. I wouldn't do that nowadays for safety and legal reasons, but I was young and had a trusting girlfriend on my side. I also remember how surprised I was, beeing outpaced by a brand new Mercedes ML on the Italian Autobahn. That car did a cruising speed of 200 km/h (124 mph) with 5 people on board, which I didn't want to keep up more than a few minutes. It was a curvy part of the Autobahn in the alps. So cudos to mercedes at this point! Yes it also hit me *g* I doubt that they had an equal smooth ride like we had in the Citroen CX.

I had the privilege of driving a friends SM twice. And at excessive speeds too! Wonderful. Out of all the cars I have driven, and several Citroens, too, this is the greatest car ever made.

We had a Citroen Safari when I was a kid, in the early Seventies and I used to love the lift of the suspension. Happy days.

That brought back some memories, as I drove one for a few hours a quarter of a century ago. It was 'other worldly' in so many respects, but it was the amazing suspension that really gripped my attention.

At this time first came the DS ,the SM and then the GS and CX incredible cars ,still to this day remarkable cars to drive(but quite expensive) ,very safe ,ultra confortable on any roads.I own and daily drive a CX 2400 Palace 1980" model,much more reliable and cheaper than the SM Maserati engine ,and I could not change for another car ,Thanks for this video.

Thank you for this very nice video. It feels so relaxed and sincere. The SM is a masterpiece. Unfortunately they‘re getting more and more expensive as we speak. This one has an especially lovely colour combination on the in- and outside. Neven seen one like that before. It‘s quite a shame you couldn‘t keep the car. You two look like you were made for each other ;).

Thanks for an enjoyable video. As a child growing up in the US in the '60s, one of my favorite Corgi toys was a Citroen DS. I've always loved the uniqueness of Citroen. Never saw an SM until the mid '80s and thought it was a beautiful car. I think my only ride in a Citroen was in an economy model during a business trip to Germany decades ago. Not the same as a DS or SM but a thrill to be riding in a Citroen, none the less. I had to satisfy my appreciation of non-traditional automobiles by nearly 40 years of Saab ownership.

When I was a toddler the Matchbox SM was my favorite car. In the US I had many hot wheels but none compared to this odd Citroen. Over 40 years later and I still have it 🙂 great video

Lovely presentation, A car ahead of its times " une machine incroyable pour le temp"

I fell in love with the SM when I watched in the 70s the French movie " La Marge" with Joe d Allessando and Sylvia Kristel.

Great! I had that metallic-green Corgi-car too, it was one my favorite childhood-cars too and I am also dreaming for so many years, to drive a Citroen SM. This video is really cool!

I saw one in my grandfather's golf club car-park, when I must have been 6 or 7. The thing stood out as it was so futuristic. Put all the other 70s cars to shame. I've always wanted one since then.

Beautiful car - way ahead if it’s time. Great review and video. Thanks guys. Dilip.

Wow, that really is a beautiful, unique vehicle....what it must be like to walk out to your garage, open the door, and have THIS car as a choice to drive that day....✌🏻

Now that's a clean example ! Good job.

I remember going to Europe in the early 90’s after the fall. I laughed so hard when I saw my first Citreon, not that cars in the 90’s had all the best styles. Never seen an SM in person but man do I love it’s design more and more every time I see it

in the 70's my late father used to often drive from England to Marseilles on business in a new Cortina 1.6L. All day at 70 mph was so tiring in the Ford. Hunkered down low to the road, DS's would just waft by with ease and SM's, equally wafting at over 100 mph !

Great review of an icon of 70's futurism! I was in love with mine before I got to the end of the driveway, haha... What a car to drive! Best thing about buying a sketchy one is I get to pick the colour when I respray it... I love the blue on this one, but I'm leaning towards the "Brun Scarabee"... Cheers from Canada...

Pretty cool being in one with the window open while going fast.

Still an amazing-looking car, and very impressive in the flesh!

I had the same Corgi! but in blue, it just took me almost 50 years back in memory!

Looking at a lot of retro reviews of Citroen cars. Makes me want to try the 2CV and GSA. The XM was my personal favourite after Ronin. They have character. The SM looks futuristic even today.

The headlamp glass coverings are not heated. The horizontal lines (and text) in the glass is a design flourish. For comparison, the Citroen DS 21 headlamp coverings have vertical lines and they serve no function.

only the C6 carries on from this masterpiece

The French experience: conveyed to us by a gentlemen being the likeness of Joseph Bolongne, Chevalier to St-George; a fine musician, athlete and soldier. Nice car!

The Citroën SM was the peak of the brand. What a beauty! From that point, it went all the way down... how is that possible with such a heritage?! Merci pour ce beau reportage, in style!

Another of those cars that "I almost bought" in the 80's when they were pretty cheap used. I can say the same for it's soulmate, the Maserati Merak, which shared engines...

What an excellent review of a truly classic car. Subscribed. Thank you for sharing

Really good review, such a lovely car!

Definitely agree about the quirky pleasantness of the SM -- and I drove one yesterday. I also started wanting it at age 10. Still feeling great envy for the reinforced resin wheels, which I do not have and will not likely get. You did get one detail wrong: the ride height does not vary with vehicle speed. That said, it was the first car to have vehicle-speed-variable power steering.

Lovely nostalgia, growing up in South Africa I had the Matchbox bronze version of the SM, I recall that because of the cars shape it never did well on the yellow slotted tracks we raced these little cars on, hence it survived my childhood with no chipped paint! Could only afford a DS20/5 later in life, but that still had the magic suspension and mushroom brake pedal as well.as a colum shift 5speed! Avant garde and locally assembled as your Slough models. Sadly rusted badly even in our dry climes. I now have another childhood memory, actually two, w123 Mercedes, coupe and sedan, the Germans got the metal sorted, built like a bank vault!

I wish Citroen change is’range and rebuilt on day exceptionnels cars like DS, SM, CX. Today, Citroen is a shadow.....

This is bloody design - the real deal 🤗🤗🤗

Thankyou for this fair and open-minded review of a motoring icon. DS, CX, and indeed the SM all required a short period of familiarization. Most motoring journalists don't give themselves the time to fall in love with big Citroens, their loss.

The famous Johan Cruijff used to drive a Citroen SM in his spare time. He actually owned two of them, so he always had one for the road while the other one stayed in the local garage, yes the SM was (and still is) notorious for its short maintenance intervals and hi-maintenance dito costs. I know a local guy who ownes one, he confirmed this, yet with a big smile. I would be happy owning a Citroen SM to, it's one of the most beautiful designs in the history of cars.

Classy man driving a classy vintage car

Merci bien de rendre à César ce qui est à César cher Monsieur.

You now absolutely must have a drive of a Citroen CX. All those systems you so admire in the SM are present in all but the very earliest examples. The SM steering had 2 turns lock to lock whilst the CX had it increased to 2.5 but it still utilised the diravi control unit. I hear others saying to try a C6, a lovely car without doubt but, it isn’t a CX. For the ultimate comparison you should try and get hold of a CX Gti Turbo 2, it actually outperformed the SM by a small margin although it did take another 17 years before it caught up.

Love the sitting down scene at first, very well shot !

This particular example is my dream SM. The elegant dark blue over tobacco leather color combination, combined with the beautiful composite road wheels makes this car absolute SM perfection, sans pareil. I would not change one single thing (except perhaps get all that crap out of the boot). Oh, my God what a beautiful car!

I've only ever seen this car in silver and/or possibly bronze. But looks absolutely stunning in dark blue! 👍👍

The green toy car was in fact yellow . Wonderful car ahead of its time as with a lot of Citroens.

I feel a bit jealous of Kevin, and he obviously enjoyed his time with the SM! I can't remember seeing one in a dark colour before, but that blue with the tan interior is wonderful. The damaged headlamp trim and missing bolt were the only faults I could pick up such a lovely car. The owner is a lucky, luck person.

You lucky man! I will persevere with my humble DS because I am not rich enough to maintain an SM.

A great review, Kevin. You're the kind of dapper gent I can see behind the wheel of something Avant Garde like the SM on a daily basis.

A truly gorgeous car. Way underrated .. Way ahead of its time.