SM Prototypes

Above Waldegaard finished second in the Ronde Hivernale de Chamonix in February 1972 in this SM housed in a modified DS body

This particular car above and right employs a styling artifice that would be carried forward to the production SM - the kinked up waistline at the leading edge of the C pillar.

Under the DS coupé body, the car was pure SM - Maserati V6, DIRAVI steering, floor mounted gearchange, front suspension mountings ahead of the front wheels, etc.

Since the mid sixties, the Bureau d'Etudes had been working on eliminating body roll - the Achilles Heel of the hydropneumatic suspension system - and to this end, developed a number of prototypes to test their ideas.

Many of the testbeds were D series cars but in 1973, an SM was also employed.

A number of prototypes were built to test the behaviour of powerful front wheel drive cars - this car dates from 1971 and was shortened by 0,57 m compared with the production car and weighed 1 169 kg as opposed to 1 490.

Above in 1973, this car was equipped with a fuel injected, 24 valve, 340 bhp engine giving a top speed of 285 kph.

This SM prototype, study N^o 17, was constructed in 1973 from a design brief prepared in 1971. The car was lowered by 0,07 m and was also fitted with the fuel injected, 24 valve, 340 bhp engine giving a top speed of 285 kph.
It was equipped with an hydropneumatic suspension system which allowed the driver to dial in the amount of body roll desired, ranging from lean angles regularly achieved in a 2 CV through to banking like a motorcycle.