Panhard & Levassor DS

Make	Panhard & Levassor
Production	1929 to 1937
Class	Motor car
Type	Luxury
Fuel	Petrol engine
Engine	6-8 cylinder
Engine position	front
Body	four-door sedan

The Panhard & Levassor DS is a four-door luxury sedan launched by the French car manufacturer Panhard & Levassor in 1929. The letter S stands for the French word "surbaissé", which refers to a frame that is lowered between the axles in order to achieve a lower vehicle height (low frame).

The initially manufactured model 6 DS had a slide-controlled 6-cylinder in-line engine with 3507 cc, corresponding to 19 CV. There was a classic, 6-seater sedan with a long interior without a luggage compartment (see photo above left) and a 4-seater sedan with a shorter interior and rear luggage compartment (Berline, see photo above right), and various coupe and convertible versions , In 1929 only 4 copies were produced. Until the replacement of this model in 1932 there were a total of 509 pieces.

Parallel to this first model, there was a 1929 prototype 8 DS with the more powerful 8-cylinder inline engine of the previous model 35 CV. This had 6350 cc capacity. The following year ran the series production of the 6-seater sedan with a slightly smaller engine of 5084 cc displacement (29 CV). From 1935 the car was called simply 8 cylindres . From both versions of this top model until 1938 only a total of 43 pieces were made.

In 1932, the 6 DS was replaced by the 6 DS RL , whose engine had 4080 cc displacement (23 CV). RL stands for "roue libre" . The 6-seat long version was launched as 6 DS RL2 . In 1932, only a prototype with the designation 6 DS 23 CV was manufactured, only in the following year began mass production. From 1935 the car was called simply DS . Like its predecessor, it brought it to the setting of the model 1938 to 509 copies.

In 1934, the bodies were reworked: The "Panoramique" versions announced as a major improvement had three-part windshields, which in addition to the now narrower main disk had two small disks in the area of ​​the A-pillars. At the same time, these vehicles had a further enlarged engine with 4783 cc displacement (27 CV). The cars were sold as 6 DS RL-N Spécial . From 1935 they were called simply DS Spécial and were built 142 times until 1937.

Also in 1934 was a DS à Gazogène . In this prototype, a gas generator already known from commercial vehicle construction was added to a 4-seater sedan . The wood gas was processed in an engine from the smaller model 6 CS with 2861 cc displacement (16 CV). In 1936, four more copies were made in the same pattern. This DS Gazogène 19 CV had the engine of the model DS Spécial with 4783 cc (contrary to the designation 27 CV).

From 1937 the Panhard & Levassor Dynamic 160 replaced the DS series.