France has marked the 50th anniversary of one of the great design icons of the last century - the Citroen DS, or Deesse, saloon car.

Hundreds of DS cars from around Europe drove in procession past the Arc de Triomphe in central Paris.

Known by its nickname, the Goddess - Deesse in French - the car was an instant sensation when it went on display at the Paris car show in 1955.

Nearly one-and-a-half million were made during its 20 years in production. ...

PARIS, Oct 9 (AFP) - Hundreds of "Goddesses" paraded through central Paris on Sunday morning - not a religious festival or a fashion show, but a rally to mark the 50th anniversary of one of the great design icons of the last century: the Citroen DS saloon car.

Crowds lined the route leading from the Arc de Triomphe to the Eiffel Tower in order to cheer 1,600 enthusiasts from across Europe driving vehicles of varying colours and vintages, but all with the same curving splendour that made the DS a quintessential object of desire.

The "Goddess" - a play on DS or Deesse in French - was an overnight sensation when it went on display in October 1955 at the Paris motor show, with Citroen taking orders for 750 cars within 45 minutes of the opening and a total of 12,000 by the end of day one.

"It must have been like seeing a flying-saucer landing, when you think of the type of cars that were on the roads in post-war France," said Michel Weiss, secretary of France's leading DS appreciation society.

Conceived by the brilliant Italian designer Flaminio Bertoni, the Citroen DS was both a thing of original beauty and a technological marvel. The sensually curving bodywork was a million miles from the plodding utilitarianism of most mass-produced vehicles of the time.

... For many in France the "Goddess" conjures up nostalgic feelings from the "trente gloriouses" - the idealised post-war era when wealth and scientific progress marched hand-in-hand, Alain Delon and Brigitte Bardot cavorted on still unspoilt Riviera beaches, and Charles de Gaulle ruled France with patriarchal benevolence.

Indeed it was de Gaulle who spotted the vehicle's propaganda potential and made it the staple of the presidential fleet - an inspired choice because in 1962 it was the DS's capacity to stay on the road at speed despite two shot-out tyres that arguably saved him in an assassination bid outside Paris.

Earlier it was the cultural philosopher Roland Barthes who elevated the DS to truly iconic status when he devoted an essay to the car in his groundbreaking "Mythologies."

"The DS - the 'Goddess' - has all the features of one of those objects from another universe which have supplied fuel for the neomania of the 18th century and that of our own science-fiction. The Deesse is first and foremost a new Nautilus," Barthes wrote. ...