I bought a set of 4 new plastic door cards ready for re-trimming when I found another couple of good (left-hand) 'breast implants' - the Dunlopillo molded padding which covers the arm rests.

On cloth covered rests these always go hard and crusty; so I had to find some from vinyl covered cards - which are not that easy to find now, because most of the later low-specification cars (D Specials) used more modern padded handles instead of the teardrop-shaped armrests.

There is also an element of 'plucking up courage' to do this job because the way they were put together originally is very strange. The factory trmmed and fitted the armrest first - and then applied cloth and vinyl around it by stapling it to a strange curved former which was in turn stapled to the main door card. See what I mean by clicking the first thumbnail top left.

I decided I could do it a better way (so that the trimmed armrest could be attached at the end) - but it was still complicated . . .

There is one detail of this car which identifies it as a French ID19 - the plastic "Cornets de Frites" - or rear indicator housings on the roof. On most DSs (and UK-market IDs) these are made from stainless steel. The plastic veriety were made from very fragile translucent red material which was prone to getting broken and tended to suffer from UV light over a number of years and turn dull opaque brown. One of the housings on this ID had cracked at the mounting hole underneath, and it is near impossible to glue successfully. However I had a go at this and then carefully rubbed them down and sprayed them with adhesion promoter, Peugeot Diabolo Red and clear laquer. I left the s/s end rings in place (these are often fitted to disguise a chipped rim). I was quite pleased with the result - although some people think they are a little garish.

At Citromobile 2013 I managed to find a pair of these "Cornets" in very good condition (not new, but still translucent) - a rare find. I'll probably fit these over the winter.

The other job I'm planning is to remove the wiper motor and investigate why it seems to be slowly flattening the battery (slight short). Unfortunately this means taking half the dashboard out to get at the mounting bolts . . .

I'm finishing with a few of the wonderful photos of the car in action taken by Martijn van Well as I and a couple of friends drove back to the ferry from the Citromobile 2013 show near Amsterdam.

We were running late (last car on the ferry) and were doing upwards of 100kph most of the way. I suddenly realised that there was a Citroën Ami 8 Service Van (602cc) gaining on us and there was Martijn, taking these shots one-handed as he went past. We spent the next 20km overtaking each other every so often as he took more pictures . . .

Click here for previous page of ID19 restoration

Click here for first page of ID19 restoration