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The Citroën SM was an extraordinary car in its day. Much has been said and written about it. Also by us, so for the story of the SM you can read this earlier article. The car came under the spotlight again last year as DS Automobiles made a modern reincarnation of it – unfortunately with no production plans. Since the SM is well known in general, this week we are focusing precisely on the one we spotted.

The spotted specimen

In Den Bosch, we saw this 1975 Citroën SM Injection, which has been in the Netherlands since 2016. As an Injection, the SM is powered by the original 2.7-liter V6, which was fitted with modern fuel injection starting in 1972. That’s also when power increased slightly, to 131 kW (178 hp). From 1973, a 3.0-liter version without injection was additionally available.

The wheels of the Citroën SM

The spotted example also stands out because of its wheels. Originally, the Citroën SM was available with steel rims with stylish stainless steel hubcaps. However, these steel rims were (and still are) not always stable at high speeds. Therefore, Michelin – Citroën’s owner at the time – already offered optional rims made of synthetic resin and fiberglass. Known as the Roues Résines, these rims weigh half as much as standard steel rims. They also have a somewhat sportier design, see the photo below. The Michelin rims remained in production through 1992.

So for the time being, the parts supply was fine, but in the recent past, the synthetic resin rims in good condition began to become rare and thus pricey anyway. Demand remained, as still the original steel rims are not ideal at higher speeds. The company Regembeau dived into that market with aluminum replicas of the Michelin synthetic resin rims. The company SM2 also makes them, but in a “modern” larger rim size.

However, the rims on the Citroën SM we spotted are of yet another type. To be honest, we can’t immediately figure out what type these are from. Certainly before the replicas from Regembeau and SM2, there were more aftermarket rim types popular for the SM.

The Citroën SM in the Netherlands

Often for the Gespot we also look up how many examples of the spotted car are (still) in the Netherlands. In the case of the Citroën SM, the database returns 319. This is still a surprising number, although with a total of almost 13,000 examples produced, the SM is not super exclusive.