The SM embodied Citroën's early-seventies technological aspirations, with the Maserati-engined coupe placing third in 1971's European Car of the Year standings. The DS-based car offered spicy performance from its Italian V6, but that power was deemed more than sufficient by the bigwigs who saw the SM as more luxury cruiser than all-out sports car, and the engineers' excitable plan to build a range-topping V8 model was canned.
...but that wasn't good enough for private collector Philip Kantor. Aware that a prototype V8 engine had been built for development purposes, he tracked it down to fellow collector Hermann Postert, whom he persuaded to sell it. He then embarked on a painstaking mission to build a factory-quality SM V8, just as Citroën would have made if they'd decided to go ahead with it. The result can be seen in these photos. Not a bad effort, eh?
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