George Emory sez:
Hydrolastic-type suspensions were also used on a few French cars (Citroen?),
but never gained any popularity.
The Citroen suspension most often encountered is not Hydroelastic,
but fully hydraulic. An engine driven hydraulic pump supplies expensive
hydraulic fluid (Vegetable oil will do in a pinch) to the lower halves
of the wheel struts, the upper halves are essetially air bladders. Ride
height is adjustable by pressure, and individual wheels can be raised
and lowered for wheel changes. The system is much more reliable than it
sounds, and repairs when needed are not expensive. At the time I owned
my SM, it ran about $11 a wheel.
The brakes operate off the same pump and are very strange upon the first
encounter. There is a large bulb on the floor that you stomp on; braking
is controlled by foot pressure rather than by travel. They work extremely
well.
I can't remember too many details of the 2CV suspension, other than it
being some sort of cross-linked torsion bar setup with rubber damping.
Suspensions on Renaults, Peugeots, and Simcas are conventional, Panhards
used some strange upper and lower transverse leaf spring setup.
Air-bag suspensions were popular on some '50's finned American monsters
like the Edsel; they were most unreliable.
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