be lowered manually or electrically, unlike the factory car. A trained salesman and connoisseur, Henri Chapron wanted the finest leathers. While Citroën bought its leathers from Costil in Pont Audemer, Chapron ordered his from Connolly in England. In 1968, Chapron made a special extended DS Presidential model for the government of Charles de Gaulle. In 1972, Chapron delivered two SM Presidential models to the government of Georges Pompidou. These gigantic four-door convertibles were first used for the 1972 visit of Queen Elizabeth II to France and continued in use through the inauguration of Jacques Chirac in 1995. The Presidentielle was pressed into service again in 2004, when Queen Elizabeth II reviewed troops on the Champs Elysees with Chirac 5 April 2004, at the start of the queen's three-day state visit to France to mark 100 years of formal friendship between France and Britain. The Entente Cordiale, signed in London on April 8, 1904, resolved a number of colonial disputes and helped to forge an alliance against a resurgent Germany. Citroën SM specials The Citroën SM Mylord was designed as a two-door full convertible - i.e. without a roll bar. It was given a notchback body with a small trunk lid, which at the rear end authentically took up the design of the original vehicle - especially the raised license plate. The prototype of the Mylord was presented at the Paris Motor Show in 1971, and sales began a year later. Production was complex, beginning with Chapron receiving a standard body shell from Chausson. The technology and the floor pan of the SM Coupé remained essentially unchanged; the wheelbase was also retained. The B and C pillars were removed, after which Chapron installed extensive reinforcements in the body area. The modified body was transported to Citroën, where the engine, chassis and other technical components were installed. Finally, the car was brought back to Chapron's workshop to do the interior and paint it. Overall, only a few Mylord convertibles were made; the sources vary between seven and eight copies. What is certain is that four vehicles were sold in France; two more went to Spain, one to the United Kingdom. One year after the Mylord Cabriolet, Chapron developed a sedan version of the production SM, the Opera. Chapron developed a sedan that remained true to the design of the original model and ultimately represented an extended version of the SM Coupé. Starting