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90 years of Citroën Traction Avant - Avant-Garde

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Created on October 29, 2024

Text:

Gerhard Schütz

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Archiv Gerhard Schütz

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Archiv Gerhard Schütz

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Citroën 7 (1935) - Advertised under the collective term "Traction Avant"

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Citroën 11 Légère (1938) - recognizable by the yellow "Pilote" wheels

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Citroën 11 (1939) - Police version with new radiator grille to disguise the siren

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Citroën 15-Six H (1954) - with hydropneumatically sprung rear axle

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Citroën 11 Commerciale (1954) - with its long wheelbase and large tailgate, it was practically a fast delivery van

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Citroën 11 Familiale (1934) - Almost a minibus: eight people in three rows

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Citroën 11 Commerciale (1939) - livestock truck with easy access

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - Accident safety as a sales argument: thanks to the stable monocoque, the car was even still roadworthy

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Citroën 11 Commerciale (1954) - Estate car with 500 kg payload for many baguettes

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - Drives through bends as if drawn on a circle. The anchor is of course a double angle

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Flaminio Bertoni - sculptor and designer for Citroën

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - in the wind tunnel

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - Sheet metal press from Budd for the body side panels

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - smooth, clad underside, torsion bar suspension

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - Cutaway model of the bodyshell

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - To show how modern the bodywork of the new Citroën was, an illustration of a conventional frame like that of a competitor ...

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - ... while the Citroën had a self-supporting body

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - Three-speed gearbox in front of the front axle

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - Suspension and drive of the right front wheel

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - rigid rear axle with torsion bar suspension

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - hydraulically actuated drum brakes on all four wheels

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Citroën 11 (1955) - front axle with wishbones and telescopic dampers, spring rods parallel to the oil sump

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Citroën 11 (1955) - Rear axle with very narrow trailing arm to the spring rod and diagonal Panhard rod for lateral guidance

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - The driving stool is only attached to the body with four bolts

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - Illustrations from the brochure to show the advantages of the chosen vehicle design

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - the rear of the four-cylinder engine. Clearly visible on the right and left/ the engine mounts with conical springs ("moteur flottant")

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - Cross-sectional drawing of the engine

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - double universal joint from Glänzer-Spicer, not homokinetic

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Citroën Traction Avant (1934) - cutaway model of the three-speed gearbox

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Citroën 15-Six (1939) - the left-hand G-engine installed until 1947

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Citroën 11 Cabriolet Langenthal (1951) - External coachbuilders also built coupés and convertibles. Langenthal built 50 examples with four-cylinder engines and two with six-cylinder engines

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André Lefèbvre - Citroën's ingenious designer

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André Citroën - entrepreneur and visionary

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Citroën (1925) - Illuminated advertisement on the Eiffel Tower

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Citroën 11 (1955) - striking front with large double angle

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Citroën 11 Légère (1938) – zu erkennen an den gelben "Pilote"-Rädern

Citroën 11 (1939) – Polizei-Ausführung mit neuer Kühlermaske, um die Sirene zu verkleiden

Citroën 15-Six H (1954) – mit hydropneumatisch gefederter Hinterachse

Citroën 11 Commerciale (1954) – mit langem Radstand und grosser Heckklappe quasi ein Schnellieferwagen

Citroën 11 Familiale (1934) – Fast ein Kleinbus: acht Personen in drei Reihen

Citroën 11 Commerciale (1939) – Viehtransporter mit bequemem Einstieg

Summary

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the Citroën Traction Avant, a car that was even further ahead of its time than the famous DS when it made its debut. This article takes a holistic look at the revolutionary car and places it in the history of the automobile.

This article contains the following chapters

André Lefèbvre - "The conductor who conducts his own score"
Technology: a revolutionary overall package
Bodywork
Space concept
Stability
Distribution
Epilogue

Estimated reading time: 11min

Preview (beginning of the article)

"Traction Avant", abbreviated to "Traction", is the French term for front-wheel drive. The word is derived from the Latin "trahere" for "to pull". The car is therefore pulled (at the front) and not pushed from behind, just as horse-drawn carriages were pulled in the past. (When Enzo Ferrari allegedly opposed the central engine design in racing car construction in the 1950s with the sentence: "The oxen belong in front of the car", he was not referring to the front-wheel drive, but to the position of the engine). In terms of driving dynamics, front-wheel drive tends to be the safest solution for mass-produced cars: when cornering too fast, the front of the car tends to push outwards, and this is instinctively corrected with more steering (with rear-wheel drive, on the other hand, the rear often pushes outwards in the same case, which requires counter-steering that is not intuitive for the everyday driver to correct). Further advantages: Directional stability on the straights and traction in winter.

Welcome to Zwischengas!

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Images of this article

Citroën 11 Légère (1938) – zu erkennen an den gelben "Pilote"-Rädern

Citroën 11 (1939) – Polizei-Ausführung mit neuer Kühlermaske, um die Sirene zu verkleiden

Citroën 15-Six H (1954) – mit hydropneumatisch gefederter Hinterachse

Citroën 11 Commerciale (1954) – mit langem Radstand und grosser Heckklappe quasi ein Schnellieferwagen

Citroën 11 Familiale (1934) – Fast ein Kleinbus: acht Personen in drei Reihen

Citroën 11 Commerciale (1939) – Viehtransporter mit bequemem Einstieg

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