Daydreaming
06/28/2025
There are cars that have stayed with me ever since I heard or read about them as a child. One such car is the legendary, almost mythical Citroën Traction-Avant 22 CV, the "Super-Traction" with a 3.8-liter V8 engine and 100 hp.
However, it was never the sheer performance figures that captivated me, but the fact that to this day no one can say with 100% certainty that not a single example of it still exists. Certainly, the probability tends towards zero that, contrary to all research and investigation, a V8 has survived. But the fact that, for example, four of around 250 pre-production examples of the original 2CV "TPV" - for Toute Petite Voiture - survived, despite instructions from the then Citroën director Piere Jules Boulanger to destroy them all, always gave me quiet hope. Because the 22 CV was actually a done deal when it was presented in the summer of 1934 and even exhibited at the Paris Motor Show in October. And not just as a one-off, but as a cabriolet, faux-cabriolet, saloon and Familiale. The cars made their last appearance at the Brussels Motor Show at the beginning of 1935. Even the brochure material had already been printed, unlike the TPV, which had been developed in the strictest secrecy.
However, not only the cars, but also all the design drawings and probably also tools for the body parts such as fenders or hoods, which were shaped differently to the four or later six-cylinder Traction, are said to have been destroyed along with the nine to 20 22 CVs built - experts disagree on the exact number.
However, there have been various theories over the past 90 years, with some claiming that a car had been abandoned by a doctor in France, while others believe that a car involved in an accident had broken down in Belgium after the Brussels Motor Show and somehow been forgotten. None of the stories turned out to be true. And I'm actually quite happy about that, so I can dream a little further - for example, that maybe one day...
