Citroën Traction Avant, the bleach chains Quays
If you make a list of the most remarkable cars technically innovative and memorable 20th century, many of them have one thing in common double chevron emblem of Automobiles Citroën SA Founded by a gambler, Citroën developed a reputation engineering audacity that almost every other automaker begging the world to build cars that were decades ahead of their time looking at the first big Citroen, the car known in France as the queen of queen road road Citroën traction 1934-1957 before.
André Citroën was born in Paris February 5, 1878, the youngest son of a Dutch diamond merchant and his Polish wife After studying at the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique, Citroën were in the French army as an engineer officer, he left the service in 1904, acquired the patent rights to a gear double helix and herringbone went into business manufacturing gears for industrial equipment.
Although Citroën business making equipment was successful, it was poached in 1908 with an offer to become the new chief engineer for vehicle manufacturers Emile Louis Mors Although this Citroen time was not particularly interested in auto it was one of France's leading experts in industrial production, so he wasted no time in revamping the bottom jaw operation and greatly increasing its production, he returned to his own business in 1913 and took the company public as the company Citroën Gears.
Citroën's thinking on mass production has been strongly influenced by American industrialist Henry Ford, Citroen and idolized he met during a visit to Michigan in 1912 Citroën, who was Jewish, was apparently either unaware or undeterred by notorious Ford Semitism Inspired by Ford's US plant complex, Citroën has created a huge modern factory on the quai de Javel in Paris, which has become one of the largest producers of First war ammunition World in France
Even before the armistice of 1918, Citroën began to think of new postwar applications for the huge factory in May 1919, he reorganized his business as Automobiles Citroen SA and soon began manufacturing a car under his own name the A Citroën model, designed by Jules Salomon, who had served in the army with Citroen.
Type A is simple, robust car, capable of a reasonable 40 mph 64 km h It was a solid commercial success, like his successors, type B and type C. They were solid, generally innocuous designs, but they became very successful thanks to a strong sense of tireless and inventive merchandising Citroën He was adept at concocting spectacular stunts to promote its goods, including payment to the name Citroën in lights on the side of the Eiffel Tower This aggressive marketing was paired with cheap prices, which translated into strong sales.
Unlike Henry Ford and Walter Chrysler P, Citroen was not an automotive engineer; He entrusted the design of its cars to its staff as Ford, he was fascinated by the mechanics of mass production how to make things faster, cheaper and more efficient, but unlike Ford, he had little intrinsic fascination with the cars themselves and was not an enthusiastic driver he chose the car as the center of his post-war work was mostly because he saw a market, especially for cars people cheap in the way of the model T Ford first Citroens were certainly not as gross as the model T, but they were born of a similar mindset.
So how does a transportation manufacturer unpretentious proletarian ultimately produce one of the most innovative cars of its time, paradoxically, the main objective of Citroën for the production of the economy Traction Avant was like Henry Ford, Citroen has recognized that development new models and establish tooling build, which is frightfully expensive cost much more than the refining constantly an existing product, however, Citroën was also a seller savvy enough to realize that any given product has a limited lifespan beyond which the model becomes obsolete too conceptual to be commercially viable.
The obvious solution, he concluded, was to develop a car that would be so blinding advanced that it would take years or decades for his rivals to catch even, much less surpass this way, the life of the useful production would be maximized, the cost of production could be reduced gradually, and Citroen to make a total return over its initial investment.
With a total height of 59 inch Touch Screen 1 5 5 meters, the Citroen Traction Avant was one of the cheapest cars in the world when first introduced, it is more than 8 inches 20 cm lower than the early thirties fords otherwise looks and not more of a Chevrolet twenty years later Despite this, the pull is quite spacious; the unitary construction means there is no classical frame rails, allowing the floor to be placed lower without sacrificing height Note the lack of running boards, very rare at the time; their removal allowed the body to be expanded to more interior space.
This philosophy was something else Citroen has shared with and perhaps had learned from Henry Ford In fact, Ford had pursued a very similar line of thought when considering a replacement for the venerable Model T, he hoped to follow a new model powered by advanced very unusual X-8 engine However, even Ford was finally convinced that these plans were impassable and grudgingly accepted the more conventional model instead Citroen was not so easily dissuaded from it remained relatively ignorant of the details of automotive engineering, Citroen was more isolated from conventional wisdom or practical considerations for which a particular idea or wouldn t be working more, he was a lifelong player with the superstitious faith in his own instincts a player and a tireless if sometimes reckless desire to throw all his money on a single number if he thought it would be profitable.
In 1932, Citroën launched what would be his last and greatest challenge of the development of any new model that he hoped to become sustainable car Citroen.
Citroën performance targets set were modest even by the standards of the time a top speed of 62 mph 100 km h and fuel economy of 33 mpg 6 7 liter 100 km However, the specifications it was considering were of a different order at a time when most cars, although expensive, had composite body and steel timber on the drive back powertrains and separate frames before conventional engine, he wanted to build UNITIZED, front wheel drive and automatic transmission.
All this was radical stuff for the early thirties and was a major undertaking, even for Ford or General Motors For Citroën, it bordered imprudence Although the company had become the fourth largest automaker in the world, the lavish spending of the Citroën and economic crisis had negative consequences on the company's finances for all its fascination with production efficiency, Citroën has never been particularly inclined to parsimony, whether in business or private life, a sharp contrast between him and Ford; being broke had rarely deterred from placing a bet or spending lavishly It was not an attitude that reassured his creditors, who grew more and more and more nervous Citroen, however, always in pursuit of a great victory enable it to repay all Markers.
The body of the Citroen Traction Avant is a self-supporting shell, but the engine, transmission and front suspension are carried on a chassis bolt In theory, the entire assembly could be unlocked and wheeled away like a wheelbarrow for repairs and maintenance, although it wasn t easy in practice Thirty years later, General Motors would use a similar approach to the Oldsmobile Toronado and Chevrolet Camaro Pontiac Firebird This 1939 Citroen Light 15, as all post-1936 and Pulls most modern cars, the steering rack and pinion, a novelty at the time the steering is very quick-lock lock two laps, but quite heavy.
The official story is that the car is now called the Traction Avant was designed solely by André Citroën and developed by former engineers from Renault and André Lefebvre Maurice Sainturat over a period of 18 months might have been true so far he went, but the design was certainly not created in a vacuum Back in December 1931, Citroën had visited the Philadelphia office of the Budd Company, which manufactured the matrices for Citroën body While in Budd he saw a prototype created by brilliant engineers and William Budd Joseph Ledwinka Muller a car drive front-wheel front wheel drive with an all steel body and a built V8 engine in Citroën aluminum had expressed curiosity about building and unitized wheel drive, so while his new car was not directly based on the design Muller Ledwinka, it seems likely that it was at least partly inspired by it.
Despite this precedent and past experience Lefebvre at Voisin, for which he had developed a prototype aborted FWD, LEFEBVRE and Sainturat had their work cut out to translate these advanced concepts to mass production, particularly on the calendar Citroën asked given these pressures, the results were a remarkable achievement dimensions and mechanical specifications, the new Citroën more like a car seventy years than any of his own time.
Designed by Flaminio Bertini and bearing a striking resemblance to the 1934 Ford traction was and remains a car low and debauched-looking lowered up to a foot of 30 cm lower than its contemporaries with unitized construction, it was much more spacious that its outer dimensions suggested its low center of gravity, independent front suspension still far from universal earlier, and the torsion bar springs longitudinal forward, transversely to the rear also has a smooth ride and handling the main practical disadvantage has a radius large enough steering, a problem compounded by the tendency of half shafts before Hooke's universal joint to bind in tight corners.
Although the car was a lot of progress, Citroën was forced to abandon at least one feature for the planned automatic transmission designed by Dimitri Sensaud of Levaud, the automatic is what we now call a continuously variable transmission He was very sophisticated, but it was easily overheated and too fragile After the prototype crashed ignominiously to a group of potential investors, designed a hurry Lefebvre manual conventional three speeds to replace him.
The engine was perhaps the least novel element of the car with a 1302 cc OHV 80 cu in four series making a modest 32 hp 24 kilowatts This was achieved on Floating electric motor supports, also found on cars contemporary Plymouth and used under license from Chrysler's 1302 cc engine met the original target of a 62 Citroën 5 mph top speed 100 km h, but only the practical limit was maybe 60 mph 97 km h and achieve this speed has been patient Certainly there were still few roads in the world speed limit 50 mph sustained over 81 km h, but many Citroen OutRun competitors could, at least in a straight line on the other, the Citroën was much more agile, not a word easily applied to most cars of the thirties.
The first version of the new car, which made its public debut at the Paris 1934 Exhibition, was called Citroen September 7 in France, according to its 7CV fiscal horsepower Since Citroën had already offered 7CV cars, added company traction or traction Avant FWD to distinguish the new 7 Citroens previous rear-RWD Although traction before was never official name of the model, it quickly blocked all models were popularly known simply as Pushups British cars were called twelve or twelve light, reflecting RAC taxable nominal motor power.
France, like many European countries, used to class and Tax automobiles based on their taxable or tax power is usually calculated on taxable power engine capacity basis rather than real, the power developed.
In France, tax power calculation formula commonly known as steam horse power steam name was abbreviated CV engine displacement in liters multiplied by 5714, rounded to the nearest integer, for example, traction Avant 7B s 1,529 cc 93 cu in engine had a 9CV score of 1 529 x 5714 August 74, rounded to 9 Great Britain and some US states have used the formula RAC Royal Automobile club for the fiscal power, which was the instead of the cylinder bore in inches times the number of cylinders divided by 2 5 on example, a six-cylinder engine with a cylinder bore 3 5 inches of 89 mm would have a nominal power of 29 taxable 4 regardless of stroke length.
Automakers often use the tax power of a car as its model name, for example, the immortal 2CV Deux Chevaux originally had a 375 cc 23 cu in engine whose fiscal power rating was 2 14, rounded to 2 HP didn t manufacturers always change these names when the engine displacement has changed, however; when Citroën 2CV bigger engine 602 cc 37 cubic inches, its taxable rated output actually increased to 3 HP, but the company had not been about to rename such a popular car.
The rating systems differ sometimes leads to identical cars with different power taxable in different countries, for example, Citroën pulls with 1,911 cc 117 c in the engine were called eleven ELEVEN France, meaning 11HP, but Fifteen UK -um meaning RAC 15 HP evaluation.
Today, most European countries base vehicle taxes on a combination of engine capacity, actual output, output CO 2 and emission class, so that the old taxable power systems are essentially obsolete .
Citroën for producing many of these cars, so the company equipped to build the Traction Avant, not only to a new plant in Paris, but also in factories in Belgium and Britain British cars, built Citroën works in Slough, was driving on the right, many British components and various minor changes to meet the tastes of the UK market.
Early Traction offered a choice of three body styles A Sedan four doors called sedan in the UK, a convertible roadster with two doors and a two-door coupe called False coupe convertible fixed head in the No UK was cheap , from about 17,000 francs in the market at home something like 1000 based on the exchange rate and 2,000 francs more than expected, but they were spacious, convenient, economical, and surprisingly entertaining to drive.
The chrome slashes through the Drive Before grid are the emblem Citroen, which is formally modeled on gear herringbone double helix that launched the commercial career of André Citroën since Citroën was a Freemason, some observers have expressed the the assumption that it is actually a Masonic symbol emblem at the base of the grid, which covers the front of the transmission, is a stylized phoenix an appropriate symbol given Citroen hopes that this model would boost his fortune marker offenders.
The British version of the 11HP, the Citroën Light 15, came standard with an array of wooden board and upholstery leather, adding a touch of luxury appropriate, since tensile certainly wasn t cheap course, all Car -MARKET UK had RHD Note the curious shifter, Citroën on the pedals rafters, and the speedometer of 80 miles per hour very optimistic.
Not surprisingly, the tension was extremely expensive to develop and launch, especially with the additional costs of the new plant construction and patent license fees for features such as engine mounts and front springs Citroën is hoped the new model would sell well enough to take away the red, but it was now more than 150 million francs over 7 million debt, a huge amount of money for the time December 21, 1934, it was forced to declare bankruptcy and down.
The creditor which Citroën was the most money was the Michelin tire company belonging to the family, who had also paid the price payment creative tactics Citroën In early 1935, Edouard Michelin took over the management of the company, a role he soon delegated to Pierre Boulanger André Citroën, whose health had been worn by the constraints of recent years, died July 3 to 57 years.
output Citroën and premature death does not mean the end of either the Traction Avant or company Although one might expect the Michelin family to cut their losses and either liquidate the company or require a more conservative course, a will recover their substantial investments inspired Michelin Boulanger and therefore to a degree of audacity even rivaling Citroën itself some ambitious ideas of André Citroën have been eliminated, and one version designed to 22cv traction powered by a 3822 cc 233 cubic-inch V8, but its plans to develop and refine traction continued unabated.
This Citroën Light 15 in France Eleven Lightweight Traction Avant is 168 inches 4,267 mm long, a little shorter than a modern compact, but it straddles a vast 114 2,908mm wheelbase 5 inches wheelbase is even more Normale , 121 5-inch 3086 mm and wheelbase of Family and Commercial are a huge 129 inch 3277 mm, comparable to a mid-sixties Cadillac the main reason for the long wheelbase is that the transmission and differential are sitting at the longitudinally mounted engine, similar tensile cords before that time most modern front-wheel drive compact have their engines mounted transversely bridge next to the engine rather than in front or behind it, allowing the nose to be shorter at the expense of a larger engine bay.
Like last Volkswagen Beetle or Porsche 356 Traction Avant evolved through a series of changes in early march Sedans and Convertibles Faux was a false roof moleskin leather insert, which was finally replaced by a full steel roof outside the access to safe was added in 1935 and new long wheelbase models of the great ENS and more Family nine passengers joined the original Lightweight models first of the car friction dampers were replaced with more efficient hydraulic shocks while steering rack and pinion was added in mid-1936, more sharpen the already excellent handling.
The 1302 cc 80 cu in engine was obviously underpowered, so it was replaced in a few months by a 1529 cc 93 cu bored by four with 35 hp 26 kilowatts That too was insufficient and quickly transferred to a 1628 cc 99 d original cu in engine combining the original hole with a longer stroke; it gave only 36 hp 27 kW but usefully more torque Technically, both 1 to 5 and 1 engine 6 liters had a French fiscal power rating of 9CV, but the company had invested too much in the promotion of Seven to want to risk to change the name.
From mid-1934, small engines have been complemented by a larger 1,911 cc 117 cu in 46 hp four with 34 kilowatts cars with larger engine were initially called 7 Sport, soon renamed 11 Eleven more accurately reflect fiscal power 11HP British cars were called Light Fifteen A long nose model six-cylinder, called 15 to 6 in France and six-cylinder in the UK followed in 1938, offering 77 hp 57 kW his 2867 cc 175 cu in six 15 was capable of 83 mph 130 km h, very respectable performance for the late thirties, but considerable additional weight on the nose makes the management was already eleven heavy even harder the best compromise and remained the choice more popular through most of the existence of pull.
Production was interrupted by the outbreak of the war and the German occupation, although Citroën's engineers continued to work secretly on new models of ideas before the war Pushups was popular with police officers and those who sought to escape from the police; cars rich career events throughout the continuing occupation as Pushups were requisitioned by the Nazis and the resistance between these adventures, the horrors of war, and the problem of rust, cars survival rate prewar is quite low.
The Citroën Light 15 Traction Avant, known as Eleven Light in France, is powered by a 1,911 cc 117 cu in OHV four, initially at 46 horsepower 34 kW, and later increased to 56 hp 41 kW for the 1939 adoption of dual carburetors this was enough to push this car 2350 lb 1065 kg to a maximum speed of 70 mph perhaps 113 km h; reach 62 mph 100 km ha took about half a minute Citroen has tried to develop a V8 engine 22cv Eleven by joining two ovens with a common housing, but it never went beyond the prototype stage 1 The 9-liter engine will prove be long lasting; a more refined version powered successor to the tension, the DS in the sixties.
Peacetime production resumed in late 1946, but with a very limited range of models and colors Traction The continuous Prior to evolve well into the 1950s, winning hydropneumatic rear suspension a simpler precursor system available later on the DS offered only six-cylinder cars in 1954 production continued until July 1957 finally a total of 758.857 units impressive for a very rare and quite expensive car.
launched in 1948, Citroën following cars were not less bold or innovative as the Traction Avant The 2CV was a car, people artfully designed single deceptively whose rustic looks belied the sophistication of its basic design DS, introduced in 1955, was a technological feat that still seems futuristic today as the latest cut SM GS long-term and popular, introduced in 1970, was less revolutionary, but not least individual, although the central engine of the rotation GS version Birotor, a product of a joint venture between Citroën and NSU increased locomotor called, was a costly failure.
Unfortunately, the mounting cost of these companies, combined with the first oil crisis and the ignominious withdrawal of Citroen on North American markets, has finally pushed the company back into receivership in 1974, the French government called for Citroen and Peugeot merge, creating a new entity, PSA Peugeot Citroën, completed by the summer of 1976 Unlike Michelin, which had supported engineering and stylistic innovations of the business, Peugeot has put the brakes on the ambitions Citroën wildest of pushing for the development of cheaper, land a little more down models while it would be difficult to apply this term to cars such as XM, which replaced the CX 1989 to over the next 20 years, there would be a gradual change of the radical simple eccentric.
To modern eyes, attractive style, but archaic date of the Traction Avant, but still ahead of its time a car, he survived for 23 years, longer than even André Citroën may have hoped, and as he expected, it took several years for other manufacturers catch up if the pull specifications do not seem unusual or particularly special, it should be noted that the unit valid front wheel drive cars with rack and pinion steering does not become currency current until nearly 40 years after pulling presented these characteristics.
Ultimately, however, the realization of the Traction Avant was not so much in the novelty of his engineering ideas were undoubtedly progress, but by no means unknown in the thirties but in the will of André Citroën in charge before so its more conservative rivals or sensitive didn t dare for example, even engineering Chrysler VP Fred Zeder, one of the architects of the Chrysler Airflow another competitor for the most advanced car thirties wanted nothing to do with the front wheel drive.
The eternal problem for players and innovators and Citroën was probably two is the difference between bold prescience and dumb luck is often apparent postmortem Whereas, it is hardly surprising that the vast majority of car manufacturers for cautious incrementalism on daring leaps; the financial consequences of jumping too far in the wrong direction are often heartbreaking and history is littered with reminders this novel is not always better, it would be a poorer and duller world without at least a few brave or foolish souls ready not only imagine what could be, but also put their money on the line to try to prove it.
If you look closely, you may notice that 1939 Traction Avant is a manual-control car right This is a light 15 saloon Slough built, one of 538 built in 1938 for export in the British Empire The Light 15 had a base price of around 248 and 1,250 standard came with a chrome grille, leather and wood trim on the dashboard; This car also has the sunroof sliding steel optional This car was sold in Wellington, New Zealand, in April 1939, it was requisitioned as in December by the Royal New Zealand Air Force and served as a staff car while throughout the war, now owned by the owners of AutoBooks in Burbank, California, whose logo currently adorns the doors for the record, we have no business relationship with AutoBooks other than being a customer and sometimes attend local events they organize.
Our sources included Arch Brown, Richard Langworth, and the Auto Editors of Consumer Guide, great cars of the 20th century Lincolnwood, IL Publications International, Ltd. 1998; Wiljan Cats Page Citroen Cats Citroën Net, accessed July 30, 2008; Mike Covello, ed imported cars Standard Catalog 1946-2002 Second Edition Iola, WI Krause Publications, 2001; Niels Heilberg, Citroen Faces d com accessed 1 August 2008; Julian Marsh beautiful Citroën site Citroënët, accessed July 30, 2008; Michael Lamm, Model A Birth interest car Acting Special Ford Cars 18 August to October 1973 reproduced in Hemmings Book of prewar Fords driveReports special magazine Autos interest under the direction of Terry Ehrich and Richard Lentinello Bennington VT Hemmings Motor News, 2001, pp 12-21, and two-alikes Ford to Citroen Cars Special Focus # 9 of January to March 1972 reprinted in ibid, pp 44-51; David Owen, Maker Gear Maker Arms Car Maker's legacy André Citroën Automobile Quarterly Vol 13, No. 2 Spring 1975; Jon Pressnell, Citroen Traction Avant, Classic Sports Car May 1999 pp 104-109; William K Toboldt and Larry Johnson, Goodheart-Willcox Automotive Encyclopedia South Holland, IL Goodheart-Willcox Company, Inc., 1975, and the Wikipedia entry on the tax power accessed 1 August 2008.
Chrysler engineer Fred disk Zederer remarks on front wheels have been described by former Chrysler designer Ed Sheard Michael Lamm 1931 Chrysler 6, Cars Special Interest 40 May-July 1977 reproduced in the pre-war Hemmings Book Chryslers driveReports Special interest automobile magazine ed Richard A Lentinello Bennington, VT Hemmings Motor News, 2002, pp 20-25.
Data on historical exchange rates for the dollar and sterling have been estimated on the basis of data of Lawrence H Officer exchange rate between the dollar United States and forty-one in 2009 Currencies, MeasuringWorth used by permission please note that any exchange rate values quoted in the text are approximate and are quoted for information and illustration; it is a car history, not a treatise on currency trading or the value of money, and nothing in this article are considered financial advice of any kind.
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