The Citroen Traction Avant, one of the revolutionary automobiles of the 20th Century, rarely appears in the United States. Aside from an unusual junkyard find in the Eugene, Oregon area and a sighting in Switzerland, none have graced this website. This long absence comes to an end with this find in Vietnam, a highly appropriate place, with both considerable French influence and a history of revolution. This example belongs to the Ho Chi Minh City Museum, where it lives in the museum’s parking lot and has an ongoing role in the life of the city.
The Traction Avant was a pioneer of front wheel drive and unit body construction when introduced in 1934, the first production car with both design features. After various turn of the century experimental FWD designs and FWD race cars by J. Walter Christie, Harry Miller and others in the 1910s and 1920s, Cord introduced its L-29 luxury car in 1929, and five years later Citroen brought front wheel drive to a mass market car with the Traction Avant. The radical use of both front wheel drive and a unit body allowed the Traction Avant to be very low-slung for its time without a loss of interior space.
Citroen’s tradition of unconventional, avant-garde engineering began with the Traction Avant. The Traction Avant also ended the independence of the company, however, as its development costs drained Citroen of cash and forced it to declare bankruptcy in December 1934, leading to a takeover by Michelin. Michelin would own Citroen until it sold the company to Peugeot in 1976.
The transaxle of the Traction Avant is visible directly behind the grill, just beyond the opening for the hand crank starter. The Traction Avant’s drivetrain layout placed the engine longitudinally behind the front axle, as in the Miller race cars and the Cord L-29, the opposite of the longitudinal engine mounting ahead of the front axle used by Audi today. The layout allowed a short front overhang consistent with period car design, and balanced weight distribution.
The Traction Avant transaxle, which put a 1920s race car layout into a 1930s passenger car, would later turn both literally and figuratively 180 degrees. When John Cooper needed a transaxle for his revolutionary rear mid-engine Formula One cars in the 1950s, he found that the Traction Avant was the only suitable donor, since its transaxle could handle far higher power outputs than those of small rear-engine cars such as the Volkswagen. A Cooper T43 piloted by Sterling Moss won the Buenos Aires Grand Prix in 1958, the first victory in a Formula One race for a rear mid-engine car, and a Cooper T45 with Jack Brabham at the wheel won the Formula One championship in 1959.
Becoming part of Formula One milestones in 1958-59 was a sort of last hurrah for the Traction Avant, as Citroen had ended production in 1957, after 23 years and approximately 760,000 cars. Citroen produced most of them in its factory in Paris, with some right hand drive versions built in Slough, UK. Citroen would continue use the drivetrain, turned around 180 degrees, in the front wheel drive Citroen H Van.
The engine intruded as far into the wheelbase as it would in a period rear wheel drive car, but with a wheelbase of 122 inches in the standard model, there was still considerable passenger room inside.
The Traction Avant combined front wheel drive with an advanced independent front suspension with upper and lower control arms and torsion bars, and a rear beam axle with torsion bars. For comparison, in 1934 Chrysler introduced the aerodynamic, unit body Airflow, but it still used solid axles with leaf springs front and rear, as did Ford, Chevrolet and other low and medium priced American cars. In the luxury car market, Cadillac introduced independent front suspension in 1934, with Packard following in 1937 and Lincoln, in the next decade.
The Traction Avant was available with a variety of engines and wheelbases. The 7CV had four cylinder engines that increased in size from 1.3L, to 1.5L, and finally to 1.6L, with a 115 inch wheelbase. Citroen discontinued the 7CV after the Second World War. The standard 11CV had a 1.9L four and a 122 inch wheelbase, while the “light” 11CV had the 115 inch wheelbase of the 7CV (the 11CV engine would outlast the Traction Avant by several decades, continuing in the Citroen DS and CX). The 15CV, introduced in 1938, had a 2.8L six and a 122 inch wheelbase.
Citroen displayed a 22CV with a 3.8L V8 at the 1934 Paris Motor Salon and published sales literature featuring the 22CV, but it built only a few prototypes, and none are known to have survived.
Citroen offered several body types including a sedan, cabriolet, “faux cabriolet” hardtop coupe, and “Commerciale” wagon.
There also were limousines and a “Familiale” 9-passenger, 6-window sedan with a folding third row jump seat, each with 129 inch wheelbases.
Driving a Traction Avant Cabriolet through Paris, you would be certain to turn heads.
In its native country, the Traction Avant also gained a reputation as a gangster’s car. The six cylinder 15CV was one of the fastest cars available in postwar France, so it became a favorite getaway car for criminal gangs. A famous underworld figure of the time was Pierre Loutrel, aka Pierrot Le Fou (“Pete The Crazy”), who was a leader of the so-called “Gang des Tractions Avant.” The cars became a staple in numerous French gangster films and TV shows.
Back to the car at hand, a sedan which could be an 11CV or 15CV, and whose trunk identifies it as being from the later years of Traction Avant production. The original trunk was enlarged in 1952, replacing the earlier version with the spare tire built into its lid. Built between 1952 and 1957, this car would have arrived in Vietnam either soon before or soon after the end of French colonial rule in 1954.
The graceful sweep of the front fender and the headlight pods are in sharp contrast to the shape of the SUV and minivan transportation pods in the background. Note the lack of running boards, which Citroen deemed no longer necessary for passenger access because of the low floor made possible by the unit body.
Citroen’s sense of style extended to the door handles. Let’s open the front suicide doors and look inside.
After the stylish exterior, the interior of this Traction Avant is somewhat of a letdown, and best described as utilitarian. Aside from the odd downward-curving gearshift lever coming out of the dashboard, part of the Citroen tradition of unusual shift lever positions, there is nothing remarkable from the driver’s seat. UK-built cars had more luxurious wood and leather interiors, but the majority made in France had plain painted dashboards.
The driver’s seat behind the big steering wheel is quite cramped. The Traction Avant’s front wheel drive layout clearly did not benefit the driver much.
The real benefit went to the passengers in the rear seat, with cavernous leg room and ample headroom made possible by the low floor. The rear seat space and smooth ride by period standards made the Traction Avant ideal for being chauffeured down rural roads to inspect trees and workers at the Michelin rubber plantation outside Saigon.
This Traction Avant has no doubt seen many dramatic events – the end of French colonial rule, the U.S. war in Vietnam, the fall of Saigon. Now it lives a quiet life as a museum display at the Ho Chi Minh City Museum, itself witness to enormous turmoil over the years: originally completed in 1890 as the headquarters of the French colonial governor for southern Vietnam, it was used as a headquarters by five different governments in 1945 (France, Imperial Japan, the Vietnamese puppet king Bao Dai, the Vietnamese Communists, Great Britain), then used as the Presidential Palace of South Vietnam, before becoming a museum after the fall of Saigon in 1975. The building and the car complement each other well.
The Traction Avant is parked regularly next to an 18th Century Vietnamese cannon from the period prior to French colonial rule, used as coastal artillery in a fortress on the Mekong River south of Saigon.
The museum grounds also have various American classics of the 1960s – a UH-1 Huey helicopter, an F-5 fighter, an A-37 attack aircraft, and an M41 light tank, all of them captured during the fall of South Vietnam in 1975.
This Traction Avant is still very much alive and appears to have become a popular local attraction. Although on display at the museum, it does get driven occasionally, and its unique and antique character appears to have made it a popular subject of photographs. Here, a young couple and a team of photographers are taking engagement photos in it, one of several couples having wedding or engagement photos taken at the museum on the same day. So after decades of war and hardship in their early decades, both the car and the building have become settings for normal and happy events. It is as good a fate as any for a revolutionary French classic created during a turbulent time.
Great car that I’ve known relatively little about up until now. It always amazes me that they produced this car into the 1950s with little styling updates. I know this occurs more often in more recent times, but I can’t think of many cars originally introduced in the 1940s that lasted some 20 years.
On a completely unrelated note, you mentioned this car’s lack of running boards because Citroen deemed them “unnecessary”. Good move. I hate running boards and honestly think they’re unnecessary even on most large SUVs. I always feel like I’m going to trip when they’re present. They’re too narrow to provide stable footing, yet wide enough to get in the way when I choose not to use them.
Brendan, we Brits hung on to our 1940s designs when we got them right. How about the original Land-Rover, which ran for decades and is still alive in spirit in the current (soon to end) Defender? Or the Issigonis Morris Minor, which was built from the 1940s to 1971? Oh, and don’t mention Morgan…
One of André Citroën’s motives in creating a car this advanced was precisely that he didn’t want to have redesign it all the time, which had proven to be very costly with the company’s previous conventional designs. So, he wanted something that could remain in production for 10, 15, 20 years with minimal changes.
Two other highlights of the TA are worth mentioning :
Citroën launched a TA with the hydraulic suspension of what was to become the Ds on the rearaxle for late |Ta models.
Citroën was one of the first (with Kaiser Frazer) to introduce the 5th door or hatchback on the later TA’s., called ‘porte malle’ or steel door.
Unfortunately for them it was Renault with the R4, introduced in 1961 as a Citroën 2Cv competitor that made the world see the practicality of the hatch.
Still very popular here as a classic wedding car.
Chouette! Nice profile, really like that old photo illustration of the engine pulled away from the unibody.
A great and rare find, thanks for this. Do I have this right – at one point (say, 1956) Citroen would sell you a 2CV, a DS Goddess or one of these? Quite a variety.
I remember reading about these in SIA years ago. These are intriguing cars. And attractive.
Yes. Traction Avant 1934-1957, DS 1955-1975, 2CV 1948-1990.
Hi Robert, Great article. On several occasions I have read these cars were a favorite of Charles de Gaulle’s.
De Gaulle must have had a special relation with Citroëns, especially with the DS:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/citroen-helps-de-gaulle-survive-assassination-attempt
One small correction: Mike Hawthorn won the 1958 World Championship in a Ferrari. Cooper won in 59 and 60 with Blackjack Brabham at the wheel.
You are right, I mixed together Stirling Moss’ Buenos Aires Grand Prix win in a T43 in 1958, the first win for a rear mid engine car, with Brabham’s championship in a T45 in 1959. The Traction Avant transaxle remained the same, though!
I will see if I can correct this detail.
Hi Robert, thanks for pointing out the use of the Citroen transaxle in the Coopers; never was aware of that. Apparently the T45 came about after Ron Tauranac suggested step-up gears in the transaxle to lower the engine and centre of gravity.
Vive les garagistes!
Thanks Robert,these were familiar to UK viewers of the Maigret detective show.The V8 car used a Ford flathead to see if it could be done but there wasn’t enough money for Citroen to make their own V8 and it was soon abandoned
The advertising page in the feature above shows the V8 with the same bore and stroke as the 1911cc four, so they obviously intended to do their own.
As an aside, I remember reading an early sixties magazine article about an engineer who put two Peugeot 203 motors together to make a V8, and put it in a 403 – back when it was a current model. Amazing what some people can do. And imagine a 3.8 litre V8 Traction Avant – Wow!
Great article on an interesting car in interesting circumstances. I looked up the word “Avant” on Google translator and it comes up as “forward or front.” Funny how a utilitarian name like “Traction Front” sounds quite avant-garde to American ears (mine anyway) when attached to a somewhat exotic car called the Citroen Traction Avant.
Traction avant = Front wheel drive
and from Maserati, Quattoporte = Four door
Yes, foreign names do sound more glamorous…
Tell me about it! Ferrari Testarossa = Smith Redhead.
These cars so cool…. always wanted one.
A life-long lust object. Make mine a a smooth-running 15CV six, which is quite capable of keeping up with modern traffic.
Those odd shift levers are of course a function of necessity, as they are the rear end of a long rod that extends over/beyond the engine to work the gearbox, which (at least on the 2CV) has a “stick” coming out of it upon which the long lever works. It’s sort of like a very long hand extension to work the conventional stick way up in front.
I’m just guessing here, but I suspect that one does not power shift a Traction Avant.
There’s a daily driver TA in Soho in the heart of London, dark green, well-worn and well-loved, been around for years. Probably belongs to some artistic or theatrical type!
Theres a light 15 available for rental at Hooters car hire in Napier great cars oh and 1934 Chevrolet went to Dubonnet front suspension on Deluxe models only the standard model kept leafs up front
I presume the cars of Hooters Car Hire come with Hooker Headers.
Most are stock pre WW2 American cars.
Or John Steinbecks grapes of Wrath Hudson truck
As a side note for the uninitiated, the Citroën Light 15 was the U.K. version of the Citroën 11 Légère (which was actually made in the U.K. for a while, in a factory in Slough). The smaller four-cylinder car (called 7CV in France, but actually 9CV by 1935) was called the Standard 12 in the U.K.
The different names come from the different French and British taxable horsepower rating systems and get especially confusing because in France, the six-cylinder Traction was called 15. I don’t know how often the six was sold in the U.K. (I don’t think it was built there), but it would have been rated 23 HP on the British RAC system.
The Traction Avant reminds me of the Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 in the first Godfather movie.
Those European gangsters sure had more style than Americans. John Dillinger preferred pedestrian Ford V8s.
Ford V8s were easy to steal and could outrun the cars cops were issued with he didn’t need a TA.
I had a similar thought re: the Traction Avant vs. the Ford V8, and the stylishness of each. They had in common that they were the fastest commonly available cars in each country, so each was the right choice in its country.
As Gem mentioned, the Citroen used the flathead Ford in its 22CV Paris Salon display cars, so the Traction Avant and the Ford V8 are connected in another way.
Matra(French Ford) became Simca which sold to Chrysler who sold out to PSA which is Peugeot/Citroen so yes very related though the engine used was probably the 2.2L V860 as used in the English V8 sedans and later the Pilot
André Citroën was a great admirer of Henry Ford’s. The Traction also looks a great deal like a miniature ’34 Ford.
There was a reason Dillinger and other Public Enemy Era gangsters(such as Bonnie and Clyde) liked the Ford V8, it was fast for its day and durable. It is very doubtful that the Cord 812 or the Citroen T.A could have taken the abuse these Flatheaded Ford V8’s had to put up with. American gangsters were not looking for a stylish car to drive slow to look good in but a fast durable car that could outrun the law after a bank heist
When I was a kid, we had neighbors who had the four-cylinder version — I had the extended trunk so it must have been from the early 50s. I remember one snowy morning riding to school in it, and we passed a lot of stuck cars on the long hill up to the school. That seemed pretty cool to a 10-year old. The family also had several Panhards (!), a Peugeot 403, a 48 Lincoln Continetal Cabriolet and 1 53 Linocln Capri convertible.
I think the gear position indicators on these are in Roman numerals too, I, II, III and IV. How romantic.
Indeed.
Only I, II and III – it’s a 3-speed. I believe that a common upgrade is to substitute the stronger 4-speed gearbox with engine from the ID19.
Only 3, you’re right.
Good article.
As much as I like 1930s “Streamline Moderne,” there’s something refreshing about this car. Form follows function, and the details aren’t treated like jewelry, yet it’s not at all stark or brutish. Je t’aime.
And engine behind front axle makes more sense than in-front-of, non? For weight balance but not packaging, I guess.
Nice article and the dress caught in the door is funny especially since it happens more than one would think. My favorite bodystyle is the Traction Avant Cabriolet.
I may go to Vietnam next year. Because of you, Robert, I will have to look this car up. A memorable article, thank you.
There’s another one in Luang Prabang, Laos. Similar to the one my grandparents imported from the UK into New Zealand in the early 50s and had when I arrived in Auckland (age 7) almost exactly 60 years ago today! I still remember the grating gears, odd shift and the ignition timing adjuster.
I love the corrugated floorboards. I love the oddball shifter. I love everything about these cars.
Great writeup on an interesting and significant car – thank you!
I always found it interesting that the Traction Avant and Airflow both introduced unibody construction (independently, as far as I know) at the same time in different places.
More than 10 years after Lancia debuted the unitary construction Lambda though
This post brings back memories as I have seen the car while visiting this museum. I encountered this car while in Colonia Del Sacramento, Uruguay.
My favourite has always been the coupe, a very rare car indeed. A photo of the 1934 22CV V8 coupe was found a few years ago — an automotive wet dream! http://images.forum-auto.com/mesimages/338945/22.jpg
The Saigon car is a long wheelbase 11CV (definitely not a 6 cylinder 15CV). If you ever go back to Vietnam, check out the Hotel Metropole in Hanoi: there are two Tractions similar to this one always parked in front.
This one is in Luang Prabang (Laos). It’s a mid-50s LWB model — more room inside than in a Series 75 Caddy, but fewer gadgets…
I stayed at an art deco hotel in Poland last year, and they used a TA as a limo service for guests. Really added to the hotel experience.
Another image… I recall now that hotel was called the Bohemia. Very nice.
PKW,
Thank you for the story and photos! I cannot imagine myself going to that part of Poland, but if I ever pass through, I will have to look up the hotel and the car. I saw that the hotel features the car in its main publicity photo on Tripadvisor, so they clearly are quite proud of their Citroen.
This was also a get away car in The Sound Of Music, when the Von Trapp family escapes after trying to hide in the abbey. I saw a lot of these cars in Istanbul, with VW bug tail lights. I remember seeing an old Peugeot of the same vintage with headlights inside the front grill.
Is that a spare door handle lying on the back seat?
Just catching upon this post…. for last 3 years have owned a 1955 Commerciale (hatch back) version of the long wheelbase TA in London UK. Having been “updated” with an ID19 engine and 4 speed gearbox it easily keeps up with traffic, will cruise at about 65-70 mph on motorways (don’t like to push it) and with the wonderful front wheel drive surprises modern car owners as it keeps up with them on our windy A roads. With an easily removable rear seat 2 people could easily camp in this as well , keep meaning to do it…
Also have a 1971 DS20 at the moment, have owned a few over the years, wonderful cars.
photo of the commerciale
Favorite car of French heroin dealers, considering that it was great getaway car, and it’s rumored that the heroin dealers smuggled heroin under the floor boards (remember “The French Connection”?).
Favorite car of French heroin dealers, considering that it was great getaway car, and it’s rumored that the heroin dealers smuggled heroin under the floor boards (remember “The French Connection”?). You could call it a “Marsailles Medicine Mobile”!