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CITROËN CELEBRATES 80 YEARS OF THE TRACTION AVANT
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AT PLAY
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Above
during the official French visit of Britain’s King George VI and his
wife Queen Elizabeth from 19 to 22 July 1938, their daughters,
Elizabeth and Margaret, were presented with two dolls, called Marianne
and France, by French girls as part of a national fund-raising
initiative.
Along with beautiful clothes designed by top Parisian fashion
designers, each of the dolls came with her own Traction Avant cabriolet
with a personalised number plate.
Below the
made-to-measure production of the models – with right-hand drive,
naturally – was entrusted to the AEAT coachbuilder firm, which worked
from nature.
The coachbuilders are photographed here with their model in the
courtyard of the company’s workshop in Neuilly. The car on the left is
light green and the one on the right is blue.
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Below
at the wheel of a “7C“, Swiss actress Myno Burney takes part in a
gymkhana organised on 1 June 1938 as part of the Automobile
Championship of the Union of Artists Sports Club.Fellow actor Albert
Préjean bends down to count the skittles!
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Below
the Traction Avant pulling skiers. For a film shoot or a news reel? A
new take on the sport in Paris, on the famous Avenue Foch,during one of
the winters after the war.
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AT CONCOURS D’ÉLÉGANCE…
Between 1920 and 1939, Concours d’Élégance were
organised in France in Hyères (April), Cannes (April), Bagatelle and
Vichy (June), Deauville (July) and Le Touquet (August). The jury at the
events judged the cars and appearance of the drivers, generally film or
stage actresses, models or the wives of leading figures. On 23 July
1934, André Citroën’s daughter Jacqueline Citroën took part in the
Deauville competition at the wheel of a “7“ cabriolet.
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Above a “7A“ taking part in a
Concours d’Élégance organised in the Bois de Boulogne park by
motorsport daily L’Auto on 8 June 1934.
That day, the new Citroën model won the Premier Grand Prix and three
Prix d’Honneur awards, while Citroën won the “Special Prize for
Aerodynamics”.
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IN THE TOUR DE FRANCE…
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Above
Traction Avant cabriolets and convertibles have always been in high
demand at big cycling competitions, and the Tour de France in
particular.
All users, be they journalists taking action shots or sports managers
keeping in close contact with their teams, appreciated the car’s
impressive road manners and top-level comfort. Here, a mountain leg of
the 1937 Tour de France.
Below in 1954 and
1955, renowned accordion player Yvette Horner, winner of the 1948 World
Accordion Cup, drove around France on the top of a “15 Six“ in the Tour
de France caravan.
The mosquito bites and burning sun were more than offset by the warm
and enthusiastic reaction of the public.
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ON THE TRACK…
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Below
Pierre Terrasson, a test driver at Citroën from 1933 to 1939, tried out
the Traction “7“, “11“ and “15 Six“ on the Linas-Montlhéry track where
Citroën had a permanent testing laboratory from its opening in 1924.
The cars were driven day and night in eight-hour phases to assess their
efficiency and reliability. They were also put through 20,000 km tests
– 20,000 km in reverse, 20,000 km in first gear, 20,000 in second gear
and 20,000 in top gear.
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