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The term traction avant is literal French for pull from the front or front wheel drive. In French, it is a general term for front wheel drive cars, but the Traction Avant, or simply Traction, is also the name of a very innovative car produced in the 1930s by Citron. It was available in 7 cv, 11 cv, 15 cv and 22 cv variants.
In late 1933/early 1934 when the Traction Avant was designed by Andr Lefbvre it was an incredible move for Andr Citron to move from rear wheel drive to front wheel drive. The car also had:
This was remarkable for a car designed to go 100 km/h (62.6 Mph) and use only 10 litres of petrol per 100 km.
The cars were built in three European factories, Paris, France, Forest, Belgium and Slough, England. The English cars were built in a right-hand drive version.
The original models were a small sedan with a 1303 cc engine. Later models had a 4 cylinder 1911 cc engine with the "big six" having a 2867 cc six cylinder.
Michelin owned the Citron company from 1934 until 1976, so it is not surprising that they used the Traction Avant as the test bed for their radial tyres.
By 1955 Citron had moved on to the DS, which initially used the same engine. Production of the Traction ended in July 1957. 760,000 were built.
The Traction is generally associated in movie iconography with the Second World War: the clich is that of Gestapo agents, clad in black, driving around in black Tractions.
External links - Club (http://www.tractionavant.com)
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