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Posted by: Cap'n Krusty Aug 18 2009, 07:28 PM

Thought y'all might like to see an interesting car that's in my shop. According to the owner, it's pretty much original ...........

The Cap'n


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Posted by: Millerwelds Aug 18 2009, 07:43 PM

Cool ride. I like the venting on the hood (or possibly bonnet in this case) and the semiphore turn signals. Very stylish.

Posted by: 9146986 Aug 18 2009, 07:50 PM

That's pretty cool John, what's it in for?

Posted by: championgt1 Aug 18 2009, 08:54 PM

Don't see one of those every day. What is the emblem on the door?

Posted by: 1970 Neun vierzehn Aug 18 2009, 09:07 PM

Each time I see one of these, it reminds me of the French Resistance. I've not seen hood vents like that before, interesting


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Posted by: brant Aug 18 2009, 09:19 PM

a good friend of mine has one
black of course...

very interesting car
what are you fixing on it?

brant

Posted by: richardmosselman Aug 18 2009, 11:04 PM

Citroen had an RHD assembly plant in Slough, England for these. Citroen actually went broke in '34 after developing the Traction Avant. Guess who the largest creditor was? Michelin, who then owned the company from '34 to '76. Who knew! R

Posted by: DBCooper Aug 19 2009, 05:02 AM

Michelin? In Slough? I had no idea. I've been trying for twenty years to find one of those with a bad engine/transmission and no rust. Actually any one with no rust.

Posted by: johannes Aug 19 2009, 06:07 AM

I don't think the color is original.
André Citroën said, you can have any color as soon as it is black.
The radiator grid was also painted. The only Citroën Traction that had chromed radiator grid were the rare six cylinders (15CV).
The rarest Traction are the six cylinder 15 H (Hydropneumatic) they had the self leveling rear suspension from the DS

Posted by: stephenaki Aug 19 2009, 06:13 AM

www.autoscout.com or mobile.de Of course then you have to figure out how to get it stateside.

I have seen quite a few of these at different auto museums here in Europe, very interesting cars. Citroen in general has a tendency to create interesting design elements in their cars to include the modern ones you see now. I thought several of the new designs were pretty cool but am leary about trusting anything made by the French just because getting parts to repair them would be difficult.

Posted by: veltror Aug 19 2009, 09:47 AM

My Father had one of these he thought it was great with brilliant roadholding, when he went to insure it Eagle Star ( a huge company then) refused saying that Front-Wheel drive was dangerous, bunch of clowns....

Posted by: DBCooper Aug 19 2009, 11:12 AM

Wow, there's a PILE of them there! How do you say "rustfree" in German?

I liked one description, a "gangstercar". 3/4 size, of course.

They do come up occasionally on e-Bay, much cheaper than those in Europe, but they seem to always have rust problems. And it's French rust, so much more difficult than that fine German rust....

Posted by: JJ914GT Aug 19 2009, 11:19 AM

My father also owns one, bought it about 20 years ago and restored it completely. A shorter "sport" from 1951. Beautiful cars for sure.

Also think the colour isn't original, the quote about it having to be black was from Ford though, after introducing the T-ford. There were also many two-tone tractions made.

Have you seen the convertible version of the Traction,..? Nice!

"Traction Avant" means "front wheel drive". The Citroen logo ( the two V's) stands for a quiter V gear pattern if I remember correctly.

Posted by: URY914 Aug 19 2009, 12:19 PM

They were used in "Mission Impossible" all the time.

Posted by: balljoint Aug 19 2009, 04:07 PM

Cool. Do the fins in the grill turn to vary airflow for cooling?

It also has yellow wheels. Does the owner also own a 914?

Posted by: Cap'n Krusty Aug 19 2009, 06:24 PM

We looked at a cooling system problem. Blew coolant all along 101 from "somewhere near Salinas" (kinda catchy phrase, don'tcha think?). Retorquing the head didn't make any difference, so the owner went home to fetch a trailer. He's bringing a 914 up for a "make run". The emblem on the doors is the Autobooks/Aerobooks logo. He's an associate, in some way, of the owner. She and her husband were here, too, in a later model of the same car. The grille pieces are fixed, but you can open the vents in each side of the hood for more cooling. Front and rear doors share common hinges. I'll get some more pix tomorrow ..........

The Cap'n

Posted by: JJ914GT Aug 20 2009, 03:14 AM

If I remember correctly there is a coolant pipe in the head that nearly always rusts out on those tractions..?

Posted by: stephenaki Aug 20 2009, 04:45 AM

Rust = Rost
Free = Frei

Gustl can answer it better but I think you may see it as Rost Frei or Rost geben Frei.

Posted by: johannes Aug 20 2009, 06:18 AM

Want a Traction ? The place to search is france... You can see them everywere.

http://automobile-voiture.shop.ebay.fr/i.html?_nkw=citroen+traction&_sacat=9800&LH_ClassifyToggle=0&_trksid=p3286.m270.l1313&_odkw=citroen+traction&_osacat=135232

http://www.leboncoin.fr/li?q=citroen+traction&ca=12_s&th=1&c=2&w=3&ps=&pe=&rs=&re=&ms=&me=&zz=ex%3A75001&fu=

http://www.novaweb.fr/pub/pages/annonces/index.html search citroen traction

http://www.anciennes.net/recherche.php search citroen traction

http://www.webmycar.com/zonecar/webacar.nsf/annonces-auto?openform&cat=VENTE%20VEHICULE%24CITROEN%24Traction

Not cheap

Posted by: zymurgist Aug 20 2009, 06:22 AM

My Swiss Army Knife says:

VICTORINOX
SWITZERLAND
STAINLESS
ROSTFREI