Citroen Traction Avant 11BN Malle Plate'47 1947
General description :
The Traction Avant, French for "forward traction", was designed by André Lefèbvre and Flaminio Bertoni in late 1933 / early 1934. While not the first production front wheel drive car - Alvis built the 1928 FWD in the UK , Cord produced the L29 from 1929 to 1932 in the United States and DKW the F1 in 1931 in Germany - it was the world's first front wheel drive steel monocoque production car. Along with DKWs 1930s models, the Traction successfully pioneered front wheel drive on the European mass car market.The Traction Avant's structure was an arc-welded monocoque (unitized body). Most other cars of the era were based on a separate frame (chassis) onto which the non-structural body ("coachwork") was built. Monocoque construction (also called Unit Body or "Unibody" in the US today) results in a lighter vehicle, and is now used for virtually all car construction, although body-on-frame construction is still suitable for larger vehicles such as trucks.This method of construction was viewed with great suspicion in many quarters, with doubts about its strength. A type of crash test was developed, taking the form of driving the car off a cliff, to illustrate its great inherent resilience. The novel design made the car seem very low-slung relative to its contemporaries — the Traction Avant always possessed a unique look, which went from appearing rakish in 1934 to familiar and somewhat old fashioned by 1955.The suspension was very advanced for the car's era. The front wheels were independently sprung, using a torsion bar and wishbone suspension arrangement, where most contemporaries used live axle and cart-type leaf spring designs. The rear suspension was a simple steel beam axle and a Panhard rod, trailing arms and torsion bars attached to a 3-inch (76 mm) steel tube, which in turn was bolted to the "monocoque".Since it was considerably lighter than "conventional" designs of the era, it was capable of 100 km/h (62 mph), and consumed gasoline / petrol only at the rate of 10 litres per 100 kilometres (28 mpg-imp; 24 mpg-US).The development costs of the Traction Avant, combined with the redevelopment of its factory, were very high and Citroën declared bankruptcy in late 1934. The largest creditor was Michelin, who then owned Citroën from 1934 until 1976. Under Michelin, Citroën was run as a research laboratory, a test bed for their radial tires and new automotive technologies.In 1954 Citroën's experiments with hydropneumatic technology produced its first result, the "15H"—a variant of the 6-cylinder model 15 with a self-leveling, height-adjustable rear suspension, a field trial for the revolutionary DS released the following year.Directly after the introduction of the Citroën ID, a simplified and more competitively priced version of the still revolutionary DS, production of the Traction Avant ended in July 1957. Over 23 years, 759,111 had been built, including 26,400 assembled in Slough in England, 31,750 assembled in Forest near Brussels and 1,823 assembled at Cologne in Germany. The total reflects the production stoppage during World War II. Specifications Bodywork Length : cm/in: 438/172.4 Width : cm/in: 164/64.6 Height : cm/in: 154 Wheelbase : cm/in : 291/114.6 Weight: kg/lb : 1150/2440 Mechanics. Displacement : straight four 1911 cc (117 cu in), front-mounted Valve gear : 8 Fuel system : 1 Solex carburetor Gearbox : 3-speed manual Drive wheels : front wheel drive LHD Maximum power : 59 hp at 4000 rpm Maximum torque : 119 Nm at 2000 rpm Maximum speed : 120 km/h (74 mph)
1947 Citroen Traction Avant 11BN Malle Plate'47 is listed for sale on ClassicDigest in Aalter by Oldtimerfarm for €17950.
Car Facts
Car type : Car Make : Citroen Model : Traction Avant Model Version : 11BN Malle Plate'47 Engine size : 0.0 Model Year : 1947 Location : Aalter Vehicle Registration : Undefined
17950 €
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About Citroen
French industrialist André Citroën had been building arms for the French army during WWI by the end of the war he was left with great industrial facilities but no product for the post war market. In 1919 he founded Citroen that became the first mass-production car company outside the USA[3] and a pioneer of the modern marketing as well as factory backed services network. Mind you, even Eiffel Tower served as a billboard for Citroën from 1925 to 1934 -Mon Dieu, monsier!
Soon Citroën earned a reputation for innovation and revolutionary engineering. Staying true to their slogan "Créative Technologie" Citroën has many "firsts" under their belt:
Europe’s first all-steel-bodied car, the B10 In 1934.
The world's first mass-produced front-wheel drive car,Traction Avant, (also one of the first cars to feature a monocoque-type body)
The world's first hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension system, introduced with the revolutionary Citroën DS / ID models in 1955, as well as the first production car with disc brakes.
Swiveling headlights in 1967, and finally variable assist power steering in 1970
With Citroën purchasing Maserati in 1968 a door opened for a high speed GT-model that would compete with Ferrari, Aston Martin et. al, when introduced Citroen SM was the world's fastest fwd-car.