Citroën Traction Avant (1953) – Into the Wild

The Citroën DS is generally seen as the most revolutionary car that Citroën ever produced, but its predecessor could also do something. The Citroën Traction Avant did not get its name for nothing. When it was introduced in 1934, it was far from common for a car to have front-wheel drive. Although there were already cars with front-wheel drive at that time, the Traction Avant brought this principle to the masses. That was not the only progressive thing about this stately Frenchman, because especially the self-supporting body was state of the art and moreover, the TA already had rack and pinion steering. Three things that became the norm for most cars over the years. Citroen was there early.

The design of the Traction Avant was also admired in its time. Although it was clearly a carriage from before the pontoon era, the Traction Avant had relatively smooth lines for that period. That was the work of Flaminio Bertoni, the same grandmaster who was put at the drawing board by Citroën after the war for what would eventually become the DS. Bertoni was also one of the founders of the 2CV and the Ami. What a portfolio! The special thing is that Bertoni immediately sculpted a physical model of the basic design of the Traction Avant – allegedly in one day, even before a drawing was involved.

The Traction Avant remained in production until 1957 and received an important update a few years before the end by which you can recognize the later copies: the larger trunk. As a result, the TA got a kind of bump on the back. With good reason, because the luggage space in the back doubled in one fell swoop. As you can see from the pictures, the one we have here in front of us thanks to AutoWeek forum member XBXG is one of those too. Although it made the Traction Avant even more attractive, it was already a pretty outdated car in the 1950s. With nearly 800,000 units built and a sales period stretching over 23 years, the Traction Avant certainly had an impressive track record when its already revolutionary descendant took over.

The now 69-year-old Traction Avant who has photographed XBXG here, according to our data, started his life in black, like so many TAs. Over time, however, a slightly more noticeable tan has emerged and it seems that it has not been that long ago. Or he is handled with velvet gloves, but that seems to be the case anyway. The owner has owned the French beauty for 37 years, so you can bet that there is a lot of love. Incidentally, the car came to the Netherlands in 1974. The Traction Avant was probably collected from its home country France at the time. Fortunately, because this makes it a lot nicer on the Dutch roads.