1951 Citroen Traction Avant Type 11 BL Saloon

Description

Although the Citroën Traction Avant was not the world’s first front-wheel-drive passenger car, it was unique in combining this configuration with monocoque construction, rack and pinion steering, torsion bar suspension, wide wheel tracks and an exceptionally low centre of gravity. Launched in 1934, the Traction set a new standard for driving dynamics that was still widely celebrated in the postwar era, by which time it was widely known as the Light Fifteen (the number referring to the British RAC horsepower). The steering was direct and endowed with great road feel. The car was capable of very high cornering speeds and displayed a remarkable absence of body roll. While still not conspicuously fast, the more powerful postwar Light Fifteens could cruise close to their maximum speed of about 72 miles per hour. The model’s great stability and accurate steering were still state of the art in the mid-1950s. The styling, which had been radically modern in the 1930s, did not look old-fashioned in the early postwar years when some cars still had running boards! The Traction was sold in a bewildering array of variants from 1934 until 1957 (two years after the advent of its even more astonishing successor, the Diesse). Postwar models had a bigger boot, straight bumpers and turn indicators. These appealing Citroëns were also built in Slough in England and Belgium. The English models, which featured a higher level of standard equipment were sold in Australia and New Zealand.