1937 Citroen 7C Traction Avant

The Traction Avant was introduced in 1934 to showcase a new design by Flaminio Bertoni and André Lefèbvre. Born in 1894, André Lefebvre was the father of most of the important early Citroëns, such as Traction Avant, the Type H, the 2CV, and the DS. He was a brilliant aeronautical engineer who learned the essence of his art for 15 years with Gabriel Voisin, and a brief stint at Renault before beginning his career at Citroen, lasting until 1958. During his career, he would revolutionize the emerging world of the automobile industry due to his foresight and independence of thinking.

The 'Traction Avant' name denotes its front-wheel-drive configuration. With its monocoque body and unique front-wheel-drive design, the Traction Avant 7CV introduced a rakish new low-slung silhouette, accomplished by the absence of a separate frame. The all-independent suspension was sprung by torsion bars and wishbones in the front while the rear used a steel beam axle and a Panhard rod, trailing arms, and torsion bars. Stopping power was by hydraulic brakes. The four-cylinder, wet-linter engine had overhead valves and was backed by a synchromesh transmission. The worm and roller steering system was used through May of 1936 when it was replaced by a rack and pinion setup.

Initially, the Traction Avant saloon, called the 7A, rested on a 2,910 mm wheelbase, equipped with a 1,303cc engine, and had front suicide doors with rear conventional doors. The 7A was succeeded in June 1934 by the 7B which came equipped with a 1,529cc engine and the prior single wiper was replaced by two windshield wipers. By September of 1934, with 15,620 examples of the 7B having been built, it was succeeded in October of that year by the 7C with a 1,628cc engine. The 11CV joined the lineup in November of 1934 and used a 1,911cc four-cylinder engine, and the 15/6 was launched in June of 1938 equipped with a 2,867cc six-cylinder engine. The Traction Avant 11 was launched in two forms, the 11 B (Normale) and the 11 BL (for Légère, or Light) with a slightly smaller body.

The example on display at the 29th Paris Motor Show in October of 1935 displayed several restyling revisions including a painted front grille replacing the previous chrome unit. In the back was an opening luggage hatch/lid making it no longer necessary to reach over the back seats to get at the luggage space at the rear of the passenger cabin. The new latch made it necessary to reposition the rear license (number) plate which had typically resided centrally above the bumper. Its new location was now on the rear wing on the left side.

A Familiale (family) model was introduced in 1936 which had three rows of seats and could accommodate up to nine adults. When the middle row was not in use, it could be folded away, providing ample rear legroom for the back rows.

Along with four-door body styles, the factory also produced a convertible and a two-door coupe, both with a rumble seat.

Numerous modifications and upgrades were introduced over its 27 years production lifespan and over 760,000 examples were built including 69,500 examples were 7C models. In 1957, it was supplanted by the Citroën DS model that had been introduced two years earlier.

by Dan Vaughan

Sedan
Chassis number: 95800
Engine number: F000187

André Lefebvre, born in 1894, was a brilliant aeronautical engineer and responsible for many important early Citroëns, such as Traction Avant, the Type H, the 2CV and the DS. He spent 15 years with Gabriel Voisin, briefly sending time at Renault, before beginning his career at Citroen, lasting till 1958.

The Citroën 7C Traction Avant was in production for 23 years, beginning in 1934. During its production lifespan, 760,000 had been built; of those, 69,500 were 7C models.

The name 'Tracation Avant' translates to 'Front-Wheel Drive,' one of its many technical innovations, which also included hydraulic brakes, synchromesh transmission, overhead-valve engine, an all-independent torsion bar suspension, and a monocoque body.

This particular example was purchased by its current owner in Europe. Its 1,628cc overhead inline 4-cylinder engine is fitted with a Single Downdraft carburetor and produces 36 horsepower. There is a three-speed manual gearbox, hydraulic drum brakes, and an independent suspension.

by Dan Vaughan

Sedan
Chassis number: 369084

This 1937 Traction Avant 11 B incorporates a rack and pinion steering, four-wheel drum brakes, a three-speed manual gearbox, and a 1,911cc inline 4-cylinder engine with a single carburetor and delivering 46 horsepower at 3,800 RPM.

The Challenger Company of Los Angeles imported several hundred of the Citroëns and sold them under their brand signature name 'Challenger,' retailing at only $895.

This Traction Avant was acquired by the Mullin Automotive Museum in 2015.

by Dan Vaughan

Sedan

Andre Citroen of France introduced his first automobile in 1919, and its success was immediate, with over 16,000 orders for the Type A 10CV placed within the first two weeks.

Citroën's 7C Traction Avant was decades ahead of its time when it was introduced in March 1934, and would remain in production for 23 years. It was designed by Flaminio Bertoni, a sculptor who had never done any automotive work, and many consider it one of the most important and significant automobiles of the 20th century. 'Traction Avant' translates to 'front-wheel drive,' referencing where the four-cylinder, overhead-valve engine sent its power. Additional advanced features included the car's monocoque (unitary) body, all-independent torsion bar suspension, hydraulic brakes, and synchromesh transmission. At the time, nearly every other automobile still employed a separate chassis, cart springs, side-valve engines, and mechanical brakes.

The original 1.3-liter engine was soon superseded by larger-engined versions and from 1935 there were two four-cylinder models available - the 7C (with a 1,628cc engine) and 11CV (1,911cc engine) - to which was added a 2.9-litre 'six' - the 15 - in 1938.

Production of the 'Traction Avant' lasted until 1957 when it was replaced by the 'DS' - another equally revolutionary model.

by Dan Vaughan

Making it a habit to be at the forefront of the newest technological inventions, Automobiles Citroën has always tried to be the leader in this arena. Citroën needed a totally new revolutionary model in 1933, despite all of its financial problems. The desired features in the new model included 100 km/h maximum speed, uni-body construction, a consumption of 10 liters/100 km, an automatic gearbox, and front-wheel drive.

Designed by André Lefèbvre and Flaminio Bertoni, the Citroën Traction Avant was introduced at the end of 1933 by the French manufacturer Citroën. The Avant was the product of the French mass-production pioneer of front-drive and all-steel unit construction, encouraged by America's Budd Body Company. During its production run from 1934 through 1957, a total of 760,000 units were produced. One of the most successful vehicles with front-wheel drive in the 1930's, the Traction Avant was not the first production front-wheel-drive car. 'Traction Avant' is French for front-wheel drive.

While most vehicles of the era were based on a separate chassis onto which the coachwork was built, the Traction Avant used an arc-welded monocoque. The Unit Body construction resulted in a lighter vehicle, and today is now used for almost all car construction, although body-on-frame construction is still suitable for larger vehicles such as trucks. The Avant featured many advances that included removable wet cylinder liners, pushrod OHV engines, independent front suspension, and four-wheel torsion-bar springing. The driveline layout was influenced by the U.S. Cord 810/812, and put a three-speed manual gearbox ahead of the differential and engine.

Very soon, the original prototypes were prepared and ready to be tested. The Traction Avant was introduced prematurely and changes were necessary to get rid of the problems that had originally occurred with the first vehicles. Various problems were found in the automatic gearbox, but the majority of the vehicle seemed to be fine. A new manual gearbox was redesigned within three weeks, with three forward and one reverse gear. The steering was too heavy and a different type of steering was needed. At first, the rear luggage space was not accessible through a boot lid, but only by swinging the upper part of the back seat upwards and securing it to the roof with two straps.

Possessing a very unique look, the Traction Avant appeared quite interesting in 1934, but by 1955, the look was considered to be old-fashioned. For the era that the car was introduced, the suspension was quite advanced. Independently sprung, the front wheels used a torsion bar and wishbone suspension arrangement, whereas most contemporaries used live axle and cart-type leaf spring designs. To allow the two torsion bars to run parallel to each other, across the vehicle's width, the rear suspension was a simple steel beam axle and Panhard rod with unequal trailing arms.

The styling of the Citroën Traction Avant was low-slung at only 60 inches high that was emphasized by omitting running boards. Interior space was quite exceptional and was created by placing the wheels at the extreme corners, and high stability was formed along with a smooth ride.

The Citroën Traction Avant was capable of 62 mph and used only 10 liters of gas per 24 mpg due to it being lighter than the 'conventional' designs of the era. The Avant was produced in both a 4-door body, a 2-door coupe with a rumble seat, as an extended length model with three rows of seats, and as a convertible. In 1939, the Avant also debuted as a hatchback-type Commerciale variant, in which the tailgate was in two halves, the lower of which held the spare wheel with the upper opening up to the roof level. After production was resumed following World War II, a one-piece top-hinged tailgate was introduced on the Commerciale.

One variant of the Traction Avant was a small saloon called the 7A with a 1303 cc engine. In June 1934 the 7A was succeeded by the 7B and 7C with higher-powered engines of 1529 and 1628 cc respectively. Another variant was the 11 (for 11 CV) came with a four-cylinder 1911 cc engine, and the 15 (for the 15 CV), which featured a 2867 cc six-cylinder. The 11 variant was constructed in two versions, the 11L (light); which was the same size as the 7CV, and the normal mode 11, which came with a longer wheelbase.

Citroën designed two unique variant models. Unfortunately, these never entered production due to a lack of available funding to develop them. One variant was based on the Sensaud de Lavaud automatic transmission and was an automatic transmission-equipped model. The second variant was a 22CV model with a larger V8 engine, of about 4 liters. The project was canceled in 1935 due to Michelin's takeover, and only about twenty prototypes were ever made.

The cost to develop the Traction Avant was extremely steep, and due to this, in 1934 Citroën had to declare bankruptcy. Michelin, the largest creditor ran Citroën as a research laboratory.

The oldest surviving Traction Avant 7A is on display in the Citroën Museum in Paris. The convertible Traction Avant 11L made its famous debut in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade film with Harrison Ford.

by Jessican Donaldson