Citroën

 

This is the famous French car maker, which is still in business today.  I can’t say I’ve ever driven one, even in Paris, but we certainly saw plenty of them there.  Our family cars when we lived there were a Chrysler-Simca (simple front wheel drive economy car) and a Peugeot 505. 

 Citroën has three very famous models.

 Traction Avant.  1934-57.  Unit body construction (as opposed to body-on-chassis, started with the Model T), four wheel independent suspension, front wheel drive, plus rack & pinion steering.  My 1992 Firebird Formula still had recirculating ball steering – uses a Pitman arm; GM switched to rack & pinion for the fourth generation F bodies (1993-2002).   All these innovations made the TA innovative for its time.  The models and engines were 7A (1.3L I4), 7B (1.5L I4), 7C (1.6L I4), 11CV (1.9L I4) and the 15/6 (2.8L I6).  No V8 models, apparently.

 Deux Chevaux (DCV).  1948-90.  A wagon designed to be pulled by two horses – actually originally designed to be used by farmers and doctors in rural areas.  It was developed before WWII and about to be released when the war broke out – and Boulanger, the company president, refused to allow the Germans to make it during the occupation, thus its eventual release came several years after the war ended.

This had an air-cooled flat two cylinder engine in front, with front wheel drive – the initial model engine put out all of 9 horsepower (!!).  Fairly cheap and easy to produce, 3.8 million made in France alone over the decades; counting all the different variants produced overseas, the total tally runs to 9 million.  Naturally we saw plenty of these in Paris.  Back when I worked at Trak Auto in Falls Church, Virginia, I saw under the hood of one which made it to the US.  Actually it was sold here as well, but the tiny engine made it difficult to compete on our major highways. 

Arguably this is the French equivalent of the Volkswagen Beetle.  The 2CV also featured the first radial tires, made by Michelin.  Like the Model T, there were truck delivery variants, as the platform was extremely versatile.  There was also a Sahara version, with a completely separate rear H2 engine and transaxle, for off-road use.   The factory was at Levallois-Perret, just outside Paris – right next to Neuilly, where we lived from 1979-84.

 DS. 1955-75.   Front engine, front wheel drive, with a revolutionary hydraulic suspension system and a semi-automatic transmission, although the engine itself is simply an inline 4.  Whereas the DCV is somewhat ugly and utilitarian, the DS is far more stylish and elegant.  

            Hydraulics are usually associated with the brakes.  A master cylinder on the driver’s side firewall is connected to the brake pedal.  With power brakes, there is a large vacuum booster, like a huge donut, in between the master cylinder and the firewall, which dramatically assists braking.  A proportioning valve sends fluid through brake lines to a cylinder at each wheel.  Since fluid, unlike air, does not compress, pressing the brake pedal pushes fluid through the lines to the wheels, stopping the car.  The DS used a hydraulic system to level the suspension, giving superb handling while maintaining decent ride quality – usually the two are mutually exclusive, wherein a car that handles well will have a rough suspension, whereas a car with a soft suspension easy on your ass, won’t handle nearly as well.   The CX model, from 1974-1991, could be considered a successor to the SM (1970-74), itself a successor to the DS.  While the CX had another I4, the SM had a more powerful engine, a V6, and was competitive with other European performance cars.  Oddly, the SM was popular in the US, and even won Motor Trend’s Car of the Year Award in 1972.     

  Awhile back I posted a blog about France’s underrated weapons industry:  the 1886 Lebel, the “75”, the RSC (semi-automatic rifle in WWI), and the MAS-36 (I recently found one in .308 at the gun store in Manassas) [Chris' Blog: Vive Le Fusil Français! (formula57l.blogspot.com)].  It looks like France deserves a similar blog post about its equally underrated automotive industry.