Heritage Days, Police Headquarters, Part-II, Citroën Traction Avant 11 cv

Let's start

with some history to start with (source Wikipedia)

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 most successful.

Not only was the Traction Avant's drive train innovative, so was its 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" 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 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).

Some summarized history

about the one on display during Heritage Days on September 19th and 20th.

The Traction Avant was quickly noticed by the Police-Headquarter which then shopped around for a sturdy, access friendly, fast and road capable car. Selecting the Citroën was not a surprise.

In 1939, the first cars were put in use. Together with strenghened torsion bars and an hydraulic braking system, the cars delivered to the HQ came along with a bulbed custom arranged grille, which concealed an advanced radio set for communication while batteries were fitted in the boot.
Last but not least, deilivered cars were powered by the 11 CV/1911 cc engine. The car on display was restored in 2008.

Main missions conducted with the Tractions were escort and security over a long period of time.

From 1945 ownwards, the Traction-Avants became a must among the pieces of equipment in use by the "Police Judiciaire" or "PJ" as most refer to the department. As the detective division of the national police, the "PJ" is the French equivalent of the Yard.

Paris Police Headquarters' interesting part in Heritage Days

As part of the Heritage Days which took place in France on September 19th and 20th and in conjuction with 100 years in looking at Paris Police Headquarter's heritage, an interesting range of vehicles once in use were displayed on Place Louis Lépine. The tour began with


a Delahaye 92 PS (1926)

Set under the control of the Police Headquarter and back to 1913, the Fire Dept introduced its first self powered fire engines. Thirteen years later, Delahaye comes up with type 92 which combined the latest achievements such as a transmission shaft, pneumatics and a battery powered two pitch horn, just to name a few. PS stood as Premier Secours, ie First-Aid.

Powered by a 30hp engine, the type 92PS was served by a crew of 5 in charge of a high pressure centrifugal pump able to deliver 60 cubic meter of water per hour from a 300 liter tank.

The rotating hose reel was set with 80 meter of semi-rigid hose. The one at back came up with 263 meter of flexible. The inner side was for tucking the collapsible hooked ladder.
Delahaye delivered 27 units which served until 1933.

a fellow Delahaye sat a few yards further

it was a type 103-A, also termed as a Fourgon Mixte, or polyvalent van and comissioned in 1937. As such, the FM could undertake the basic duties of both a standard fire engine and a first-aid van.
In order to complete both duties, the 12 crewmembers could rely on a ton of water filling a reserve tank and an hydraulic powered equipment

Three doors. Opening the third one at rear was the way in to a first rorating hose reel set lengthway above the cistern and coming up with four 20-meter long hoses each capped by a 7 milimeter liquid thrower.

Each back reel came up with 200 meter of 70 mm rubber hose.
A 110 mm vaccum hose kept company to ladders on the roof top.
Initially used as a civil defense component during the outbreack of WWII , the Delahaye FMs were then dispatched to suburban areas still then short of accessible water taps/faucets.

Four 70 mm pressure valves and a 110 mm vaccum line complemented the equipment.

The FM faithfully served into the late 40s.

Today - Tomorrow - Toyota, everytime

"Everyday" and or "Everytime" could have been used by Toyota as part of its straightforward motto to enhance the ability of its car in travelling well into decades of (sometimes very hard) use. Displayed in the first floor of Toyota's show room at Champs-Elysées, this 40 year+ 2000GT classic coupé has been one of the first Toyota sport cars to be importated in France and now belongs to a collector.

END OF THE ROAD

Unceremonious "End of the road" is what happens to clueless cars such as this Citroen ZX mid size hatchback sedan, or saloon as our British readers would put it. Like many a mundane car, it ended unloved in some parking lot. Ironically, it is being put at good use as a Christmas Tree. Probably the best that can happen to a model intended for just driving from A to B and back and therefore failing to get anything that can attract collectors' attention or even be used as a cast member in some unmerciful "Top-Gear" show.
I can't resist trying to put my shoes into some equally unmerciful Autocar's reporters in charge of the last section summerizing the cars sold as new in the UK under a small but concise review, model by model.
This one could have earned the following comments.

For - Nothing
Against - Everything
Verdict - Depreciation disaster ahead.

So long, you which could not even make it as a trade-in for an up to date counterpart.

Another time-machine from the Iron Curtain era which also defected to France

this iconic Trabant Satelit certainly offers a different ride to the one(s) who get(s) behind the wheel and hit the road. Its distintive

No retirement for this veteran

Arranged tours, custom made rallyes, special events, advertising, whichever across Paris, 4-Roues-Sous-Un-Parapluie's (4 wheels beneath an umbrella) fleet of Citroen 2 Cheveaux (two horses) proves so popular that retirement may not even be mentioned of ! At time of writing, a major advertising drive is jointly conducted with Milk Webcafés to get better known while giving a hand to each other.

A blue Classic and her proud driver waiting by the Opera House for their passengers to come back from a picture session.

they could have made up their mind to add a detour by "my" webcafé as well after reading the ad on the tail hatch ....