Citroën Traction Avant - 1954
Specifications
Make: Citroën
Model: Traction Avant
Body type: 4-door sedan
Year: 1954
Engine: Inline-4
Cylinder capacity: 1911 cc
Power: 56bhp
Torque: 91lb/ft
Wiight: 1143kgs
Top speed: 116Km/h (72mph)
0-100 Km/h: (0-60 mph): 23.4secs
Fuel: petrol
Color: Black
Seats: 5
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, it was the world's first front wheel drive steel monocoque production car. The Traction successfully pioneered front wheel drive on the European mass car market.
The Traction Avant's structure was an 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" in the US 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 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 a Panhard rod, trailing arms and torsion bars attached to a 3-inch (76 mm) steel tube, which in turn was bolted to the "monocoque".