Citroen 7CV Traction Avant first appeared in public on April 18, 1934, which led to a real boom. Front-wheel drive, whole-metal body, independent torsion bar suspension of all wheels and aerodynamic design were not new for the time but it was the first successful attempt to combine all the options in one vehicle. Later on, in 1936, Traction Avant was also given a rack and pinion steering. It all resulted in appearing of a fast-moving, spacious, reliable and affordably priced car at the same time. To show the durability of the vehicle they performed a special crash-test: a 7CV was pushed off an 8-metre cliff at 30 km/h. The car hit the ground, made a turnaround and landed back on its wheels. And after all of it the doors could easily open.
In 1934 there was the beginning of serial production of 3 types of Traction Avant. Model 7A had a 1.3-litre motor with 32 horse powers in capacity, whereas 7Bs were equipped with 1.5-litre motors that had 35 HP and the strongest edition, 11CV, had 46 HPs under the hood produced by a 1.9-litre engine. There was another model, 15CV, which was launched into production in 1938. It had a 2.9-litre engine that gave the car the power of 80 horses. All in all, there were 760 units of Traction Avant manufactured until 1957 when the production was shut down, but only due to the outdated design, because from the technical point of view it was far ahead of its contemporaries even at that time.
Cover: Fine Art America
