1936 | Citroën Traction Avant 7 C

Pioneer of elegance – the 1936 Citroën 7C Traction

With the First World War only just at an end, André Citroën starts mass producing his first automobiles. Preferring to do things differently to his European competitors, he's the first to build cars with an all-steel body and, as a PR stunt, has his name lit up on the Eiffel Tower and the company logo printed on street signs. It's the early 1930s and the Great Depression is raging, but Citroën has big plans for a new model so radical his production plants need to be converted. However, shortly before the model's launch in 1934, the company founder is no longer able to pay his bills. He has to sell his company to Michelin.

Despite its difficult start, the Traction Avant becomes a bestseller. Its build is anything but ordinary; the combination of a self-supporting body, a low centre of gravity, front-wheel drive and independent suspension give it phenomenal driving characteristics – all very rare qualities for the time. The same goes for the four-cylinder engine with overhead valves in the cylinder head, as we still see in many combustion engines today. The engine sits on elastic mounts to dampen the movements of the unit – another innovation. It features hydraulic braking, at a time when many new cars still have purely mechanical cable brakes.

The Traction Avant comes in various body shapes and sizes, with the 7C being the short and narrow model. The exterior of the car is well received back in 1934: a flowing line with symmetrical windows; the soft, round tail-end. This seems in contrast to the racy-looking front-end with vent flaps on the bonnet and a rearward-leaning radiator grille.

Our auction piece was imported to Switzerland in 1981, where it underwent a frame-off restoration between 1989 and 1991. The paintwork is the original colour. The first Swiss owner completely overhauled the engine and gearbox between 1981 and 1984. In later years, the 7C was converted to a four-speed gearbox, which meant it could keep up with the flow of traffic even on the motorway. A straightforward vehicle with many technical subtleties that were groundbreaking for the time.