All time icon of design

During WWII, the Tractions were a favourite of the French Résistance because of their agility and road holding

Every now and again an automotive star is born, sending reverberations throughout the industry.

This is exactly what happened in 1924 when Andre Citroen unveiled the Traction Avant.

For non French speakers, Traction Avant means front wheel drive. But the Traction Avant - the world’s first front wheel drive car - was far more than a mechanical development, because it represented an iconic design that can still visually upstage most prestige saloons.

Traction Avant was the model that leapt from the boxy 20s style to the lean and curvy saloon that is everyone’s idea of a French classic.

This model became a household name in Britain as the police car in Inspector Maigret in the black and white TV series of the 1960s. It also popped up in Herge’s Adventures of Tintin. Perfect product placements that would do justice to the marketing spin merchants of today.

The Traction Avant combined for the first time front- wheeldrive, monocoque chassis/ body construction, torsion bar suspension and an overhead valve engine with removable cylinder sleeves.

It became more powerful as the years passed, but its development costs were immense. So much so that Andre Citroen lost control of the firm to tyre maker Michelin and he died a broken man in 1935.

But the Traction Avant soldiered on and by the outbreak of the Second World War some 250,000 had been produced.

It was far from the end of its shelf life at the end of the war and, boosted by the appearance of the first commercially available radial tyre from Michelin, it cruised on until 1957 when it was eclipsed by that radical ace, the DS19.

The Traction Avant was an automotive art form. Place it alongside some of the most stunning styles available today and you can guarantee that it will be the people magnet.

Happily, this car was so well built that there are a lot still on the road, lovingly preserved and cared for by doting owners.

ON THE CASE Rupert Davies grew so attached to his Avant while filming Maigret, he decided to buy it.