Queensland seems to be quite a hub for Citroen enthusiasts.  My DS came from Queensland, and they had over 60 DS models at the 60 year anniversary day.  In NSW, we only barely cracked double digits.   I’ve also seen pictures of many tractions lined up at various events up there.

The new owner sent a truck to pick up the car, from there it will go to a depot in Minto before it finally makes its way north.

Before I prepared the car for the journey, I made a video overview of the car.   Overall the production quality is terrible.  I have a lot to learn about how to make good videos.   However, since I will no longer have access to the car, I have posted it.   I will probably try and do something better for the other cars in time.   The worst is the angle of the camera is quite wrong and the bottom part of each shot is cut off.

Overall I enjoyed my experience as a Traction Owner.   It is an iconic car and you really have to own a car like this to experience it.  It also helped me see some of the interesting aspects of pre-war cars.   While my traction was not pre-war, it is a pre-war design.

I’m not sure I would ever buy another Traction, not because I don’t like them, but because there are so many other interesting cars to experience.

The post My Traction is migrating north appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

My Traction Avant Light 15 is for sale.  It will go up on carsales in a couple of weeks.   The asking price will be $22,500.  The Light 15 was built in 1954 in Slough.  As an English built Traction it has more luxuries than the cars built in Paris.   It also has 12v Lucas electrics.

More than $20,000 has been spent on the car over the last couple of years including work on the engine/gearbox, front end rebuild, valve adjustment, new fuel pump.

The best thing about the Traction Avant is how well they hold the road on long winding drives.   Much better than most other cars of the period, even though it is a 30s design.

You also get more chrome on the British built Tractions.   The opening windscreen functions as a rudimentary air conditioning, once you get up to speed there is a lot of ventilation in the car.

As a 1954 model, it has the big boot.   Not as attractive as the earlier small boot cars, but far more usable.

The Light 15 is the small body traction.   It works much better than the big body with the 1911c engine.   My traction also has the correct Michelin tyres.

The engine is a 1911cc overhead valve four cylinder.   It has a new fuel pump with a priming lever to aid starting it after it has been sitting for a while.    The valves were also adjusted recently and the gearbox re-sealed.

The dashboard has been re-done and looks great.   The front carpet is also new.

I’ll be sorry to see the car go – I’ve enjoyed it over the four years its been in my care.

The post For Sale: 1954 Traction Avant Light 15 appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

My original aim was to find a front carpet that would match the rest of the carpet in the car.    I tried a bunch of places in Australia and I wasn’t able to find one in any colour.   In the end I found a firm in the UK that was able to supply just a front carpet for me.      They were also good enough to send me a couple of colour samples to check how well it would look.

The available colour was a nice red, nicer than the purple that is in my car.   I wasn’t really in a position to buy a whole set, so I went with the new front carpet only.

I then purchased some underlay from Clark Rubber and glued it to the back of the carpet.    I’m pretty happy with the result.   It’s not a perfect match, but at least the Traction Avant front carpet is now in place and the car doesn’t look like a Jalopy without it.     It also has a heel pad so I will not wear through it when driving.

This car has come a long way since I purchased it a couple of years ago.   The valve adjustment has restored the low compression on one cylinder, and the front suspension rebuild has made it much nicer to drive.    The correct fuel pump has also removed the horrible buzzing from the electric one that was in the engine bay.

The post Traction Avant Front Carpet appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

• The original engine driven fuel pump had been bypassed by a very noisy electric pump
• There was severe vibration on braking
• Front suspension was worn
• Valves were out of adjustment on #2 causing poor running and smoke at idle
• The gearchange mechanism would occasionally get ‘stuck’
• The gearbox had a bad oil leak

All the work on the car for these jobs was done by Jason at Pallas Motors.  I was able to source all the parts I needed from CCOCA, which makes keeping an older car like the traction on the road much easier.

The traction was originally fitted with a mechanical fuel pump that is driven by the engine.  For one reason or another this had been bypassed by a very noisy electric pump.   These are often fitted because starting can be hard with the mechanical pump, but the pump is fitted with a primer lever to pump additional fuel up the carby if the car has been sitting for a while.

The gear change rods linkages were fairly worn and these were tightened up to improve the gear change as well.

The vibration on braking turned out to be number of factors.   The front suspension was fairly worn and was partially rebuilt with upgraded upper control arm bushings.   These are uprated units that can use rubber bushings instead of the original brass.    In addition, adjustable ball joints were fitted.   The originals require shims to set up.

The next thing that was contributing to the vibration turned out to be a bent wheel.   Luckily the spare was very good so this was changed.

Finally, the valves were adjusted which fixed the low compression on #2 and the gearbox removed and new output shaft seals fitted.   This seems to have fixed the gearbox oil leak.

All in all the Traction is starting to drive as well as it looks.   Its not perfect, but its a hell of a lot better than it was before this work was done.

The post Traction Avant drivabilty improvements appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

My first test was to check the compression of the engine, quite easy on a traction engine as the spark plugs are easily accessible and there is a starter button in the engine compartment.  A compression check is always a good check to run on an engine to understand its health.

I found that #1, #3 and #4 had compression of 90PSI but #2 only had about 65PSI compression.    On a well running engine they should be similar.   The Traction engine is a low compression engine.   Running a compression check on a more modern engine would yield higher figures.

Next step was to do a wet test.  This is done by squirting some oil into each cylinder, and if the compression comes back up you know the problem is likely with the rings as the extra oil helps worn or damaged rings seal against the cylinder wall better.

In my case the reading hardly changed, so as I expected the problem is with a valve not closing properly.   My theory is that one of the exhaust valves is not sealing.      Next step will be to check the valve clearances.

Update 3/17:  One of the valves was found to be out of adjustment.

The post Traction engine troubleshooting appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

Attendance was down this year compared to last year as the weather was a bit iffy this morning.     But it turned out nice enough in the end.   A humorous side show was a member of the Citroen car club arriving in his GS with only three wheels, showing off the ability of Hydraulic suspended Citroens to do it.    This car was for sale and he was trying to attract attention, which he achieved.  The GS is forgotten by many, but there are some enthusiasts of this model in the club.

While the number of DS on display was down from prior years, there were some lovely restored examples.   But the highlight was probably the selection of of turn of last century cars, which were in great condition.

The post 2016 French car day appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

Unfortunately on my car, these holes had been significantly enlarged and that means oil was dribbling down both sides of the engine and creating smoke when it hit the hot exhaust manifold.

My assumption was that the extra holes were leading to excess oil splashing up and leaking out of the cap.   Taking a leaf out of the original design my assumption was that if I was to add some kind of mesh it would prevent the oil splashing as much and let it drain back into the engine.

I was able to buy a piece of aluminium mesh from Bunnings warehouse and assumed that a couple of layers would have the desired effect.   To start with I settled for four.

I then left on a 200km drive to the south coast.   So far I would rate this idea as a partial success.   I still had some oil leakage – but not enough for clouds of smoke to be coming out of the bonnet louvres.

My next step is to see if a few more layers are an improvement or not.

The post Fixing Leaks from the Traction Avant oil cap appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

The other light 15 has an ID motor and four speed gearbox installed which probably helps, but the slow progress is part of the charm of these cars.  On a humid Sydney day, the ability to open the windscreen was a life saver!  While waiting in Traffic one person asked us for a business card as she wanted to use the cars for her wedding later in the year.   I don’t do weddings other than for friends, but it does show there would be interest.

The post Traction Avant Wedding car appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

Traction Avants, as with most 50’s cars are only fitted with a small interior rear-view mirror and no outside mirror.   This makes parking and lane changing a challenge.

I had seen many tractions fitted with door mounted mirrors so I bought a set from Der Franzose and fitted them today.   The mirrors mount on the leading edge of the suicide doors, with a small bracket that allows the mirror to screw on.

As can be seen from the photo, there is a plastic insert to protect the paint and I had to cut the door rubber to ensure it fit.     The mirrors have two adjustment points, one at the base of the stalk and one for the mirror glass.   Despite these I have not been able to adjust the mirrors to my liking.   I can use them if I lean over, so they are better than no mirrors, but I am a bit disappointed by the overall quality and the adjustment range.

The post Door mirrors for the Traction Avant appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

Sadly, while Citroen was one of the most innovative car companies in the world during their heyday from the 30s to the 70s, having the most innovative designs does not necessarily sell cars. Citroen was eventually forced into a takeover by Peugeot.  Peugeot were not really interested in the Citroen approach of going ‘all in’ on new designs.  Over the years Citroen cars became more and more conventional.    A few really interesting designs did manage to sneak through the net, but today there is nothing that really distinguishes a Citroen from any other car, and the company has finally dropped the last Citroen specialty – the famed hydropneumatic suspension system.

In a move that highlights the modern car business at its most cynical, PSA have split up Citroen and created a new brand called ‘DS’ which aims to sell tarted up hatchbacks.    It is a sad end to one of the great manufacturers of the 20th century.  They are even offering a 1955 special edition despite no relationship whatsoever to the original car.   Regardless of what is happening with the brand today, Citroen will always be remembered for their ground breaking designs including the Traction Avant, 2CV, DS and others.    Citroen is not alone, a number of the famed brands of the 20th century are a shadow of their former self. Take Lancia which is just a Fiat with a chrome nose.

The Citroen Car Club organized an event for the 60th anniversary, to be held at the Campbelltown Steam and Machinery Museum.    While this was quite a contrast from the 1955 Paris auto show, it was a nice choice of venue with a range of different technologies that have changed the world on display.    The Club had a great turn out with almost 30 cars on display.  About half of them were D models (including my car).   Unfortunately there were no early cars, but there were a nice variety of 3rd nose cars, from pristine restored cars to a car that has been off the road for 18 years and has recently been recommissioned.      In addition to the D’s, there were a couple of CXs, a GS, a brace of BXs and some more modern Citroens.

As well as the Citroens, the rest of the Museum was well worth a look. It includes a variety of stationary and traction steam engines.  It also has some other classic cars including a group of Cadillacs, military vehicles, tractors.   Some of the stationary engines were providing power for the event, and there were rides on the steam tractors for children.  There were also various ‘sheds’ with interesting things to see from old tools, tractors, farm equipment and so on.

At the day, I was also able to talk to a previous owner of my Traction Avant, who is a member of the Citroen Car Club.   He owned the car in the early 70s.    His uncle worked at the Citroen dealer at the time. The car had been brought in with an engine problem.    The owner was then convinced to trade the car in for a new model when the problem was partially fixed.    The dealership just wanted it gone, so the uncle was able to let his nephew know about the car.  He came down and bought it and drove it back up to Narrabri (via the putty road).

Later the problem was diagnosed to be one of the seals for the cylinder liners. This was allowing water into the oil.   Luckily the owner had a friend who taught mechanics at the local TAFE.  The engine was dropped off to be rebuilt by the students as a project!    A week later, it was re-installed in the car and the paint, which was pretty bad by then was refreshed.   Over the time, the clutch was fixed and other general maintenance performed.    The owner later moved to Bathurst, where the next owner later purchased it.      During his ownership, he was able to trace the car as having been in Melbourne in its early years.

The post The Citroen DS was launched 60 years ago this month appeared first on Classic Jalopy.