Famous for being frontwheel drive as the words "traction avant" indicates, but apparently their drive shafts were a weak point!
I know a Brit chap who runs a B& B with his wife, we used to stay with them when going north to the ferry. He is ex army and a bit of a car nut.
We used to ask him if we could park our wine-laden car under the house to keep it away from prying eyes.
Eventually I realised that under a pile of stuff there was a Traction sleeping, dry stored. I asked him about it and he just said "Make me an offer!" We haven't stopped there for ages as he is on a bit of road where it is not advised that you take a caravan, or any other sort of trailer and we know why, having had once to shunt back and forth to get around a particularl hairpin! Just in a Disco.
Shame as the local town has one of the best traditional French restaurants serving typical French dishes.
Maybe if we ever get to not trailing anything we'll get back there.
As you say, how time flies.
They feature a lot in films and Maigret episodes. You can get them in French on a rather distant channel, with subtitles.
I once lived not far from a guy who was a thatcher by day, when the weather was suitable, and a car nut the rest of the time. He had barns full of them and regularly rented them out to film companies. The big yank used in the film "IKE" was one of his. I expect he is dead now.
Getting old is a real sod.
