Alain Dufour in France is looking for a friend and a member of his forum “LA GRANDE AVENTURE DES PETITES CITROËN” in the hope of finding someone who might own or know the whereabouts of this faux-convertible Traction Avant pictured below:
The conversion was performed by his father in 1951/52 in Cagnes-sur-Mer, France and it is based on a 1936 11AL. The car was sold in 1955 to Mr. André Leblond, who brought it home to Lunéville in Meurthe-et-Moselle, France.
Since then, this car seems to have been forgotten, no one knows where!? Does anyone know of this car?
Update — April 23, 2025: Further to this article about the fake Traction 11AL convertible, here is an old article describing some other Traction Cabrio conversions that Chris DuBuque wrote and was published in the Northwest Citroen Citroen Owners Club (NWCOC) newsletter 20-25 years ago. None are the same car as above, but kind of similar in vein…
Andre Citroen was certainly not without foibles, he was an inveterate gambler, and he lost the company he had created with such vigor and innovation, because he couldn’t resist putting it all on the line. In the book, titled simply, Citroen , I remember so vividly the account of his legendary travel to the United States to see the innovation of Henry Ford’s assembly line.
He telegraphed home to France, for example, that the doors must have the hinges on the front, thus avoiding the tragedy of a door suddenly ripped open by the wind. He also telegraphed home that from now on, all cars must be “traction avamt” or, what we Yanks call Front Wheel Drive.
He had to fire his production manager for not believing in his new vision.
He was truly a visionary, but many of the advances came after his demise.
oh, I especially like the work of Andre LeFebvre and his ingenious hydropneumatic suspension
Viva la France, und Vive la Differenz!
Point of clarification: It was Paul Mages, not Andre LeFebvre, who developed Citroën’s ingenious hydropneumatic suspension.