Kégresse footage from La Croisière Jaune
We are pleased to feature this short film about inventive automotive achievements.
While it has some pretty crazy contraptions in the first half, it is especially relevant from 2:41 into the film as it shows some incredible archive footage of a Kégresse track vehicle and then La Croisière Jaune — the trans-Asian expedition in 1931/1932 that was organized by Citroën in order to promote their P17 Kégresse vehicles and further the company’s reputation for reliability.
The expedition started in Beirut, the capital of French Lebanon. Georges-Marie Haardt and Louis Audouin-Dubreuil led the journey. Haardt had already crossed the Sahara and the whole African continent in two previous ambitious expeditions.
One group of the expedition travelled eastwards through French Lebanon, French Syria, the Kingdom of Iraq (under British administration), Persia, Afghanistan, and British India until the border of Xinjiang, and then an independent region of China under control of the warlord Jin Shuren.
Another group travelled westwards across China from Beijing to Urumchi, where they were held hostage by Jin Shurens troops for several weeks. Unfortunately, Georges-Marie Haardt died in China at end of the expedition.
Watch the film here:
Impressive effort in the early 30s. But a Winnipeg born woman, Aloha Wanderwell, drove around the world in the 20s in specially designed Model T roadsters. Check out her book: “Aloha Wanderwell, Call to Adventure.’