Vive La Difference

Romanosky Automotive Weekly Gazette

Vive La Difference

Last week, I brought up one of my favourite French films - Cyrano De Bergerac. But what of French cars? Despite our Bi-Lingual English-French country, they are a pretty rare sight on Canadian roads.

The three major French manufacturers are Renault, Peugeot and Citroen. There have been no French cars sold in North America since Peugeot pulled out in 1991.

Citroen went bankrupt in 1974, and re-organized with Peugeot into the PSA group in 1976. Then this group was merged with FCA (Fiat-Chrysler) to form the $50B colossus, Stellantis, last year. Citroen announced plans to re-enter the North American market mid-decade.

Renault formed an alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi. The Nissan Ariya - set to come out next year and compete with the VW ID.4, Mustang Mach E and the Hyundai/Kia EVs - is based on the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi CMF-EV platform.

So, we will likely see some French cars back on our streets in the coming years, though these will be necessarily 'global' cars, and not the outré designs the French have been known for. Here are some examples of original French automotive thinking:

1954-1959 Panhard Dyna Z

I remember going to a car show at the Deerfoot Mall Maybe 20 years ago - it was one of the first major classic car meets of the year, and it was mostly muscle cars and hot rods. Somebody brought a 50's Panhard Dyna and left the clamshell bonnet open. I was looking at it - air cooled 850cc engine mounted ahead of the front axle, transverse leaf spring, and a lot of space - and two muscle car guys came along. They looked at it with me for a while, and then one of them said something like, "They [the French] should stick to making pastries". I thought it was pretty funny.

But it was a neat car. The 850cc flat twin engine produced considerably more power than the VW Beetle 4 cylinder to which it might be compared. The aerodynamic, aluminum-bodied, Panhard was both lighter and and faster than the Beetle and was much larger inside as well. 50hp, 145km/hr and 30-40mpg were excellent for the time. The Panhard racked up many class wins in international competition. It just looked a little out of place next to the Camaros.

1934 Voisin C25 Aerodyne

At Pebble Beach it is a fun exercise to try to see if you can guess the 'Best-In-Show' winner. Without the benefit of the history files on the cars establishing their provenance, it is purely guesswork, but fun nonetheless. In 2011 though, the Voisin C25 Aérodyne was on the lawn, and it really stole the show and had the biggest crowds around it all day. I couldn't look at the interior for any length of time without getting dizzy! The hood ornament is outrageously cool.

Peter Mullin created a magnificent museum for pre-war French cars in Oxnard, CA (just North of LA) that showcase his wonderul collection of Bugattis, Delage, Delahaye and Voisin cars. https://mullinautomotivemuseum.com

It was probably Andre Citroën who can be credited with the greatest French innovations, not just in design, but also promotion. The Citroën Traction Avant, produced from 1934 to 1957, was the the first mass produced vehicle to combine front wheel drive with a monocoque construction. It sat a lot lower than anything else because of the flat floor, and with 6 cylinder engines available it was a favourite of the police, and gangsters!

The DS, or 'Goddess', amazed the world with its aerodynamic futuristic styling, and hydropneumatic suspension and braking systems. It literally stunned the pubic when it was introduced at the Paris Auto Show in 1955: 12,000 orders were taken the first day! Even by today's standards the ride is exceptional.

Andre Citroen lived large and had a flare for publicity. He lit up the Eiffel Tower with 125,000 light bulbs from 1925 until he ran into financial trouble in 1934 - possibly from the electrical bills. Before the 1922 Paris Auto Show he had his name written in smoke, in one of the first instances of skywriting. Period print advertisements were very avant garde.

Type P17 Kegresse Caterpillar Car

Perhaps the most ambitious of Andre Citroen's publicity efforts, was the series of overland expeditions that he organized in the 1930's featuring the Citroen Kegresse half-track vehicles. Trans-African and Trans-Asian expeditions traveled as much as 8,000 miles, using 30 or more people and a dozen vehicles. With no roads in those days, the vehicles faced extreme challenges. In some instances they were disassembled and the pieces carried by hand to cross certain obstacles.

There was an expedition that started in Edmonton in 1934 and aimed to cross the Rocky Mountains and open up a road connecting Edmonton to the Yukon and Alaska. This expedition failed horribly, with un-seasonal wet wether bogging down the vehicles. Kegresse's were lost crossing rivers, and two tumbled down a ravine after the road washed way. One was buried in snow, but later recovered, and now is displayed at the Reynolds Museum in Wetaskiwin.

The French manufacturers have their own distinctive DNA. Innovative designs, efficiency, aerodynamics, light weight and a certain audaciousness are all characteristic. Let's see if the massive conglomerates can give us some new French cars that can do the brands justice. Until then, I'd really like a nice DS!

LIVE AUCTIONS