---
title: "Jay Leno’s All-Original 1949 Citroen Traction Avant Is a Joy To Drive by Design"
description: "What was a pioneering engineering marvel in 1934 remains a wonderful car to own eight decades on."
date: "2020-08-31"
modified: "2020-08-31"
authors:
  - name: "Máté Petrány"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/mate-petrany"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/36078/jay-lenos-all-original-1949-citroen-traction-avant-is-a-joy-to-drive-by-design"
categories:
  - "Culture"
  - "News"
  - "People"
tags:
  - "1949"
  - "Citroen"
  - "jay leno"
---

# Jay Leno’s All-Original 1949 Citroen Traction Avant Is a Joy To Drive by Design

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2020/08/15233084148_67f9ec07a9_o.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Some 12 years ago when I was still living in London, there was a gentleman in Camden Town who took his kids to school in a Citroën Traction Avant each morning. With that being far from a pristine example, you could sometimes hear his gear changes from half a mile away. Regardless, battling the British weather, that French piece of magnificence just carried on like well over half a century was nothing.

Back in the mid-1930s, André Citroën couldn't witness his company turn his most ambitious project into an absolute success story. Having demolished his former factory to build a brand new one for the Traction Avant using Henry Ford's mass-production techniques, Citroën's front-wheel-drive marvel first hit the road in 1934, just in time for the Michelin family to overtake Citroën's rather bankrupt business. André Citroën died of stomach cancer the following summer.

![message-editor%2F1598873594310-5661.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor/1598873594310-5661.jpg>)
**Citroën**

Design by André Lefèbvre and Flaminio Bertoni, the Traction Avant combined front-wheel drive with a welded steel monocoque chassis, rack-and-pinion steering, independent suspension and hydraulic brakes all around. Initially launched with a four-cylinder that grew in capacity over the years, Michelin also re-engineered the car to take a 2.9-liter inline-six, which sported a firing order of 1-4-2-6-3-5 and boasted a top speed of 81 miles per hour.

After the German Army invaded France in 1940, production came to a halt, only to resume gradually past 1945. Citroën produced a nine-seater variant for the families, a hatchback and a pickup truck for commercial use, coupés and cabriolets featuring rumble seats and even prototypes with a V8 and an automatic transmission. While those luxurious variants couldn't make it, Citroën developed the DS 19's hydropneumatic suspension in the Traction Avant. Production ended in 1956 after a total of 760,000 were made in Citroën's factories across Paris, England, Belgium, Germany and Denmark.

Thanks to the gearbox being in front of the engine, the Traction Avant features a completely flat floor and undercarriage, allowing for a very spacious interior despite the car's small footprint. Demonstrating this packaging benefit is [Jay Leno](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/35769/jay-leno-shows-why-the-original-dodge-viper-is-still-a-riot-to-drive-some-27-years-later>) sitting behind himself, with the driver's seat pushed all the way back:

![message-editor%2F1598871542202-2020-08-3111\_40\_05.gif](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor/1598871542202-2020-08-3111_40_05.gif>)
*YouTube | Jay Leno's Garage*

![message-editor%2F1598871592136-meglatjuk.gif](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor/1598871592136-meglatjuk.gif>)
*YouTube | Jay Leno's Garage*

The comedian bought his 1949 six-cylinder just three years ago, maintaining that the somewhat heavier steering is no price for the additional torque and power of the larger engine. Being all-original, Leno's Traction Avant now has 36,000 miles on the clock, as well as a rebuilt mechanical fuel pump with a new muffler and six-volt battery. It also has pretty much all the goodies Citroën would throw at this model in 1949.

Featuring suicide doors, a banjo steering wheel, trafficators and a windshield that cranks open just like [on his 1934 Chrysler Airflow](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/35323/let-jay-leno-tell-you-why-the-1934-chrysler-airflow-was-so-revolutionary>), some options on the Traction Avant include the spare tire being on the trunk (which opens with the bumper), and a fishnet storage net attached to the headliner.

With those Jaeger instruments always showing the correct values, this icon of French engineering and comfort is [one of Leno's favorite cruisers](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/34984/tonight-show-legend-johnny-carson-left-this-impeccable-1939-chrysler-royal-to-jay-leno>).

https://youtube.com/embed/jld1E50Xw8k

*Got a tip? Send us a note: tips@thedrive.com*

## Author
As a fan of old cars, new cars, trains, planes, buses, and you-name-it, Máté can sometimes be seen driving an Autobianchi around Budapest, much to the amusement of the children, mostly. When not time-traveling, he continues to report from the future to his American colleagues, often talking about Lotus, Ozzy Osbourne, or both.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/mpetrany>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/petrany>)