Great Garages CENTENNIAL FOR CITROËN
Citroën is 100 this year, and fans of the innovative French marque are celebrating.
In April, members of ACE, Arizona Citroën Enthusiasts, founded by Scottsdale’s Dominique Legeai in 2015, celebrated the event at the first Camelback Car Show in Phoenix, with about a dozen representatives of the marque showcased. The 32 members of ACE casually meet to enjoy and maintain the Citroën name.
In 1919, inventor André-Gustave Citroën (1878–1935) produced the Type A from his Paris factory. Approximately 30,000 of these were built, and the new marque was publicized by their successful use as taxis.
Following the Trèfle (Cloverleaf) cars of the 1920s, the beautiful 11 CV Traction Avant appeared in 1934, the first mass-produced car with front wheel drive; more than 700,000 sold in various 4- and 6-cylinder-engine configurations.
This was replaced in 1955 by the sinuously styled and innovative Citroën DS.
The famous 2 CV, the French Volkswagen, conceived prior to World War II, appeared in 1948. The small car, “four wheels under an umbrella,” was built for the masses, many driving from farms along rural roads.
A retired restaurant owner from Chicago, Legeai notes that the major centennial festivities in France are July 19–21 in the small northern French town of La Ferté-Vidame, a few kilometers from where he was raised. “This is where the three prototypes of the 2CV were concealed from the Germans during World War II; they were ‘discovered’ much later in 1994 in the attic part of a
