When she arrived in 1934, the Citroën Traction was technically revolutionary thanks to its many avant-garde solutions such as its mechanical architecture, its structure monocoque and its modern look. For its time, it was fast, safe and comfortable. Then owner of Citroën, the family Michelin wanted to offer this car in a real range made up of several types of bodywork and of engines different. Regarding the latter, the top of the range was the 15 equipped with a 6-cylinder in-line engine of 2.8 liters which made it “The Queen of the Road” as its advertising slogan claimed. For the record, Citroën developed a 22 with a 8 cylinder engine made of two 4-cylinder blocks of Traction 11 but it was never marketed.
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Interesting story
The 15 was to adopt all the bodywork of the 11, including the convertible. We know that three prototypes were manufactured for testing on the Montlhéry circuitnear Paris. These three cars were delivered before the war, one of them to Madame Michelin. Due to certain technical problems and the start of the conflict which would ignite a large part of Europe, 4 bare bodies which were never assembled were stored in the basements of the Citroën factory at Quai de Javel, in Paris. It seems that these were completed after the war and the car we are going to talk about today is one of them.
If the history of its early years is unknown, we find traces of this 15 Six cabriolet 1964 when Raoul Wanderpatron of the famous hot drink Ovomaltine acquired it from a member of the Michelin family, according to its statements. In 1966, the car was acquired by the collector Denys Joannon which finds traces of gray under its red paint. This detail corroborates the statements of certain members of the Michelin family who claim that a gray 15 Six cabriolet was part of the rolling stock, before being repainted red and resold. Joannon regularly used her convertible until she sold it at an auction where it changed hands for the sum of…€600,000!
Freshly restored
Having become one of the most expensive Citroëns in history, this 15 Six cabriolet fell into the hands of a meticulous collector who spent an additional €70,000 in the restoration of its mechanics, its upholstery and its bodywork which been completely repainted. On October 5, this rarity will once again be offered at auction by the house Aguttes during its sale organized at Autoworld. Estimated between €300,000 and €500,000, it could well set a new record due to its historical interest in the eyes of the many fanatical collectors of the chevron brand.
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