1926 Citroen 5CV Cloverleaf
French automobile designer Andre Citroen was, in many ways, a man far ahead of his time. His second car design, the Citroen Type C, is widely recognized as the first mass-produced European automobile and his founding of a consumer finance company allowing his product to be sold on credit to customers opened a previously untapped market and is a concept that carries forward almost a century later. Citroen was also something of a maverick. At a time when the French government was offering manufacturers tax incentives to produce cyclecars, Citroen chose to enter the small car market that was dominated by Peugeot and Renault at that time with the Type C.
For consignment, a 5CV Citroen from 1926. Commonly referred to as the "torpedo", it has seating for 3, a convertible top, and a sleek body styling. It is powered by an 856cc 4 cylinder engine capable of 60mph on the open road. It presents as a barn find in good condition with top intact, leather seating still there and leather door panels. The only severe rust on the car is on the driver's side floor pan. An interesting design and look for the period.
NO TITLE-SOLD ON A BILL OF SALE ONLY
Exterior
With a rust free steel body painted in key lime pie yellow, there is little to no rust in the exterior panels. A thin body style with cowled hood in front, stainless steel radiator surround with Citroen badge in its center and circular head lighting leading the way. It is a 2 door coupe and sports a slight boat tail design for the back of the car which houses one large single seat directly between the two front buckets. High curved black painted fenders float way above the wheels which are in 400mm artillery black painted style, wrapped in 135R400 rubber all around. Between the front and rear fenders are running boards to allow easy access to the passenger comportment. Above, an original style canvas top shows some staining and soiling, and only slightly coming apart at the seams due to dry rotting of the threads. Overall this top is in fair to good condition given its age. It does move up and down flawlessly. On back a spare tire hangs just aft the the boat tail curved rear bodywork.
Interior
Original with black leather door panels that have a storage pouch on them. Low back overstuffed leather styled buckets are in front and there is a nice gap between them to allow access to the single wide rear bucket. This bucket has plenty of bodywork around it, with wide steel arms that have storage compartments within them. Up front, a machine turned steel dash front has a black top. Within this steel panel is a series of round gauges with black bezels and old fashioned pointers. A large black bakelite steering wheel is mounted on a thin metal stalk for a column. The floors are steel panels and some are missing under the drivers pedals.
Drivetrain
Under the thin design cowled hood sits an 856cc 4 cylinder engine. It is non operational, and shows as having just the block, head and lower casing. It is missing its 1-barrel Solex carburetor but intact is the 3-speed manual transmission to drive the front axle. The engine will need restoration to run.
Undercarriage
Some surface rust and patina but overall nicely preserved using leaf springs for the suspension, and rear mechanical drum brakes operated by a lever. The brake pedal actually is a transmission brake.
A nice barn find example in need of some TLC but it has what we would call "good bones". No real rust, but needing an engine redux, and the interior could use some TLC, but an interesting example from the interesting mind of creative designer Andre Citroen. BTW the car was heavily marketed to women which proved wildly successful.
NO TITLE-SOLD ON A BILL OF SALE ONLY
Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special interest automobile showroom, featuring over 850 vehicles for sale with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle barn find collection is on display. This vehicle is located in our showroom in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, conveniently located just 1-hour west of Philadelphia on the I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. The website is www.classicautomall.com and our phone number is (888) 227-0914. Please contact us anytime for more information or to come see the vehicle in person.
