Tracfort was a short lived French

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

manufacturing venture that lasted from 1933 till late in 1934.

Origins

During the winter of 1933/34, Louis Carle founded ''Automobiles Tracfort'' at

Courbevoie Courbevoie () is a commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine Department of the Île-de-France region of France. It is in the suburbs of the city of Paris, from the center of Paris. The centre of Courbevoie is situated from the city limits of Par ...

, by then a district in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. The car was developed by André Bournhonet who earlier had worked with a small Courbevoie based auto-maker called

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gain ...

. Assembly took place at a manufacturing workshop, at Rue de Normandie 71 in

Gennevilliers Gennevilliers () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department of Île-de-France. It is located from the centre of Paris. In 2017, it had a population of 46,907. History On 9 April 1929, one-fifth of the ...

, ten minutes down the road from Courbevoie. The project involved producing

front wheel drive Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, where the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longi ...

cars under the Tracfort name, foreshadowing

Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...

's highly successful

Traction avant Traction may refer to: Engineering *Forces: ** Traction (engineering), adhesive friction or force ** Traction vector, in mechanics, the force per unit area on a surface, including normal and shear components * Traction motor, an electric moto ...

model that appeared in 1934.

The cars

The Tracfort used the side valve 933 cc, 8 hp engine from the

Ford Model Y The Ford Model Y is an automobile that was produced by Ford Britain, Ford SAF and Ford Germany from 1932 to 1937. It was the first Ford automobile specifically designed for markets outside the United States, replacing the Model A in Europe. Pro ...

but in order to support the front-wheel drive lay-out the engine was turned through 180 degrees so that the gearbox was at the front. Two bodies were listed, both with two doors. These were a four seater 2-door "coach" ("Mouette") bodied car with a fashionably fast-back tail and an open topped two seater "roadster" ("Irlande"). The inclusion of a Ford engine was reflected in the grill which also came from the Model Y. Although the Ford transverse leaf springs were retained, the front suspension was made independent.

Presentation

The manufacturer took a stand at the 27th Paris Motor Show in October 1933, but disappeared a few weeks later following the bankruptcy of a firm called "SABAB" (''"Société anonyme des Brevets André Bournhonet"''), the patent holder whose support was necessary to ensure further production.

Tracfort or Tracford?

Because the car used a Ford engine and (without its badge) a Ford grill, contemporaries and others sometimes inferred and then assumed that the name of the car was "Tracford". The error gained a wider following among English speaking readers once it found its way into several successive editions of the excellent, comprehensive and widely respected "Complete Encyclopaedia of Motorcars" by

Nick Georgano George Nicolas "Nick" Georgano (29 February 1932 – 22 October 2017Nick Georgano
Alvis Archive Bl ...

. Nevertheless, publicity material of the time and other sources, including those originated by mother-tongue French speakers, and including even the most recent version of Georgano's own compilation, indicate that "Tracfort" is the correct spelling for this car's name.René Bellu: ''Automobilia. Ausgabe 9. Toutes les Voitures Françaises 1935.'' Histoire & Collections, Paris 1998.

Sources and notes

Reading list

* Harald Linz, Halwart Schrader: ''Die Internationale Automobil-Enzyklopädie.'' United Soft Media Verlag, München 2008, . (German) * George Nick Georgano (Chefredakteur): ''The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile.'' Volume 3: ''P–Z.'' Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, . (English) * George Nick Georgano: ''Autos. Encyclopédie complète. 1885 à nos jours.'' Courtille, Paris 1975. (French) * George Nick Georgano: ''The New Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present.'' 3. Auflage. Dutton Verlag, New York 1982, . (English) * David Burgess Wise: ''The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Automobiles.'' Greenwich Editions, London 2004, . (English) * Marián Šuman-Hreblay: ''Automobile Manufacturers Worldwide Registry.'' McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, London 2000, {{ISBN, 0-7864-0972-X. (English) * René Bellu: ''Automobilia. Ausgabe 22. Toutes les Voitures Françaises 1934.'' Histoire & Collections, Paris 2002. (French) * René Bellu: ''Automobilia. Ausgabe 9. Toutes les Voitures Françaises 1935.'' Histoire & Collections, Paris 1998. (French)

Origins

The cars

Presentation

Tracfort or Tracford?

Sources and notes

Reading list

See also