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 co