Citroën Traction Avant: Renard et Bec’s rare reinvention

By Jon Pressnell

| 12 Mar 2024

Classic & Sports Car – Citroën Traction Avant: Renard et Bec’s rare reinvention

The Traction Avant: dusky black saloons, right? Inspector Maigret, that sort of stuff.

Well, not really. Before WW2, the Citroën came in many bright hues, from an early triple-colour presentation to various metallic shades; post-war, late cars were available in a range of blues and greys.

And, as well as the four-doors, there was a roadster and a fixed-head coupé – at least pre-war.

This Citroën Traction Avant’s square instrument display was replaced by a round speedo in an embossed surround, with a matching rev counter and clock to the right

But yes, there is more than a touch of truth in the perceived image of France’s front-wheel-drive legend.

From 1948 to ’54, all cars were black and saloons of one size or another.

With most survivors being from this period, that is how people tend to see the Traction.

Put another way, in its later years there was a uniformity about the Citroën that went hand-in-glove with its ubiquity: look at any street scene of the time and black Traction Avant saloons are everywhere.

Citroën’s standard 1911cc wet-liner ‘four’ remains in this Renard et Bec transformation

The most advanced mass-production model in the world had become banal.

But in France the bedrock 11CV was for a long while the only modestly priced car available – especially secondhand.

For those who wanted to stand out from the crowd, French accessory and coachbuilding businesses offered a solution to this automotive anonymity.

Dependent on the depth of your pocket and the vagaries of your taste, it was possible to personalise the Citroën into a more distinctive car, whether by adding a few items of aluminium trim, fitting a different radiator cowl or maybe a built-out boot, or going the whole hog with a fully remodelled body.

The Citroën Traction Avant’s cabin was altered to accommodate the rear seat

These transformations of the Traction Avant are a fascinating sidelight to the model’s history and a phenomenon unique to the Citroën, as far as Europe is concerned.

With a due nod to modified Minis and the like – and even to all those accessorised 2CVs – it is difficult to think of any other car that could be so profoundly altered in its looks.

What was good for the saloons was good also, inevitably, for the coupé or the roadster, although giving blowsy, modernised panelwork to those taut-lined, limited-production beauties might well be considered a crime – these days, at least.

The Citroën’s rear bodywork would have originally incorporated a dickey seat, like this car’s

Seeing – and rather enjoying seeing – Jacky Chapdelaine’s Renard et Bec roadster in the reshaped metal probably counts, therefore, as a guilty secret.

Good taste was not at the rendez-vous when this powder-blue whale was concocted.

But impressive – a neutral word – the R&B certainly is, no doubt about that.

Jacky has been into Traction Avants since the end of the 1960s and bought the car as a wreck in 1970 or thereabouts.

Renard et Bec’s Citroën Traction Avant was based on a 1938 roadster version of the Onze Normale, the bigger-bodied 11CV model

“It was found at a scrapyard in the Lot by a friend, Robert Austruy,” he recalls.

“It was in a really sad state and had almost broken in two.

“The rear suspension had collapsed and there was no engine and no front suspension. But most of the special dashboard was still there.

“The car was put together so it was just about a runner, and I swapped a Porsche 356 for it.”

There are little clues that a Citroën Traction Avant hides beneath the Renard et Bec body

Jacky fully restored the Citroën over just one year and three months, including eight days to make the grille from scratch.

Other homemade items include the bumper bars and one of the tail-light units, which are thought to have originally come from a Cadillac.

What of the history of the conversion? Precious little is available.

Renard et Bec was an early incarnation of the bodyshop run in Puteaux, near Paris, by Marius Renard.

A Citroën Traction Avant telltale is the fold-flat windscreen

It appears that Bec – first name unknown – was Renard’s accountant, or perhaps his financial backer.

This car was built in 1948, according to Jacky, who thinks it was Renard’s first Traction Avant project.

Citroën historian Olivier de Serres dates the car to 1947 and attributes the design to famed automotive artist Géo Ham, who is also credited with the lines of the four Peugeot 403 coupés built by Darl’mat.

Citroën Traction Avants are mostly seen in black, which makes this vibrant blue classic car even more striking

Marius Renard – assuming that it is indeed the same person – went on to make a name for himself as a purveyor of Traction Avant body transformations under the ‘MR’ name.

These included at least one further roadster, less radical in its lines, transformed into a four-seater and featuring a boldly vee-shaped side moulding.

The standardised frontal treatment used by Renard included a new radiator cowl and headlights set in helmet-style wings, while a refashioned rear end in some cases included spatted wings and a split window.

A smart coachline runs along the Citroën Traction Avant’s bodywork

Renard also sold bodykits to other businesses – which often offered components from various suppliers.

Marchand of Lyon, for example, was an agent for Renard, but also marketed Tonneline’s ‘ET’ conversions.

Confusingly for historians, cars so equipped have sometimes been referred to as having a Marchand bodykit.

This particular Renard et Bec is based on a 1938 roadster version of the Onze Normale, the bigger-bodied 11CV model.

This coachbuilt Citroën Traction Avant’s wheels are period alloys by Speed

It is a more radical design than Renard’s regular conversions and hides its Traction Avant origins surprisingly well: only the kick-up to the forward edge of the door tops, plus the fold-flat windscreen, give an indication of the car’s identity.

Fully in steel, the use of wired wing-edges points to conscientious craftsmanship.

The doors, merged into new front wings, are enormously thick at this point, which may explain why the regular exposed door hinges have been replaced by tailormade inset items.

The Citroën’s add-on door bulge nests into the pontoon-style wing

The one-piece front end is massive – and rather characterless, you can’t help thinking – and incorporates a modified Citroën 15-Six bonnet, chosen for its extra length.

Curved sill extensions link up with the refashioned rear, whose contours differ wholly from those of the production roadster.

There is a huge boot in place of a dickey seat, the rear valance sports two rather symbolic bumper strips and the ‘helmet’ rear wings are topped by those nifty lights, the right-hand one lifting to reveal the fuel filler.

Renard et Bec’s Citroën Traction Avant has a neat right-hand tail-light that conceals the fuel-filler cap

The boot handle is borrowed from another car, but its origins are not known.

With the cockpit cut back to allow a modest rear seat, the roadster hood has been reprofiled, further changing the car’s look.

Inside, alloy trims enliven the dashboard, which includes a rev-counter.

Originally there was a radio in the centre, but this has been replaced by a glovebox.

The Citroën’s tail is completely transformed, with a long bootlid and wider rear track

The steering wheel wasn’t on the car when it was found and is a commonly available accessory item of the type found as standard on Delahayes and the like.

Another period add-on is a steering-column-mounted gearchange mechanism.

“It is less fun than the ‘mustard spoon’ gearlever, but works very well,” says Jacky.

In a way, that encapsulates the Renard et Bec.

It doesn’t do anything better than the standard car, but as a method of standing out from the Traction Avant herd it is as different as different can be.

Nonconformity of this sort might ruffle a few aesthetic feathers.

But there is something joyous about so boldly breaching the walls of conservative good taste.

Images: Olgun Kordal

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