English registration

With the announcement of the Traction Avant in April 1934, André Citroën realised his dream of a monocoque-bodied front-wheel-drive car, a model so technically advanced that it could be mass-produced for a long enough period to be a more economical proposition than a more orthodox design. In the end approximately 760,000 of the various types were built across Europe, the last in 1957. As well as the four-door variants, the Quai de Javel factory made one of France’s most beautiful cars, in the shape of the coupé and cabriolet versions of the ‘Traction’. Equipped with a dickey seat to take two additional passengers, these were seductive machines indeed, combining the Traction Avant’s superb road behaviour with beautifully-drawn lines and, in the case of the cabriolet (also sometimes called the roadster), the joys of open-air motoring. Just 200 roadsters are thought to have been assembled at the Slough factory in England. Meanwhile, in 1939 Javel laid down five or perhaps six bodies – it is difficult to say definitively – to accept the six-cylinder engine of the 15-Six. Of these, three completed cars are known to survive – alongside a fair number of replicas.
It was towards the end of the 1980s that the current owner asked British ‘Traction’ bodywork specialist Peacock Engineering to create the vehicle presented here, a well-known machine in the Citroën world and the fourth roadster built by the company. Based in Leicestershire, Mike Peacock’s company was renowned for the quality of its work, and for its beautifully-crafted roadster bodyshells. A genuine Peacock roadster is more than just a conversion. Respecting to the letter the factory’s body reinforcements for the roadster, the central tub and dickey-seat compartment and the floor and the bulkheads are not only made to the same design as on a Javel car but are built to modern standards, notably when it comes to protection against rust.

Based on a 1953 Slough-built ‘Six’, the aim was simply to build one of the best roadsters you would ever be likely to see. The donor car was thus completely stripped, and the engine, transmission and all the running gear totally restored. The engine was rebuilt with new pistons, liners, valves, bearings – everything necessary for flawless running. The same went for the interior, with new trim and wood. The icing on the cake was fitment of the last-known chromed radiator grille in England.
Over the past 30 years the car has been carefully looked after as part of one of the finest collections of Citroëns in Britain. The muscular six-cylinder engine adds an extra element of pleasure to driving the roadster, and the owner has profited to the full from this, covering many miles at its wheel, in France and in other countries of Europe. Always pampered, the car is quite simply in exceptional condition.

Just four six-cylinder and 16 four-cylinder roadsters were made by Peacock Engineering in the 1970s and 1980s and just this one right-hand-drive six-cylinder. Offered at an extremely attractive price, this fine car drives better than a four-cylinder roadster for a price below that a factory-built four-cylinder example would now command. Nor need a future owner be concerned about the car being right-hand-drive, as converting it to LHD is simple and need not be expensive. This is truly an opportunity not to be missed.

This car will be sold during an auction sale organized by AGUTTES Auction House.
It will take place in Paris, at the Espace Champerret, France, on March the 17th, 2019.
The digital catalog is available on our website
https://www.aguttes.com/html/infos.jsp?id=96052&&setLng=en
Please contact us for any further details.
Phones numbers:
+ 33 616 914 228
+33 147 459 301