No. 1-6 of 6 Books
Andre Citroën: the Man & the Motor Car
This illustrated biography reviews Citroen's life and work and catalogues the cars he produced, in order to restore his reputation as one
of the most progressive and imaginative characters in the history of the motor car. The book recalls his privileged childhood as the son of
a prosperous Jewish immigrant in Paris during the late nineteenth century and describes his education at the elite Ecole Polytechnique. It
records the start of his meteoric career, which began with the manufacture of helical gears (the inspiration for the famous Citroen
double-chevron badge), and continued with the production of munitions during the First World War. It goes on to chronicle his
prodigious accomplishments as a motor-magnate in the 1920s when he was responsible for the first mass-produced and mass-marketed
vehicles in Europe, a feat of industrial creativity that earned him his reputation as the Henry Ford of France. His story comes to a sad end
in the Great Depression of the mid-1930s when, just after the launch of his most famous model, the revolutionary Traction Avant, his
company went bankrupt and he died. This first published account of Andre Citroen's life and work to be available in English gives a
fascinating insight into his complex character, and goes some way towards explaining his extraordinary success and failure. It shows how
his mastery of salesmanship and publicity, combined with his love of risk-taking, made him an international celebrity whose adventurous
business policies and extravagant way of life consistently created headline news. The book also provides a series of vivid snapshots of
the momentous times in which he lived, from the belle epoque and the First World War through the roaring twenties to the wasted years
of the 1930s, when his ideals of social and economic progress through international cooperation were destroyed, as he himself was, by
the Depression and the rise of fascism.
Citroën
Citroën DS
Citroën DS Series
Citroën SM
Citroën SM 1970-75
