Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Stamp of the Day: Citroen


I am continuing my little virtual stamp collection for a while, so here is a new stamp of the day. What do you think? Compared with the banal contemporary car designs (see PP's recent post), this is is something different. I think this looks like a car the King of Sweden could have driven in the 40s. There is a place south of Stockholm, called Kungens Kurva (the King's Curve), where Gustav V went off the road and into a ditch - I wonder what car he drove. Where there SAABs and Volvo's then? I don't think so, but I am not sure. I can just imagine him in one of these lowrider French things, speeding down to Lund in the south. Now, since I know very little about cars, the rest of you can pour out all your knowledge about the Citroen Avant Traction in the comments :)
/LS

10 comments:

O.K. said...

When the swedish king, or his chauffeur to be precise, drove his car into a ditch in 1946 at place now officially called "The Royal Bend", he had a 1939 Cadillac.

I don't think the SAABs and Volvos o the era were glamorous enough for his majesty.

O.K. said...

What I know about the Citroen Avant Traction? Not much, but the bad guys in Beineix's movie "Diva" drove one. Have you seen that movie yet, LS?

LS said...

No, haven't seen DIVA. But I have heard about it. Is it depressing? French, right? Then it is probably depressing ;)

LS said...

The Cadillac doesn't look that different from the Citroen in fact!

PP said...

Diva is not depressing, a bit odd, perhaps, but good. I once read that the Citroen was styled after some american car, but I don't know which, or if even true, OK?

O.K. said...

LS: Except that you could probably park the Citroen inside the Cadillac. :)

LS said...

You can park any French car inside an American car! Especially these days.

Well, mom's car might be an exception, it might fit around a small Neon.

O.K. said...

Here's a french car worthy presidents and royalties, Citroen DS. Charles de Gaulle used them. The french embassy in Stockholm had a slightly elongated one so the tall president would fit in it...

If the B11/Avant traction was styled after an american car I don't know, but the first Citroen looks very much like a Ford Model-T.

LS said...

Citroen DS is a CLASSIC!

O.K. said...

DS is supposed to be pronounced "Déesse", meaning "Goddess" in french.