For Sale at Auction: 1925 Citroen Boattail in Online, Mississippi

Lemon Yellow/Gloss BlackPleated red leather bucket seats in good conditionTop in good conditionRuns and drives Appointed in yellow and black livery with red leather interior, this Citroen is presentable in its present condition. It also bears a badge on the radiator indicating a previous owner was a member of the Antique Car Club in Portugal but research has been unable to confirm this. The vehicle serial number indicates that it was built in the 1925 model year spanning October through September and was possibly sold in the 1926 model year. French automobile designer Andre Citroen was, in many ways, a man far ahead of his time. His second car design, the Citroen Type C, is widely recognized as the first mass-produced European automobile and his founding of a consumer finance company allowing his product to be sold on credit to customers opened a previously untapped market and is a concept that carries forward almost a century later. Citroen was also something of a maverick. At a time when the French government was offering manufacturers tax incentives to produce cyclecars, Citroen chose to enter the small car market that was dominated by Peugot and Renault at that time with the Type C. Introduced in 1922 and manufactured through June 1926, the Citroen 5CV featured a sleek body design leading to it being called the Torpedo. The tapered rear section, or boat tail, further added to the streamlined design. Over the course of the production run the body was lengthened approximately four inches and two different models were offered with a three-seat option beginning in 1924. The initial three-seater offered a folding third seat but beginning in 1925 a permanent third seat arrangement, known as the Trefle (cloverleaf) became available and continued through the end of the production run. Citroen continued to show his innovative style through his marketing of the Type C. All of the print advertising for the automobile showed it being driven by a young woman, which was definitely unusual for the time. From a sales standpoint Citroen's efforts were successful, as a total of nearly 83,000 units were sold over the production run through a worldwide dealer network supported by factories in several countries. The heart of the Citroen 5CV was the 856cc four-cylinder engine capable of propelling the car to a speed of 60 MPH. Power was transmitted to the rear wheels via a non-synchronized three speed manual transmission. The frame design was modified slightly over the course of production to allow for the increased size of the three-seat models but offered sufficient rigidity to support the wood body structure. Entry to the vehicle was via a single door located on the passenger side of the right hand drive automobile. While the two-seat models offered a bench seat, the three-seat units were fitted with front bucket seats allowing a passage to reach the single third seat. On either side of the rear seat were small closed storage compartments.