At the same time that was held the Paris Motor Show at the Porte de Versailles, Auto123.com had the privilege to visit the breathtaking Conservatoire of French car manufacturer Citroën.
At the same time that was held the Paris Motor Show at the Porte de Versailles, Auto123.com had the privilege to visit the breathtaking Conservatoire of French car manufacturer Citroën.
The Conservatoire is located in a vast 6500m2, one-story building sited near the huge factory of Aulnay-sous-Bois located near the Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Paris, France.
The activity of Conservatoire is fundamentally different to that of a museum since it is not open to the public. However, it can lend vehicles when necessary, and it provides an effective assistance to the needs of Citroën's partners.
The Conservatoire houses more than 300 Citroën vehicles, 1, 400 linear metres of archives, and a host of parts and objects related to the history of Citroën.
The vehicles housed in Le Conservatoire are, for the most part, definitive versions of the range models produced between 1919 and the present day. "Prior to 1998, the cars were kept in an underground garage located in the 15th Arrondissement of Paris. When our president, Jean-Martin Folz witnessed the deplorable conditions in which the cars were kept, he agreed to built the Conservatoire which was opened in 2001," explained our guide, Gro Hoeg of Citroën.
The marque's founder André Citroën was a man ahead of his time. "He's the one who fully understood the importance of marketing in the auto industry," she said. "He booked ads in newspapers, had the word "Citroen" written in the sky with the smoke coming off an airplane, had the word "Citroen" written on the Tour Eiffel, and had Citroën toys cars made for kids."
André Citroën was also always looking for ways to implement new technologies in his cars and to change the way cars were manufactured. In 1919, he produced the Type A, the first Citroën to be sold fully assembled and not in a kit. That year, he built 2810 vehicles.
The first car to sport a "Stop light" was the B14 Saloon in 1928. That same year, Citroën produced the C4 Roadster, the first car with a radiator equipped with thermostatic fins. The 1929 C6E Coupé de ville was fitted with an acoustic telephone that allowed the passenger to talk to the chauffeur.
In 1934, André Citroën unveiled to the press the first Traction Avant, which introduced front-wheel drive technology. Later, the 1939 Traction 11 was the first production car to be built from a monocoque chassis.
At the same time that was held the Paris Motor Show at the Porte de Versailles, Auto123.com had the privilege to visit the breathtaking Conservatoire of French car manufacturer Citroën.
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| The view inside the Conservatoire. |
The Conservatoire is located in a vast 6500m2, one-story building sited near the huge factory of Aulnay-sous-Bois located near the Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Paris, France.
The activity of Conservatoire is fundamentally different to that of a museum since it is not open to the public. However, it can lend vehicles when necessary, and it provides an effective assistance to the needs of Citroën's partners.
The Conservatoire houses more than 300 Citroën vehicles, 1, 400 linear metres of archives, and a host of parts and objects related to the history of Citroën.
The vehicles housed in Le Conservatoire are, for the most part, definitive versions of the range models produced between 1919 and the present day. "Prior to 1998, the cars were kept in an underground garage located in the 15th Arrondissement of Paris. When our president, Jean-Martin Folz witnessed the deplorable conditions in which the cars were kept, he agreed to built the Conservatoire which was opened in 2001," explained our guide, Gro Hoeg of Citroën.
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André Citroën was also always looking for ways to implement new technologies in his cars and to change the way cars were manufactured. In 1919, he produced the Type A, the first Citroën to be sold fully assembled and not in a kit. That year, he built 2810 vehicles.
The first car to sport a "Stop light" was the B14 Saloon in 1928. That same year, Citroën produced the C4 Roadster, the first car with a radiator equipped with thermostatic fins. The 1929 C6E Coupé de ville was fitted with an acoustic telephone that allowed the passenger to talk to the chauffeur.
In 1934, André Citroën unveiled to the press the first Traction Avant, which introduced front-wheel drive technology. Later, the 1939 Traction 11 was the first production car to be built from a monocoque chassis.