Tracbar Arrives - July 2002

By the Editor

The "Tracbar" Tractions Avant arrived in Port Hueneme, CA in July 2002. The cars had traveled from Belgium through the Panama Canal on board the "Carmen" in order to begin the journey from Los Angeles to the ICCCR meet in Amherst, MA. Our project was to pick up the cars and drive them to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

Many local Citroënists and others who were familiar with the Traction from living in Europe had volunteered to help with the project- no easy feat as the cars had to be picked up on a Wednesday.

Eric Massiet du Biest had arranged with Leslie Kendall of the Petersen Museum to charter a bus to bring almost 30 volunteers to the Port where we would meet him. There was a small issue of some paperwork needing signatures before we could get the cars. Several of our group invaded the Friends Café and the local fast food joint while waiting for the formalities. Afterward we walked into the port premises following a perfunctory examination of photo I.D. At this point, our special bus left. The holding areas were brimming with Volvo S80, S60 and V70 cars as well as BMW 3 series and New Mini Coopers and Cooper S models.

We proceeded one of several large holding areas intended for large quantities of cars- nearly the entire Port is dedicated to car shipments.

There they were- four rows of Tractions Avant include three Cabriolets and several Commerciales. The only six-cylinder Citroën was an SM mingled amongst the TAs. Most of the Tracbar cars have had some mechanical upgrades, the most common being a change to C.V. joints or 12-volt electrics. Some cars featured 4-speed gearboxes, and one had Recaro seats- it is a very long trip in the summer heat. There were a few almost stock cars with 6 volts and 3-speeds. We did have another delay before the port authorities allowed the cars to go from the staging area to the first holding area. That the cars were permitted to move was a good sign. Eric had been at the port the previous day to be sure all the cars would start and run- they did. Customs in Long Beach was insistent on several details of the paperwork for the cars, resulting in another delay. During this time, a trip was made to get fast food for most of the volunteers.

It was clear that the port's closing time was approaching, so Eric made many trips into the office to confer with the local port authorities who conferred with Ann Stanley at Customs. A fax was expected at any minute. Eventually the cars were moved to the second holding area just inside the gates, a very good sign as the Tractions obviously could not block in shipments of new cars arriving daily. At last, the fax arrived with minutes to spare and the first leg of the Tracbar Yankee expedition began in earnest.

We drove down Pacific Coast Highway right at rush hour all the way to Santa Monica- this writer was pleased to drive by his old neighborhood in a Traction.

A Traction tends to attract attention wherever it is driven, but a group of Tractions on Wilshire Blvd at commute time definitely turns heads. We finished our drive at the Petersen Museum, somewhat sunburned and hours later than expected, but glad to have helped start off what one hopes is an auspicious trip.