COBI Citroen 15CV SIX D Set 2267

COBI's Citroën 15CV Six D is a 1:35 model built from 262 blocks, 17 cm long, under Citroën licence, with spinning wheels and an opening door. A driver figure and a brick with the car's name are included. All markings are printed.

Both sides drove this car

The black Traction Avant is one of the defining images of occupied France, and it belongs to two completely opposed groups of people at once.

The Gestapo and the French Milice used them, because the 15CV Six was the fastest saloon readily available in France and because it looked official. A black Traction pulling up outside a building was, for four years, a sight that meant something specific and terrible to the people inside.

The Resistance used them for exactly the same reasons. Front-wheel drive gave grip and a low floor gave speed on bad roads, and a black Traction attracted no attention because they were everywhere. Several documented escapes and assassinations were carried out from them.

After the Liberation the same cars became police vehicles of the new republic, and then the getaway car of choice for organised crime through the 1950s — which is why every French film about the period has one in it.

A car cannot mean anything by itself. This one ended up meaning whatever the person driving it meant, and that is unusually visible in its history.

The 15CV Six

The six-cylinder Traction, introduced in 1938 and called the King of the Roads. Production resumed after the war, and the Six D of 1947 had a redesigned engine. Around 44,000 were built by 1954.

In the COBI range

The other 1:35 Tractions are sets 2263, 2264, 2265 and 2266. Set 24336 is the 1:12 Traction Avant.

Specifications

Pieces: 262 · Figures: 1 driver · Scale: 1:35 · Licensed by Citroën
Model dimensions: 17 × 6 × 6 cm (6.7 × 2.4 × 2.4 in)