Andr Lefebvre And The Cars He Created At Voisin And Citro N

Together with his colleagues at Citroën, Andre Lefebvre created the Traction Avant (1934), the TUB (1939) – Citroën's first front wheel drive utility van that was succeeded by the H and HY vans (1947) – the Deux Chevaux (1948), and, last but not least, the DS (1955). From 1923 to 1931 Lefebvre also designed several highly original and outstanding competition cars and record-breaking automobiles for Voisin. He even drove some these cars in races and record attempts. It is obvious that during his 16 years with Gabriel Voisin he was very much influenced by the ideas of this illustrious aviation pioneer and car manufacturer. The experience gained during that period gave him the self-confidence to persuade his successive bosses at Citroën that his unorthodox approach to automobile design was what the company needed; first he convinced André Citroën, later Pierre Michelin, then Pierre-Jules Boulanger, and finally Robert Puiseux and Pierre Bercot. His oeuvre for Citroën alone earns him a place of honour among the great automobile designers of the past century. The fact that most present-day cars still carry the DNA of his design philosophy makes him stand out above other automotive pioneers and innovators. That is why it is amazing that so little is known about this fascinating and brilliant engineer. This book was written in order to remedy that, and to pay tribute to André Lefebvre: the passionate pioneer who left car enthusiasts around the world such an important heritage.

Together with his colleagues at Citroën, Andre Lefebvre created the Traction Avant (1934), the TUB (1939) – Citroën's first front wheel drive utility van that was succeeded by the H and HY vans (1947) – the Deux Chevaux (1948), and, last but not least, the DS (1955). From 1923 to 1931 Lefebvre also designed several highly original and outstanding competition cars and record-breaking automobiles for Voisin. He even drove some these cars in races and record attempts. It is obvious that during his 16 years with Gabriel Voisin he was very much influenced by the ideas of this illustrious aviation pioneer and car manufacturer. The experience gained during that period gave him the self-confidence to persuade his successive bosses at Citroën that his unorthodox approach to automobile design was what the company needed alone earns him a place of honor among the great automobile designers of the past century. The fact that most present-day cars still carry the DNA of his design philosophy makes him stand out above other automotive pioneers and innovators.

In this new view of the Citroen story, automotive/aviation writer and design specialist Lance Cole investigates not just the details of the cars of Citroen, but the aeronautical and cultural origins that lay behind Citroen's form and function. The book digs deep into the ethos of Automobiles Citroen to create a narrative on one of the greatest car manufacturers in history. Using interviews, translations, archive documents and specially-commissioned photographs, the Citroen journey is cast in a fresh perspective. It explains in detail the influences upon Citroen design: Voisin, Lefebrve, Bertoni, Boulanger, Mages, Opron and recent Citroen designers such as Coco, Blakeslee and Soubirou. As well as all the men of the great period of 1920s-1970s expansion, it also cites less well-known names of Citroen's French engineering, design, and influence such as Cayla, Gerin, Giret, Harmand, Dargent and others, to give a full picture of Citroen heritage.The book provides in-depth analysis of all major Citroen models with an engineering and design focus and profiles key individuals and cars up to the present day and Citroen's 'DS'-branded resurgence. It features many newly commissioned photographs, rare archive drawings and interviews with Citroen owners.Researched amongst leading Citroen experts and restorers, Lance Cole provides a fresh perspective on the Citroen car manufacturer, its design language and the legacy of its extraordinary engineering which will be of great interest to all Citroen and motoring enthusiasts. Superbly illustrated with 329 colour photographs, many newly commissioned along with rare archive drawings.

Twelve years in design and development and 41 years in manufacture, the Citroen 2CV is one of the longest-running motoring success stories. Almost seven million of its various versions were built and this text chronicles the conception, life and death of the French people's car.

When the final list for the Car of the Century competition was announced in November 1999, only one company had three finalists: Automobiles Citroen. All three models--the Traction Avant, the 2CV and the DS 19--were developed during the era when the company was owned by the Societe Michelin (Michelin Tire Company). All three were created by the engineer Andre Lefebvre and the stylist Flaminio Bertoni. This industry recognition highlighted the unique Citroen-Michelin affiliation, demonstrating anew how this relationship made the automaker the benchmark for progressive design and creative engineering within both the international automotive community and the general motoring public. This work provides the first in-depth examination of the Citroen-Michelin era, focusing on the interrelationship between these firms in the development of the revolutionary Michelin X radial tire and its impact on Citroen's avant-garde automobiles. From its origins in 1919 under the watchful eye of Andre Citroen, a history of the automaker's early years is provided. Next, the author takes a detailed look at the cars of the golden age of Citroen: the Traction Avant, the 2CV, the DS/ID, the Ami-6 and Ami-8, the GS/GSA, the CX, and the Citroen-Maserati SM. The innovations, the unique designs, and the new standards of technical excellence that these cars offered are all fully covered, heavily illustrated with rare photographs of the classic automobiles.

Originally published in 1970, The Urban Revolution marked Henri Lefebvre’s first sustained critique of urban society, a work in which he pioneered the use of semiotic, structuralist, and poststructuralist methodologies in analyzing the development of the urban environment. Although it is widely considered a foundational book in contemporary thinking about the city, The Urban Revolution has never been translated into English—until now. This first English edition, deftly translated by Robert Bononno, makes available to a broad audience Lefebvre’s sophisticated insights into the urban dimensions of modern life.Lefebvre begins with the premise that the total urbanization of society is an inevitable process that demands of its critics new interpretive and perceptual approaches that recognize the urban as a complex field of inquiry. Dismissive of cold, modernist visions of the city, particularly those embodied by rationalist architects and urban planners like Le Corbusier, Lefebvre instead articulates the lived experiences of individual inhabitants of the city. In contrast to the ideology of urbanism and its reliance on commodification and bureaucratization—the capitalist logic of market and state—Lefebvre conceives of an urban utopia characterized by self-determination, individual creativity, and authentic social relationships.A brilliantly conceived and theoretically rigorous investigation into the realities and possibilities of urban space, The Urban Revolution remains an essential analysis of and guide to the nature of the city.Henri Lefebvre (d. 1991) was one of the most significant European thinkers of the twentieth century. His many books include The Production of Space (1991), Everyday Life in the Modern World (1994), Introduction to Modernity (1995), and Writings on Cities (1995).Robert Bononno is a full-time translator who lives in New York. His recent translations include The Singular Objects of Architecture by Jean Baudrillard and Jean Nouvel (Minnesota, 2002) and Cyberculture by Pierre Lévy (Minnesota, 2001).