Siku Citroen Traction Avant and Opel GT

Siku makes an impressive amount of unique vehicles out there, and these two show off the best of some common European vehicles at the time, the Citroen Traction Avant and the Opel GT coupe.

Citroen Traction Avant

The Traction Avant was a pioneering car that was ahead of its time and lasted for two decades with little changes.  The first one appeared 1934 and lasted until 1957.  The car featured a unibody construction with front-wheel drive and a spacious interior.  The unibody design allowed for a low slung car that also has a spacious interior made in part to a shifter gate on the dashboard (with a lock to hold the level in position on upper gears), parking brake on the dashboard, and flat dashboard design to give ample space for six passengers.  Even the lack of running boards also helped ingress and egress.  The suspension was all-independent with torsion bars for the front suspension, and up front the engine is a 2.8L I-6 motor that goes through a three-speed manual transmission located in front of the engine to power the front wheels.  Eventually the styling got dated so Citroen tried a new approach and a popular one next, the DS series.

Siku did an incredible job with the detailing on this casting and it starts with the white body with brown fenders and roof.  The front has round headlights that are separate and mounted on the fenders, large slant back grille with silver Citroen badge trim, and a lower bumper with dual foglights above them.  The hood has gills along the side to vent the engine and front fenders that blend in with the body.  Wheels are white steel wheels with center caps and have rubber tires.  Out back the rear fenders flow into the rear bumper and alongside the squared-off trunklid common on 1930's automobiles.  Note the signal indicators mounted on the D-pillars.  The base shows off the exhaust system and the excellent amount of specification information common on Siku castings.  The front doors open backward for that suicide door look and features front and rear bench seats, detailed steering wheel, and proper control layout.  This is one amazing piece by Siku as I often don't see much pre-World War II castings done by Siku as nicely done as this Citroen.

Opel GT

While the U.S. was enjoying success with the Corvette Europe needed a car of their own that was small enough for narrow streets.  The Opel GT was the answer.  The Opel GT shared parts with the Kadett B and styling that reflected the Corvette in the U.S. The car was smaller than the Corvette and just like the Corvette lacked any access to trunk space in the rear.  The interior was very roomy and had well laid out controls, though the manual operation of flipping the headlights was time consuming and hard on the hands.  The engine is a 1.9L SOHC I-4 that produced 102 horsepower through a 4-speed manual transmission and to the rear wheels.  The car was sold in the U.S. at Buick dealerships for a short time.

This orange Siku is a very nice model of the real car, though I do not understand why the wheels were blacked out so I added silver to the 5-spoke wheels to make them stand out.  The front has the large ovals for the flip-up headlights, twin vents between them, metal bumper, and lower grille with foglights.  The hood shows off additional vents and a slight bulge on the right-side of the cover.  The sides show the sleek fastback coupe profile with Opel GT badges on the front fenders, while the rear has round taillights, Euro plate, and half bumpers.  The metal base is painted orange just like the body, while the doors open up to show off the four-seat interior with a steering column and a faint glimpse of the dashboard.  If you want more detailing look at other companies or larger scales, though expect to see higher prices.  Still, it's a very nicely done casting from Siku that could use a little more details inside.