CITROEN

CITROEN / PARIS / FRANCE ( 1919 - today )

André CITROEN started his own car production in 1919, before he was chief engineer of MORS / FRANCE and he had is own manufacture of gearwheels. That is why you see on the emblems  two pattern of those gearwheels, called double chevron.

 But the first CITROEN emblem I could identify was the following round emblem with red enamel and the letters of Citroen, but no gearwheel sign.  

A collector friend of mine owns the identical emblem and swears that he dismantled it himself from a Citroen radiator. According to him, it is indeed an automobile emblem, but I´m still looking for an objective proof.

Have you ever seen this emblem ?

Citroen letters in a gothic style, no double chevron !

Size	5.1 cm
Year	1919
Estimate

 

 

This is my personal creation:  advertisment with emblem

Now it is time to show the generally known Citroen emblem, which was shown on the vehicles in different versions and on the advertisments  from 1919 to 1933:

 

 

Size	5.5 cm x 6.2 cm
Year	1919 - 1933
Estimate

                     No need to buy a reproduction. There are enough originals on the market.

left: original                   right: reproduction

 

 

1925 advertisment. I added the emblem for my exposition.

 

 

 

This emblem is made the other way round. The chevrons are enameled, i.e. embossed , while they are raised on the normal emblem and chromed. So you need two different patterns for production.

 

Size	5.5 cm x 6.2 cm
Year	c. 1930
Estimate

 

 

 

 

 

André CITROEN invented the engine with " Floating Power" (moteur flottant) and  proudly showed this innovation on the radiator emblem in 1933:

Size	5.5 cm
Year	1933
Estimate

 

 

1933 advertisment with Moteur flottant emblem

 

 

CITROEN also produced cars in GERMANY, AUSTRIA, GREAT BRITAN and  ITALY.
The Italien made automobiles had their own emblem. Before it was decided which emblem should adorn the vehicles built in Italy, the Bregonzio  company from Milan produced prototypes.

Here I present you one of these prototypes:

 

this prototype emblem never found its way onto the final car

 

Size	5.5 cm x 6.2 cm
Year
Estimate

 The emblems shown below were installed instead:

 

CITROEN MILANO emblem

Size	6.2 cm x 4.5 cm
Year	1926
Estimate

Here is the second emblem,  a most sought - after CITROEN emblem. It is from a C6 of 1930.

CITROEN radiator emblem

Size	6.6 cm x 4.9 cm
Year	1930
Estimate

Here you see the C6 of the pope Pius XI. The car is in the Museum de Chariot of Rome. The odometer of this car is showing 156 kilometers only. Thank you Giuseppe for the information and  this picture.

 

CITROEN radiator with motometer and emblem

 

 

 

Italian made CITROEN for sale; seen in Padova in 2020

 

 

 

close up of the above shown CITROEN

 

 

 

 The type C6 also had an enameled script:

 

 

 

 

 Another  script with enameled letters:

 

 

 

 

 

 

As in Italy CITROEN also had a factory in Köln / Germany ( still in existence today )

and here is the German CITROEN radiator emblem. As in Italy the town is marked: KÖLN. 

To my knowledge this is a one year only emblem, so a very rare item.

 

CITROEN KÖLN emblem

Size	6.2 cm x 4.7 cm
Year	1927
Estimate

 

 

 

 

wonderful advertisment with cathedral of Köln in the background and the special CITROEN KÖLN emblem

 

 

 

Motormeter emblem for prewar CITROEN

 

 

 

Very nice prewar emblem. But I don´t know when and where it was used. Do you?

 

 

 

here another version ( collection M. Shears )

 

 

 

After WWII, the Citroen emblem became very boring. Usually only two separate double chevrons were applied to the front  or radiator:

 

 

Here  a interesting CITROEN type HY model with the typical boring emblem, which only consists of two double chevrons.

 

 Even the most expensive version of the Citroen 2CV (Sahara type with two engines) only had two separate double chevrons:

 

 

One of the few exceptions was the emblem of the CITROEN Birotor vehicle. The vehicle and the emblem are extremely rare:

 

 

 And here is another exception. Some vans and camping vehicles had a rectangular, enameled emblem:

 

 

 

 In my opinion, in the next photo we see  a desperate attempt by Citroen to modernize the historic emblem:

 

CITROEN seen in Paris in 2023

 

 

For more  emblems see older posts or  top right of this page (list of car makers) !

When using a smartphone please use the button webview.