There was a time when front-wheel drive cars were viewed with suspicion by much of the UK car-buying public. When the Mini arrived in 1959, it took a while for sales to really take off. Even 18 years later, when the original Fiesta went on sale here, my father could be heard saying he wouldn’t touch one because “Ford’s never done front-wheel drive before.”
These days, of course, things are very different. Front-wheel drive superminis and family hatchbacks are prolific, and even though it’s the SUV that dominates today’s new car sales charts, the majority of these also have drive to the front wheels despite their 4x4-esque aesthetics.
On the classic market, meanwhile, we have a plethora of front-wheel drive pioneers to choose from – cars that either led their field dynamically or were the first of their kind for that particular manufacturer. So, let’s celebrate eight of the most important front-wheel drive cars of all time and examine what made them so special.
CITROËN TRACTION AVANT
No feature on front-wheel drive classics would be complete without including the Citroën Traction Avant – or the Light 15, to give it its proper name. It was seen as revolutionary when unveiled in 1934, not least for its monocoque construction rather than the separate-chassis layout of its rivals. Most importantly, though, it featured front-wheel drive, the first time this had been offered on a European model intended for such large-scale production.
The Traction Avant also came with an overhead-valve engine (at a time when sidevalves were the norm), all-round torsion bar suspension, hydraulic brakes and – two years after its launch – even rack and pinion steering.
