Toy Citroen touring car from the 1920s

[Walt G]

Citroen the car maker in France made some absolutely magnificent toy cars of the real cars they sold. Shown here is an original touring car , made of tin, interior is paper that resembles the fabric fitted to the real cars. Car is detailed down to the emblem on the radiator shell.  Boot on the folded position top is also covered in paper to look totally authentic. Only replacement is the windshield frame that I made as the one on the car was missing, I copied it from a windshield on a roadster they also made in that era. This toy seems to have had some repaint under the front fenders perhaps 50+ years ago?

Citroen also made a huge 4 door sedan that had opening doors and windows in the doors that raised and lowered, front end steered etc. The sedan dwarfs the touring car in size is about twice as big. The sedans were reproduced in the late 1960s or early 1970s to exact standards, size etc. and at that time cost $1,200 if you wanted one . I was able to buy one at a local auction 45 years ago for less then $200 because no one at the auction knew what it was. Two fellows later came up to me after the auction and asked me " what did you buy" so I explained to them what it was - they both had an "ah ha" moment and thanked me for letting them know what they had been looking at.

[TerryB]

Wow!  What a great item Walt.  Construction detailing on it are fantastic and the condition is wonderful.  I’m sure you could spend a lot of time and $$$ trying to find another.

[Walt G]

Thanks Terry, I got this decades ago when I saw it on a shelf at a friends house in England who was also a long time car collector ( pre war heavy American classics!) as well as having a business that was a bimonthly 1,200 item auction catalog of automotive items , mostly paper ( sales, manuals, magazines, photographs etc) . I have a similar size sedan that I restored ( in its original colors) because most all of the original paint had flaked off due to dampness.  That one is a Panhard make of car. Most USA car collectors who like toys of the same pre war era as their cars are used to the heavy pressed steel stuff ( which I also like and have to many of) - steel was prevalent in the USA, not so much in Europe, so they looked at tin plate to make toys with and could get much finer detail because it was easier to stamp/press into shape. 

Yes, the condition is amazing on this touring car toy, especially the paper top bot and interior that is now edging towards a century old. My guess it was put away soon after it was received as a gift perhaps because the recipient was "naughty" and once put away was lost for generations. the proportions/scale are amazing. Forgot to mention in the original post - steering works too!