Recently (9-2021) I was able to buy me a tailgate and wheel cover from a wheeled TA version.
This was the start of my project to convert my 1955 Citroën Traction Avant into a wheeled version.
It’s a matter of taste of course, and I just think a wheeled version is much nicer than such an imposed trunk.
Below you can see what my car would look like with a wheel instead of a trunk:
So- we’ll need to go from the picture ABOVE to the picture BELOW!
And, for comparison what my car looks like BEFORE the conversion to wheel:
Picture dates from 2007
The trunk hangs from the part of the body directly under the rear window.
On a wheel version, there is still a section of sheet metal under the “kink” in the sheet metal that is under the window. That is completely missing from the trunk model.
And the underside in terms of sheet metal runs all the way through (gray) , including under the trunk lid (gray lid with black wheel cover). This should be constructed anyway, and connected to the existing trunk floor plate. Everything under and behind it has to be removed so also the spare wheel well and the existing extra extension of bumper brackets and the ‘standard’ extra bolted-on sheet metal.
The fender points L and R are connected with a piece of sheet metal, under the fixed body (grey). This sheet metal part is still readily available as an aftermarket part.
THE APPROACH – is planned for end of 2024, after finishing the ID20 –
LPG tank out, gasoline tank out from under it.
First, a new piece is made that follows the exact shape of the trunk lid of the wheeled version. To that, a sheet metal edge is made to fit into the hole created by removing the existing trunk lid. After that, it becomes mostly a lot of fitting and measuring.
The goal is to make it so that everything can also be rebuilt back to the trunk version if necessary. That means that the space between the large hole for the trunk and the smaller wheel holder lid will be filled with a removable sheet metal part to be made, which will be fastened to the edge of the existing large hole with clips on the inside. For the inside edge I will use preformed fender edge, which is relatively easy to come by.
In any case, the rear bumper must also be replaced with a type for a BN with a wheel, so a dent to the bottom in the middle. The mounting brackets of the bumper also have to be adjusted because the bumper has to move a bit towards the body.
This does move the tow bar quite a bit further back (optically, the tow bar doesn’t change of course) and I’m thinking about taking the tow bar off completely for now and see if I can find a type for a wheeled version somewhere.
Again: Fron ABOVE to BELOW conversion!
And this is how the license plate will be mounted after the conversion! (The above picture is obviously not a 11B(N) but a TA15, as the bumper clearly indicates.
