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The automobile Citroën is the first successful mass-produced car with front-wheel-drive transmissions. Citroen is a French made car. Audi in Germany and Cord in the United States offered front-wheel drive uni-chassis somewhat later on. Unibody was first used by Ford extensively in the mid-sized and smaller cars like Mustang and Maverick in the 60’s, and is used universally by every auto manufacturer, except for truck or large SUV lines.
Inventors and experimenters actually produced an early runnable front wheel drive in the late 1800’s. At the time it was not a feasible way to propel the car, so back to rear wheel drive innovations. Essentially the one of a kind prototypes were experimental and maybe only one or two models at a time. It was not revisited until the 1930’s, when a production front wheel drive car was successfully produced. Although these were front wheel drive, they were not transaxles in the truest sense of the word.
The Citroen Traction Avant used a longitudinal, front wheel drive layout, with the engine set comfortably in the wheelbase, resulting in a excellent handling because of nearly perfect weight distribution.
The gearbox was mounted in a odd manner compared to the current crop of front wheel drives. With the engine behind the transmission assembly and the differential being the hot-dog in the middle, a layout shared with the later Renault 4 and first generation Renault 5. This setup is not a transaxle by definition, it is a FWD transmission bolted to a differential.
So how many people thought front wheel drive transmissions were invented about 40 years ago? Truth can be stranger than fiction sometimes. Other operational systems and methods of powering a car down the road have been tested in the infancy of automobiles without success. Only to be reinvented and put into practical use many years later. Read more of our blog for information related to your transmission. Call GotTransmissions.com for any replacement transmission needs @ 866-320-1182.
