Quote:
Originally Posted by rh77
Good to see you back Spule 4 
I came across Citroën's design during my research on the subject. Good link to the video, BTW (it looks like a little arcing from the coil  ). Cool car, though -- it's been around for a while - kinda surprised the concept didn't take off sooner.
I'm still waiting for that C4 Diesel-Hybrid...
Perhaps reliability was a concern -- I know BMW had quite the issue with their SMGs when first introduced a few years ago.
RH77 |
Citromatic was a pain when not right. Lurchy car. Forget valet parking.....
It was also a Rube Goldberg way to make an automatic. The Traction Avant was to have a full automatic, several were developed, none worked, more money, Andre went bust, and Michelin moved in for control.....
So, Citroen did the next best thing, and made a manual box fully automatic.
Now, this is not to be confused with the C-Matic that went into the CX and GS/A. These had true torque converters. Citroen also used the BW35 automatic for the last of the non-US D cars and for US SMs.
Another neat car with (I think) electric clutch and manual shift was the NSU Ro80. I think it was an electric clutch as there was a sensor switch on the shifter that would dis-engage the clutch the second your hand hit it. Kind of a pain, and a bit odd when you drove it (I have not driven one in nearly 20 years).
So, with the advances in torque converters and automatic gearbox technology, the Citromatic transmission was never really duplicated in its form, even by Citroen who had all that extra hydrualics in the cars already, so that should tell you something.......
EDIT: The Citroen 2CV cars also had an optional centrifical clutch in the 425cc motored cars.
. After all, this is the Old West.
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