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Citroen Kegresse (Side view, right side)

 
 

Side view, right side

Picture courtesy of Bilhistorisk Tidsskrift, spring 1976.

 

Danish Army Specific: The Citroën B2 was bought in 1923 for evaluation purposes and was licensed "HtK 129". The performance of the Citroën was tested in summer 1923 and winter 1923/24 (note front-wheels). The tests went well and in 1924 further 2 Citroëns were bought. The vehicles went through extensive testing and after some years they were all worn out.
Note the extra cooling air louvres in the hood.
In 1932 a new
18 hp Citroën (35 kb) was delivered and the 3 worn out 10 hp Kegresses went back to Citroën as part of the payment.
Historical: The Kegresse-drive, which was mounted with a endless rubber band was invented in 1910 - 11 by Adolph Kégresse, a Frenchman who had worked as technical manager for the Russian Czar Nicholas II from 1906 to 1917. Mr. Kegresse converted the Packard and Rolls-Royce cars of Czar Nicolas, as well as some Austin-Putilov armoured cars.
A lot of Packard trucks were converted with the Kegresse-drive in 1915, and used as ambulances.
After the revolution he returned to France via Finland and, in conjunction with Mr. Jacques Hinstin, produced a boogie which was adopted by André Citroën in 1920.
In 1922, five Citroën-Kegresse vehicles successfully completed the Trans-Sahara Expedition crossing the desert to Timbuktu. Two years later, Georges-Marie Haardt and Louis Audion-Dubreuill used Citroën-Kegresse vehicles to traverse Africa in an eight-month journey that proved the concept.
The Citroën Kegresse was manufactured at Courbevoie and later at Citroëns Lavalllois factory in the northern suburbs of Paris.
Kegresse-equipped vehicles were used by the French Army for a wide variety of roles up to the outbreak of WW II.
Other known users were Belgium, Chile, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United States.
Some of the above mentioned states only tested the Kegresse-drive, some acquired a licence to produce it, and some bought complete vehicles to their armed forces.
Length: N/A.
Width: N/A.
Height: N/A.
Weight: N/A.
Engine
: 4-cylinder, 1.500 cm3 (91 cubic inches) displacement.
Horsepower: 10.
Transmission: N/A.
Transfer case: N/A.
Electrical system: N/A.
Brakes: N/A.
Tyres: N/A.
Fuel type: Petrol.
Fuel capacity: N/A.
Range: N/A.
Crew: N/A.
Additional: Driving sprockets were on fixed rear axle; forward end of boogie could move up and down.
A picture of a
Citroën Kegresse with the revised rear boogie (P7) has appeared. The history of this vehicle and is not known.


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