The Citroën TUB is one of the Citroën entries the open record knows by name and by date — in 1939, and by little else. That is not nothing: a name in the catalogue is where a car's story starts to be recoverable.
How it came about
The Citroën TUB (from the French Traction Utilitaire Basse or Traction Utilitaire type B) was a light van produced by Citroën from 1939 through 1941, derived from the Traction Avant passenger car. In May 1941 an upgraded version, the Citroën TUC replaced the TUB, but by the end of that year the last of these vans had probably been produced. The TUB is the first commercial vehicle ever equipped with a lateral sliding door.
Family and rivals
Its family tree is legible: its successor was the Citroën H. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Lincoln Continental, the Volkswagen Beetle, the BMW 335 — show what else the money bought that year. Its Citroën stablemates include the Citroën K and the Citroën 2CV.
What it costs now
There is no federal ownership record for the Citroën TUB — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.